Academic Experience
Innovative teaching and expanded access to all Emory has to offer
Through the Student Flourishing initiative, Emory is enhancing students' academic experience on multiple fronts—from curricular innovations to operational improvements.
In addition to introducing new and improved first-year courses to provide undergraduates with a strong foundation for success, we're developing opportunities for students to gain confidence through experiential learning, collaborative problem-solving, a focus on digital literacy, and other high-value skills for lifelong flourishing. Behind the scenes, we're focused on removing barriers and opening doors to help students access and explore all that Emory has to offer.
Education Reimagined
“By ensuring greater connections between what happens in the classroom and the experiences students have beyond it, we can provide a more fully integrated educational experience. From experiential learning to more deliberate career development, the new programs and opportunities within the Student Flourishing initiative will better prepare students for personal and professional lives of achievement, meaning, and purpose.”
—Joanne Brzinski, senior associate dean for undergraduate education, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
What’s New: Academic Experience Highlights
Setting the Stage in ECS 101
This foundational course for all Emory College first-year students has been redesigned to emphasize student flourishing through community-building, health and well-being, purposeful reflection, and finding pathways toward personal academic, co-curricular, and extracurricular goals—providing an introduction that sets the stage for student success in college and beyond.
First-Year Flourishing Seminars
Rooted in the Student Flourishing Initiative’s focus on the whole student, these new seminars combine multidisciplinary liberal arts studies with weekly community-building dinners and opportunities for personal reflection on flourishing and well-being—including at least three follow-up gatherings after the semester ends. The goal: deepening not only what students know but who they aspire to be.
New Avenues to Business Education
Enhancing Access to Emory
The newly expanded Emory Advantage program helps more students graduate debt-free by eliminating need-based loans as part of undergraduate students’ financial aid packages, replacing them with institutional grants and scholarships beginning in 2022–2023.
The Emory Undergraduate Council
Led by the provost, this university-wide council is charged with identifying and acting on operational improvements to the undergraduate experience. In spring 2022, the council extended the add/drop/swap period to give students an additional week to shape their semester. Other priority areas include improving waitlist functionality and creating opportunities for faculty-student engagement outside the classroom.
Capturing Co-Curricular Activities
Available in fall 2022 from Emory Academic Innovation, a new co-curricular catalog will connect graduate and undergraduate students to an array of school- and unit-based short courses, certificates, and experiential programs focused on developing entrepreneurship, digital literacy, leadership, job-related competencies, and other high-value skills. The catalog paves the way for a co-curricular transcript that will allow students to showcase their activities to future employers and graduate programs.
Experiential and Skills-Based Learning
Emory’s Student Flourishing initiative will foster experiential learning opportunities that prepare students with skills and perspectives to flourish in a rapidly changing world—such as comfort with open-ended, real-world problem-solving, analytical and communication skills, the ability to successfully work in teams, and an entrepreneurial mindset. One example is the new Center for AI Learning, which promotes artificial intelligence literacy and provides co-curricular learning opportunities that equip students with the skills needed to thrive in a technology-focused future. The center offers year-round short courses and workshops along with sponsored experiential learning projects that allow students to apply AI skills they learn in class to solve real-world problems.
