University of South Carolina Columbia
Act 629 - Summary Reports on Institutional Effectiveness
Fiscal Year 2001 - 2002

Religious Studies, BA, MA

Analysis of the assessment data, a comprehensive review of faculty strengths and resources, and a study of graduate programs at peer and aspirant institutions, led to the decision to revamp the Masters program. The following has resulted: Greater selectivity in admission of students into the program. "Greater selectivity" means not only higher standards but also selecting students whose interests fit well into program strengths. Some applicants, who otherwise would be accepted, are turned down simply because we do not have strength in their areas of interest. To help faculty make an assessment of whether a student will fit into our program, faculty now ask students to submit a writing sample and faculty also conduct phone or on-campus interviews with each promising applicant. RELG 700 (methods course) has been redesigned to give the course greater coherence and to serve more adequately as an introduction to the range of methods and disciplines employed in the academic study of religion. The revamped course was offered for the first time in Spring 2001. The areas of concentration have been reconfigured and reduced to three: Texts and Traditions; Theology and Religious Thought; and Religion and Society. Each program faculty member will offer a foundational readings course once a year. Several other new course proposals have been submitted to appropriate curriculum committees in an attempt to round out the curricular offerings in each area of concentration. Faculty have secured the services of a group of approximately 24 Faculty Associates who have agreed to work with our Masters students in various ways: give advice on student research, serve on thesis committees, accept our students in their courses, etc. Faculty Associates are colleagues from other departments and campuses and the university as well as colleagues at the program's partner institutions in Columbia (principally, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary).