FAU BOT Approves New Names for Two COE Departments
by Josephine Elliott | Wednesday, Dec 08, 2021
Florida Atlantic University’s Board of Trustees approved departmental name changes in the College of Education during its November 16, 2021 meeting, according to an announcement by Stephen Silverman, Ed.D., Dean, College of Education. The merged Department of Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry and the Department of Teaching and Learning has been renamed the Department of Curriculum and Instruction to “better articulate the unit’s function for marketing and recruitment purposes,” explained Bret Danilowicz, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, during his presentation at the meeting. The Department of Exceptional Student Education has changed its name to the Department of Special Education to reflect “new degree programs that prepare students to teach individuals with learning and behavioral disabilities.”
The Department of Curriculum and Instruction offers a wide variety of bachelors degree programs to undergraduates, who are majoring in elementary or secondary education, and master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees to graduate and doctoral students advancing their careers as educators or researchers.
The Department of Special Education provides a bachelor’s degree program to undergraduates, who are preparing to teach individuals with learning and behavioral disabilities, and master’s and doctoral degree programs to graduate and doctoral students, who are seeking to become researchers and leaders in their field. The department also oversees the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) and the Academy for Community Inclusion (ACI).
Both departments offer Honors-in-the-Majors programs for eligible students pursuing bachelor’s in elementary education and have an interest in nature, animals or the environment or a bachelor’s in exceptional student education and want to explore an expanded view of their future profession and the broader social context of their work, respectively, as well as certificates for those who already hold bachelor’s degrees. Jointly, the two departments provide the Bachelor’s in Early Care and Education.