Revitalize the undergraduate experience
We have re-envisioned our model for undergraduate education to radiate the mission of JHU – to cultivate students’ capacity for lifelong learning, to foster independent and original research, and to bring the benefits of discovery to the world. It is anchored in a strong first-year foundation for all students, a holistic curricular structure that stimulates breadth and depth in the arts and sciences, rich opportunities for research and experimentation, and innovations in pedagogy and advising. As the strategies below mature, we will also create a focus on assessing the impact of this work.
Our strategies
Cultivate a common experience through the First-Year Foundation and beyond.
Crossing the threshold of Hopkins is a pivotal moment for our students. By requiring a tailored seminar and a foundational writing course in the first year, the Krieger School has created small-cohort learning communities in which students establish foundational critical thinking and writing skills as well as mentoring relationships with our faculty from their earliest days on campus. These skills and relationships help students join communities within their majors and in research experiences, growing into the overall intellectual community at Hopkins.
Encourage cross-disciplinary exploration and experimentation.
The Krieger School has redesigned the foundation needed for our students to build expertise. We are decisively broadening our students’ education through a new curricular model based on six core Foundational Abilities: (1) Writing and Communication; (2) Science and Data; (3) Culture and Aesthetics; (4) Citizens and Society; (5) Ethics and Foundations; and (6) Projects and Methods. Our new model preserves the depth and rigor of the major as central to the undergraduate intellectual experience in the Krieger School. At the same time, it aims to inculcate the cross-disciplinary breadth and habits of mind essential to engage as rigorous, self-reflective, knowledgeable, creative citizens in a democratic society – habits of mind that will increasingly depend on a deep and agile AI literacy.
Enrich learning through research and creative activity.
A signature component of a Hopkins undergraduate education is the ability to engage in primary research. The Krieger School is committed to increasing opportunities for mentored research as well as student-initiated learning both inside and outside the traditional classroom. Undergraduate research occurs on campus in project labs in the natural sciences, research labs in the humanities and social sciences, experiential labs in the field across the globe, and in funded research opportunities supported by the Office of Undergraduate Education. Programs such as the Hopkins Semester and new opportunities emerging from the university’s Arts Initiative will also provide opportunities for co-curricular, immersive learning.
Integrate support throughout and beyond the curriculum.
In re-imagining the undergraduate curriculum, we must also consider the support structures that secure access to the full experience we want for our students. This includes a holistic academic advising curriculum and deeper partnership with departments and programs as they develop their own tailored faculty mentoring models. Designing robust academic pathways for our students also depends on innovative pedagogies and new modes of academic support both during and adjacent to the academic year. With support structures that respond to their progress through the curriculum, students can take intellectual risks and integrate our mission of discovery into their lives.
Our accomplishments
2024-2025
First-Year Foundation
In the third year of the First-Year Seminar (FYS) requirement, student survey data showed an increase from 90% to 92-94% across measures for intellectual engagement, peer community, and faculty mentorship. In fall 2024, 94% of students agreed that their FYS “provided an opportunity to have meaningful interactions with faculty instructors.” The tandem Reintroduction to Writing course well exceeded the KSAS average for “usefulness of work” (4.5/5 for Reintro courses compared to 3.9/5 for all other courses), which meaningfully reflects the course’s focus on writing agility. The impact of the First-Year Foundation is visible in broader metrics of satisfaction with the undergraduate experience. Per the Enrolled Student Survey, students who indicated that there was at least one faculty member who has a personal interest in their success moved from 45% in 2021 to 65% in 2023 and further to 67% in 2025.
Aligning the curriculum
The Krieger School has enrolled its first class in the new general education model. The fall 2024 cohort is moving through a curriculum grounded in Foundational Abilities (FA) and, alongside whatever major they elect, must experiment with new types of courses and methods of inquiry. In particular, we have made progress in developing courses that reflect FA #4 (citizens and society / democracy) and stimulating a greater diversity of FA offerings within STEM departments. The curricular remodeling of the undergraduate experience is supported by a strategy of continuous assessment, a revamped advising curriculum, and department-specific modes of mentoring. For the first time, a KSAS cohort is experiencing the designed alignment of richer academic wayfinding, holistic advising, and tailored faculty mentoring.
Growing through experiential learning
Students grow through learning that is embodied, applied, and relevant. Experiential learning opportunities are presented in many ways – through a growing number of courses with explicit experiential components, our Hopkins Semester D.C., and mentored research. In 2024-25, our expanding partnership with the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) stands out, with over 1,100 students participating in a curricular experience with the BMA, a 61% increase from the previous year. While many visitors were first-year students on site with their FYS or Reintroduction to Writing course, students from all cohorts affiliated with a dozen KSAS departments, centers, and programs were included. The deepening tie between KSAS and the BMA exemplifies the high-impact experiences that have growing prominence in the KSAS undergraduate curriculum and were reflected in courses this year that took political science students to Jamaica, behavioral biology students to Honduras, and film students to Los Angeles.
Teaching innovation
The need for innovative pedagogies was embedded in our earliest call to revitalize the undergraduate experience. In 2024-25, a new focus on our teaching-and-learning compact is manifest across the undergraduate curriculum. Against a baseline of required placement exams in math and chemistry, we have developed academic on-ramps for incoming students that build peer connections early and are fully integrated in the math and chemistry curricula they navigate during the academic year. Similar initiatives now support learning readiness for upper-level chemistry and physics courses. Pedagogical interventions that originated in math service courses are radiating out through the Gateway STEM curriculum via the coordinated work of teaching and training specialists and new practices in supplemental instruction. In a parallel effort, the curricular partnership between the University Writing Program and all majors continues to embed and enliven the role of writing across the curriculum, an effort supported by redesigned training for both University Writing Program teaching fellows and Writing Center tutors.
2023-2024
First-Year Foundation
AY2023-24 marked year two of a boldly re-envisioned undergraduate experience anchored in a required First-Year Seminar (FYS) in the fall and a required First-Year Writing Course in the spring. In the past year, KSAS offered 74 unique FYS courses and 72 sections of Reintroduction to Writing, each capped at 12 students. The First-Year Foundation contributed to a significant jump in a key metric for satisfaction with the undergraduate experience. Per the Enrolled Student Survey, students who indicated that one or more faculty member demonstrated a personal interest in their success moved from 45% in 2021 to 65% in 2023.
A new general education model
A new general education model has been approved by faculty governance structures. With assistance from the KSAS Dean’s office and the Office of the Registrar, all faculty undertook an exercise to tag their courses by Foundational Ability. After careful review to ensure that all KSAS majors can accommodate the increased breadth associated with the new distribution requirements, the model is ready to launch with the incoming class of 2024. To optimize the new model, students can rely on their academic advisors for holistic support throughout their studies.
Expanded research and creative activity
With most of our undergraduates engaging in research and creative activities, we have expanded access to such high-impact experiences. The Hopkins Semester D.C. launched in the spring with a curriculum of research and coursework around the theme Global Affairs and Policy. All students in the Hopkins Semester cohort completed experiential projects including internships at Brookings, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, federal agencies, and non-profit organizations. Students were also matched with D.C.-area Hopkins alumni and met throughout the semester.