Special Academic Programs

Community-Based Learning

The Office of Community-Based Learning provides shared, community-based experiences and reflective opportunities that serve the entire campus community and all academic departments. Our goal is to strategically support faculty, students and the Baltimore community while focusing resources and expertise toward the continuing development of thoughtful and informed global citizens.

By actively connecting academic coursework with engaged learning in the community, students investigate assumptions about race, class and privilege, and learn how to develop beneficial, sustainable community partnerships. All academic disciplines and divisions (humanities, social sciences, sciences and the arts) incorporate community-based learning practices.

Special Programs

Futuro Latino Learning Center

On weekends, Goucher College is transformed into a bustling international center for the local community. Administered through Goucher College’s Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL) and Professor Frances Ramos-Fontan, the Futuro Latino Learning Center (FLLC) was created in response to a critical need for English as a Second Language (ESL) services for a rapidly growing immigrant population in Baltimore County.

The center offers a wide range of educational programs that respond to the needs and interests of the area immigrant community. Participants gather in the Athenaeum’s Pinkard Community Service Center on Saturdays from 11am-5pm to practice conversation skills and to receive ESL and basic computer-literacy training. For children, there are kids’ play programs from children ages 1 through 18, and a cultural heritage program to keep in touch with their Hispanic heritage while their parents are working to reach their own educational goals. More than 70 Goucher community members, including student leaders, staff the center.

Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) and Writing Workshops at the Baltimore County Detention Center 

The Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) is an extension of Goucher College. Our primary goal is to offer an excellent college education to men and women incarcerated in Maryland. We operate two on-site higher education programs in state prisons.  While we are a division of Goucher College, all courses at the prisons are funded individual donations and a few private grants. We rely heavily on volunteers from the campus and the surrounding community.

Courses are taught by Goucher faculty and, occasionally, by faculty from surrounding colleges. Goucher faculty and upperclassmen serve as tutors for the Goucher students incarcerated at the prisons. Students from the main campus also engage with the project as research assistants (serving as a bridge between the academic library on the main campus and the students at the prison), program assistants (assisting with programmatic projects and clerical work), teaching assistants, or as peers in co-enrolled courses taught at the prison but serving both incarcerated Goucher students and students from the main campus.

Examples of Community Based Learning Courses

• CBL 115  - Gateway to Service (2 Cr.)
• CBL 299  - Independent Work (1.5 Cr.)
• COM 301  - Topics in Media and Communication (3-4 Cr.)
• PCE 148  - Nonviolence, Mapping, and (r)Evolution (4 Cr.)
• PSY 226  - Relational Psychology (4 Cr.)
• SOC 393  - Seminar: Sociological Analysis of Selected Topics (4 Cr.)
• SP 130S  - Intermediate Spanish with Community-Based Learning (4 Cr.)
• SP 230  - Intermediate Conversation and Composition (4 Cr.)
• SP 263  - Spanish in the Workplace: Language and Culture (4 Cr.)
• THE 390  - Internship in Theatre (3-4 Cr.)

Frontiers First Year Seminars

The Frontiers First Year Seminar program introduces students to the pleasures and demands of the liberal arts and sciences and initiates them into the rich academic life of the Goucher College community. Taught by faculty from across the disciplines, each Frontiers seminar draws on the passions, expertise, and creative interests of an enthustiastic professor to investigate cutting edge material from multiple points of view. In these seminiars, students develop analytic and syntetic thinking skills and explore different perspectives through which to examine assumptions. Class discussions are enriched by community and creative projects, guest speakers, field trips, and hands-on investigations. Goucher’s first-year seminars foster independent thought, student responsibility, intellectual curiosity, collaborative inquiry, and the joy of active learning. Goucher II students who enter as first-year students are required to enroll in Frontiers. ISP 110 and ISP 110Y taken in the fall semester fulfill the Frontiers requirement. All incoming first-year students are required to pass FRO 100, FRO 120, ISP 110 or ISP 110Y to be eligible for graduation. Individual course listings are available through the First Year Portal and on the Goucher College website.

Individualized Interdisciplinary Major

The individualized interdisciplinary major is intended for those students whose intellectual interests converge in an activity that is not directly addressed by any existing program, double major, or combination of major and minor. Students must complete 45 credits in courses that focus on the methods and content of three or more disciplines and balance the contributions of each discipline. The interdisciplinary major will have a primary faculty sponsor and must be approved by the chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Division and a committee of faculty from the departments or programs from which the courses for the major are taken. The same committee will review the updated proposal in the semester before its completion.

Applicants should have a 3.0 GPA overall. Exceptions will be made if the student has a 3.0 in the semester before the application is made and the GPA is reasonably close to 3.0. The student must initiate the process for declaring the major before the registration period for second semester of sophomore year. Contact Program Director Mary Marchand for the complete guidelines.

International Scholars Program (ISP)

The International Scholars Program (ISP) is open to all incoming first-year students who want to broaden their perspectives through intensive academic inquiry and firsthand experience abroad. Structured as an ongoing program that runs through all four undergraduate years, ISP integrates international study with multidisciplinary seminars examining the contemporary global condition.

The seminars are designed to complement any major or academic program of study. First-year students fulfill their Frontiers requirement with a full-year seminar (fall, spring, and January terms) that introduces global perspectives. A one-credit sophomore seminar utilizing social media and in-class discussions, provides a context for appreciating the role of cross cultural engagement in a student’s academic program of study. After completing study abroad, ISP students return for a senior roundtable in which they share and compare their international experiences with those of their classmates.

The Study-Abroad Experience

Typically, students will travel abroad for a semester after completing the first two seminars (110Y and 210). This could happen as early as second semester of their sophomore year or as late as first semester of their senior year. Students are required to study for a semester, primarily because we are convinced that the real benefits of living abroad accrue over an extended time period.

Language Component Requirement

Adequate language proficiency will provide students the necessary tools to engage in meaningful exchanges and make the most of the genuine immersion experience of study abroad. Language proficiency for this program is defined as a basic mastery of the four language-learning skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It is strongly recommended that students complete at least one additional semester of language training beyond the level of college proficiency.

All students studying in non-English-speaking countries will be required to take the language of the society in which they are studying.

Students who are placed in the 130 level when they enter Goucher are strongly encouraged to take an additional year in that language. Students may choose another language for the study-abroad experience.

First-year students who are placed in the 110 or 120 level are encouraged to participate in one of the three-week language- intensive courses. ISP students are further encouraged to consider living on language floors.

Students with documented learning disabilities that prevent them from learning languages can petition to meet this requirement through culture classes specially arranged with the ISP adviser and the disabilities specialist.

Physical Education and Athletics

Physical Education and Athletics have been key components of the Goucher experience since the founding of the college. Together they complement Goucher’s commitment to developing a student’s intellectual growth and leadership skills. Students learn to test physical limits, develop responsibility, work together as a group, and understand the basis for establishing a balanced lifestyle.

The department encourages the development of vitality and health through the activity courses, where students take one course from a variety of choices offered through physical education. Athletics plays an important role in the student life of the campus. As competitive participants, students learn to draw strength and courage from within. The testing of mental and physical limits is integral to building positive self-esteem and important in the development of leadership skills. In addition to the Welsh Gymnasium and von Borries Swimming Pool, the Virginia and Alonzo Decker Jr. Sports and Recreation Center complex includes a cardio fitness center; a strength and conditioning center, dance studios, athletic training room, locker rooms, a racquetball and a squash court, and a multipurpose room. Outdoor facilities include three natural grass practice fields; eight tennis courts; an indoor and outdoor riding ring; stables; a synthetic turf field with lights, an eight-lane synthetic surface track and stadium field, a nine-hole disc golf course; and five miles of wooded riding, jogging, and hiking trails that are used by the cross country team and many students on campus.

Recreational Sports Program

The hallmark of recreational sports at Goucher is participation. The program provides facilities, equipment, and activities to meet the diverse needs and interests of the entire college community. Recreational sports includes three facets in programming: intramurals, sports clubs, and recreational events. Within these areas are opportunities for competition in team, dual, and individual sports for men and women; practice, instruction, and competition in common-interest group activity; and nontraditional, self-paced activities. The program is flexible and based upon the interests of the college community and the availability of facilities.

Intramural Sports

Most recent activities include basketball, softball, flag football, tennis, ultimate Frisbee, indoor soccer, and volleyball.

Sport Clubs

Sport clubs are recognized student organizations formed by individuals with a common interest. Sport clubs promote student participation in a wide variety of physical and athletic activities, provide greater opportunity for student competition at various levels of play, contribute to the development of student leadership, and provide a bond within individual clubs. Most of all, sport clubs are a great place to learn a sport, meet people, and have fun. The key to the success of this program and each club is student leadership and participation. Sport clubs are administered through the Office of Student Engagement and the Sports Club Umbrella. Each club is formed, developed, governed, and administered by the club’s student members. Clubs that have sustained interest in recent years include Ultimate Frisbee, fencing, jujitsu, hip-hop, gymnastics, and yoga.

Varsity Sports Program

The intercollegiate athletics program offers 10 varsity sports for women and eight varsity sports for men, as well as an equestrian intercollegiate athletic program for men and women. Goucher is a member of the Landmark Athletic Conference and has NCAA Division III affiliation. Students may fulfill the activity course of the physical education requirement by successfully completing one season on an intercollegiate team.

Fall Sports

Men’s and women’s cross country, riding, soccer, and tennis, and women’s field hockey and volleyball

Winter Sports

Men’s and women’s basketball, riding, indoor track and field, swimming

Spring Sports

Men’s and women’s lacrosse, riding, tennis, outdoor track and field

Equestrian Program

The Equestrian Program is part of the comprehensive physical education program and offers small, personalized riding classes for riders at the novice through advanced levels. The program emphasizes a contemporary approach to hunt seat riding. Throughout the year, students participate in horse shows and riding clinics both on and off campus. Goucher is a member of Region I of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, and intercollegiate competition is available to students on the varsity riding team. The Riding Club provides a variety of non-riding, horse-related activities and sponsors riding events on campus. Goucher’s riding facilities include college-owned horses, 21 box stalls, a 150’ by 180’ sand ring, an indoor riding ring, a hunt course area, and fields and trails with cross-country jumps. For information on boarding a private horse in the college stables, contact the director of the equestrian program.

Study Abroad

The college sponsors summer, winter, and semester study abroad programs. Students interested in studying abroad should contact the Office of International Studies (OIS) for further information. Students receiving any financial aid should consult the Office of Student Financial Aid before planning to participate in a study abroad program. Goucher institutional aid, including Goucher grants and scholarships, as well as any state aid, do transfer to any Goucher semester study abroad program, up to the cost of Goucher tuition for the first semester abroad experience. Participants are billed Goucher charges for their study abroad program, not the fees indicated in program literature or websites.

Students are considered in-residence while enrolled in a Goucher program. Credits and grades earned abroad on Goucher semester programs, Goucher ICAs and Goucher summer programs will be counted towards a student’s credit accumulation and calculation of grade point average. Semester courses must be taken for a letter grade with the exception of some designated language courses that may be taken pass/no pass. Consult OIS for these designated courses.

Generally, students will be allowed to transport their Goucher institutional aid for only one semester, except for reciprocal exchange programs, the Costa Rica Monteverde Institute program, or the Goucher Oxford University yearlong program. Students majoring in a foreign language, Peace Studies, or International Relations are eligible to study abroad for an additional semester with their financial aid, but must apply through their respective program.

Goucher Semester Programs Abroad

Approved Non-Goucher Semester Programs

By offering cover 60 Goucher semester study-abroad programs in 32 countries each year, Goucher College strives to meet the varied academic interests of our students. However, if a student believes that non-Goucher semester program meets their academic needs, s/he may petition the associate dean of international studies for approval. To obtain approval, the proposed program of study should form an integral part of the student’s overall academic plan. Goucher institutional aid, including Goucher grants and scholarships, as well as any state aid, do not transfer to non-Goucher semester-abroad programs. Students may work with the financial aid office to transfer any federal aid, such as Pell Grants or Stafford Loans, for which they qualify to these programs. However, this may affect their overall financial aid assessment upon return to the college. Verification of program length is required since semester programs shorter than 15 weeks in length could result in a proration of any applicable financial aid funds. Students will be considered enrolled at Goucher while attending approved non-Goucher semester programs.

Coursework taken on any approved non-Goucher semester program must be taken for a letter grade. Grades below C- are not acceptable for transfer credit. Students with senior status applying to study on an approved non-Goucher program must comply with policies pertaining to the college’s residency requirement. An official transcript from a regionally-accredited college or university, or an international institution recognized by the ministry of education in that country, must be submitted for coursework to transfer into Goucher College. The study abroad voucher (if applicable) applies to only Goucher programs and will not be awarded to students who complete the study abroad requirement before coming to Goucher or who participate in programs that are not approved in advance by the associate dean of international studies.

Goucher Intensive Courses Abroad (ICAs)

These courses are all led by Goucher faculty members. Course descriptions are available under the appropriate academic program. Although most ICAs are offered every other year, these programs are subject to change without notice.

Goucher Summer Programs

Program and specific course descriptions are available in OIS. These programs are subject to change without notice.

Approved Non-Goucher Summer Programs

There are many approved non-Goucher summer programs. Contact OIS for more information.