More heads have always been better than one. On Saturday morning ten professors, gathered together with coffee and breakfast for their weekly meeting to discuss the Common Core Curriculum.

Acknowledging their work, the Davis Educational Foundation granted Sacred Heart University $80,000 to provide stipends for the professors teaching the new curriculum. As of now, ten members of the faculty from various disciplines come together each week to develop an innovative multidisciplinary curriculum, and in the fall of 2009, an additional ten faculty members will be added.

"The work they are doing is unique, distinctive, and challenging because it asks each faculty member to reach beyond his or her own discipline to learn and study material from their colleague's discipline," said Dr. Michelle Loris, professor and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Forming this new curriculum, the team of professors hope to offer their students an invaluable experience that can apply to their life after college. Based on the Essential Learning Outcomes research, students need an education that challenges them to answer philosophical dialogue in all subjects.

"The Core has really allowed these kinds of conversations to take place, and the Davis Fellows are especially lucky to have time set aside specifically to development these integrative models of thinking and learning," said history professor Jennifer McLaughlin.

However, it has not just provided a rigorous program for students but a new challenge for faculty as well.

"As a Davis fellow, I have really appreciated the chance for intellectual dialogue with my colleagues from other departments. I have a deeper understanding of some of their disciplinary perspectives and a broader sense of what teaching in the Core can and should be," said Jennie-Rebecca Falcetta, an assistant professor of English.

Through their joint efforts, the professors have had the opportunity to more thoroughly explore different subjects of knowledge and communicate their own.

We rarely get to work so closely together to develop curriculum in such a collaborative way. It's a pleasure to be able to throw ideas to the group to see what kinds of connections we can make and think about the ways in which each of our disciplines informs the others, said McLaughlin.

Others have found it a better way to delve into the larger philosophical questions of the curriculum.

"It's been a great experience to interact with my colleagues in other departments in this way, and to discuss diverse disciplinary perspectives to exploring these 'big questions'," said Dr. Geffrey F. Stopper, an assistant professor of Biology.

Like Sacred Heart, many other schools receive grants from the foundation in support of rigorous educational programs.

According to the Davis Foundation's Web site, "the foundation is an expression of the [Davis] couple's shared support and value for higher education and has provided over $75.8 million in grants to more than 139 institutions."

As the core develops at Sacred Heart, some students believe that it will enhance the quality of education.

"I have taken a few core classes, and they have been interesting. As it develops, it will be an appealing program for future students," said junior Julie Giononi.