In a world changing faster than ever, how should a college education prepare students?
At Thomas Jefferson University, that question has guided the evolution of the Hallmarks Core for over a decade. Now, the University’s distinctive approach to general education has earned national recognition.
The Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS) recently named Jefferson’s Hallmarks Core the recipient of its 2026 Exemplary Program Award, recognizing the curriculum as a model for institutions seeking to strengthen student engagement, learning, and workforce relevance through continuous innovation. The award committee praised the program’s integration of general education, professional preparation, and institutional identity, as well as its commitment to ongoing assessment and improvement.
While the award celebrates the program’s accomplishments, its leaders say its greatest success lies in how it prepares students for life beyond graduation.
“We really think about what kinds of knowledge and skills students need for professional success, civic participation, and personal enrichment,” says Thomas Schrand, PhD, associate dean for general education. “That intentionality is what makes the Hallmarks Core different.”
A Different Approach to General Education
Every bachelor’s degree program includes general education requirements, but Jefferson’s Hallmarks Core takes a markedly different approach.
Rather than asking students to check off courses from a menu of disciplines like history, philosophy, or literature, the Hallmarks Core was designed from the ground up around broad learning goals that cut across disciplines. Students explore themes such as ethics, American diversity, and global citizenship while developing critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills that complement their professional studies.
Jefferson’s Hallmarks Core Earns National Recognition for Redefining General Education
Its greatest success lies in how it prepares students for life beyond graduation.
Rather than asking students to check off courses from a menu of disciplines like history, philosophy, or literature, Jefferson faculty designed the Hallmarks Core from the ground up around broad learning goals that cut across disciplines.
Meriel Tulante, PhD, serves as the Hallmarks Core program director.
Because Jefferson doesn’t have traditional liberal arts departments, the University had the rare opportunity to build a curriculum specifically for students pursuing professional careers.
“General education is its own freestanding entity,” says Meriel Tulante, PhD, program director of the Hallmarks Core. “It’s focused on learning goals rather than departments, which means students are encouraged to think across disciplinary boundaries and consider larger questions and problems instead of viewing subjects through just one academic lens.”
The Hallmarks Core also extends across all four undergraduate years rather than ending after sophomore year. Every student follows the same sequence of requirement categories, creating opportunities for nursing, architecture, business, health sciences, and design students to learn from one another throughout their college experience.
The curriculum begins with first-year courses, including American Visions and Writing Seminar I, continues with courses such as Contemporary Global Issues, and concludes with Philosophies of the Good Life, a senior-year course that encourages students to reflect on the kind of careers, values, and lives they hope to build.
Built to Evolve
Although the Hallmarks Core officially launched in 2014, its development began several years earlier through an 18-month, University-wide collaborative process that brought faculty together to define what a Jefferson education should include.
Rather than remaining static, the curriculum has been revised repeatedly in response to student feedback, faculty assessments, the 2017 merger with Philadelphia University, which expanded Jefferson’s undergraduate programs, and new challenges facing higher education.
“We really think about what kinds of knowledge and skills students need for professional success, civic participation, and personal enrichment,” says Thomas Schrand, PhD, associate dean for general education. “That intentionality is what makes the Hallmarks Core different.”
“We’ve never viewed the Hallmarks Core as something you roll out once and leave alone,” Dr. Schrand says. “We’re continually asking what’s working, what’s not, and how we can make the experience more meaningful for students.”
That commitment to continuous improvement was one of the qualities that impressed the AGLS award committee, which cited the Hallmarks Core as “a strong and transferable model” for redesigning general education.
Recent innovations include new pathways in health humanities, design humanities, and environmental humanities, developed through support from a $250,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. These pathways allow students to connect their professional interests with broader questions about ethics, society, and the human experience.
Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future
As artificial intelligence transforms higher education, the Hallmarks Core faculty are once again rethinking what students need most.
Interestingly, their conclusion wasn’t to add more AI to the curriculum. Instead, they decided to place even greater emphasis on distinctly human skills.
We can really adapt our curriculum in real time. We value faculty expertise, collaborate extensively, and can act on the ideas that come out of those conversations. That’s something quite special.
Following Jefferson’s participation in the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum, the Hallmarks Core is introducing an “analog classroom” initiative. The approach encourages students to complete much of their graded work during device-free class time, helping them develop critical thinking, writing, and problem-solving skills independently while also learning to use AI appropriately outside the classroom.
“We’re really trying to preserve the cognitive abilities of our students and make them responsible for their own work,” Dr. Tulante says. “We want them to develop their own thinking.”
Dr. Schrand believes those foundational skills will only grow in value as AI becomes more widespread.
“If all you can do is type prompts into an AI tool, why would you stand out from any other job applicant?” he says. “We want our students to distinguish themselves through their human skills, while also having the judgment to ask AI the right questions and evaluate its output intelligently.”
A Curriculum That Reflects Jefferson
For Drs. Schrand and Tulante, the national recognition is gratifying not simply because of the award itself, but because it affirms Jefferson’s broader educational philosophy.
Without traditional academic departments competing for space within the curriculum, the Hallmarks Core has the flexibility to adapt quickly as student needs and the world around them change.
“We can really adapt our curriculum in real time,” Dr. Tulante says. “We value faculty expertise, collaborate extensively, and can act on the ideas that come out of those conversations. That’s something quite special.”
Dr. Schrand sees the Hallmarks Core as an important part of what distinguishes a Jefferson education. “This curriculum is very responsive to the University’s mission and to the needs of our professional students,” he says. “This award gives us an opportunity to spotlight what makes Jefferson special and what students experience when they come here.”