Franklin & Marshall College recently decided to revise our mathematics major. Our first step in this restructuring was to spawn a list of "goals" for students majoring in mathematics. From these goals we developed the structure for a new major; this has entailed restructuring requirements, embracing a shift in philosophy, and creating two new courses. We will discuss one of these courses (Introduction to Higher Mathematics), a sophomore level course.

There are two questions we wish to consider in this paper: (1) Does this major actually succeed in its intended purpose? and (2) Are students achieving the goals we set forth for them? Question (2) is important because it is an indicator of how close we come to being able to say "yes" to (1), and also because it is easier to measure in a quantitative way. For that reason, much of the mechanism we will use to measure our success (or lack thereof) is already in place: testing. Built into the major is a scheme for deciding when certain skills will be assessed. In addition to this standard assessment, we have compiled a variety of subjective questions that are indicators of possible success.

We hope that our clearly-stated goals for ourselves and our students will clarify departmental expectations, allowing math students and their advisors to make intelligent and consistent choices about course selections and career options.

Annalisa Crannell, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
Alan Levine, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003