With Rowan’s exponential growth over the past year, more class sections for general education classes have been added for students, increasing the number of course offerings and adding new sections for classes in math, world history, and writing.

The idea of classroom expansions has been analyzed in the university’s Master Plan by the Office of Academic Scheduling and Dean of Students Kevin Koett who continues to look over class sizes, availability, and academic buildings. An extensive aspect of this plan involves engaging with current students to gather their feedback, looking towards preparing for the university’s future. 

“We’ve gone through a pretty extensive [process, with] lots of student involvement. [We are] trying to create a corridor through the middle of campus, to add classroom buildings, [and] to add residential facilities, all of that is pretty exciting for the future,” said Koett. 

Working towards advancing the Master Plan, Koett meets monthly with academic deans aiming to cater to the specific needs and concerns of students. Koett and the Master Plan’s team are completing a project that is focused on looking at the technology in classrooms and finding out what the adequate classroom size is for students. 

“The bigger issue that we’ve got to look at, [and] we’re looking at it in the Master Plan is the very question of, what’s the right classroom size for Rowan?” said Koett. “Is it 50? Is it 75, is it 20? Certainly, I know it’s not 20, but what’s the right size? We’re looking at [that through] the Master Plan, building more buildings that have classroom focus [and] classroom opportunities.” 

All Rowan classrooms are under fire code, which means there are limits to how many students can make up a class. Each classroom is assigned a capacity that’s amount of students in class cannot surpass. It is state law that the university must abide by this code. 

“One of the biggest challenges for all faculty on this campus is finding the classroom at the time you want it for the right class or room for a particular class based on our schedule. So that’s a real challenge for the deans to make sure that happens,” said Head Professor and Chair of Rowan’s History Department, Janet Lindman. 

While taking in the largest freshman class to date for Rowan this fall semester, the university also gained a new nursing program welcoming 120 new students. This meant that the new class had to all be enrolled in specific general education sections such as world history, putting pressure on the courses offered. The History Department added a new section of the world history course this semester to relieve the problem of potentially overcrowded classrooms. 

“I know with this new class of freshmen that came in, they have big numbers. Which on one hand is great, but if they can’t sustain that in terms of offering them courses over the time of the year, then that’s also a problem,” said Lindman. 

Some underclassman students find the limited number of course sections offered to contribute to them often struggling to find space in the classes they are interested in taking. 

“I don’t think our college course offerings meet student demands as adequately as they should, as so many popular classes reach capacity so quickly,” said freshman Jess D’Orazio, an Exploratory Studies major. “This kind of limitation hinders students’ educational experience and could affect some students’ ability to complete degree requirements in a timely manner.” 

Other students have found classrooms to be larger than they are supposed to be. 

“I definitely noticed some of my classes are definitely crammed, and especially in Robinson, I mean, I’ll have classes with like 32 kids, and you know, we’re struggling to push,” said senior education major Luke Neff. “When we’re getting out of our chairs, we’ll like back into somebody. It could run smoother if the classes were a little bigger and if there were less kids in the class.” 

Rowan University aims to meet and listen to students’ concerns while working to address the issue of lack of classroom space by expanding facilities and the Master Plan.

“I think it’s a great conversation. It’s something we absolutely need a dialogue about and to do a better job of meeting the needs of students,” said Koett.

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