Miami University’s new general education program will help students connect their educational experiences through internships, research, applied skills courses, ePortfolio reflection, and more.

Launching for fall 2027, the Miami Integrated Learning Experience (MILE) replaces the Miami Plan as the university’s general education program. MILE will intentionally integrate academic, co-curricular, and applied learning experiences to prepare Miami students for life and career.

Helping implement MILE throughout the university will be the Miami Integrated Learning Office (MILO). Led by its director, Elizabeth Hoover, MILO merges the Office of Liberal Education and the Office of Research for Undergraduates (ORU) and will support innovative curricular development and planning, champion professional and experiential learning, and oversee program assessment. MILO will continue programming for undergraduate research, as well as expand on the foundations established by ORU.

MILE will allow Miami students to create their own narratives and stories, while at the same time remaining relevant to their chosen majors. This will create what Hoover calls a “feedback loop” that will link students’ experiences throughout their time at Miami.

“We don’t want students to think of this as separate. It is an integrated curriculum,” Hoover said. “How does taking a course that doesn’t have a title tying to your major equip your skill set? How does general education amplify and inform your major? MILE provides that connective tissue.”

MILO manages all of Miami’s general education programming, including the Miami Plan and MILE, by working directly with the Office of the Provost, academic divisions and departments, Student Life, the Center for Career Exploration and Success, and Enrollment Management and Student Success, and by collaborating with the Howe Center for Writing Excellence (HCWE) and Center for Teaching Excellence for faculty development necessary for MILE’s success.

Those partnerships will be key to moving MILO forward.

“I am hoping there is joy and celebration in this change,” Hoover said. “MILE is an expansion of liberal education that distinguishes us nationally through our courses of applied skills, through our portfolio work, and through our holistic approach and evidenced-based practices.”

Hoover has been with Miami since 2012 and previously served as interim director of liberal education. Joining Hoover in MILO is Fabienne Bohon as the office’s coordinator.

MILO is currently conducting searches for four open positions. In the year prior to MILE’s launch, Hoover anticipates her team building the capacity for change to ensure a smooth launch of the new general education plan.

“This will be a year of establishing partnerships and relationships and implementing processes,” Hoover said. “I’ve been fortunate to have navigated multiple spaces across campus and have a sense of belonging in several areas. This office will be able to forge those connections in a way that will respect identity and belonging and also build community.”

MILE’s Integrated Learning Core (ILC) includes the following components:

• ILC 1: Formal Reasoning and Communication (6 hours)
• ILC 2: Science and Society (12-plus hours)
• ILC 3: Arts and Humanities (6 hours)
• ILC 4: Civic Literacy (3 hours)

MILE also includes the following Applied Professional Skills requirements:

• Applied Skills Courses (9 hours)
• Advanced Writing (3 hours)
• Capstone (3 hours)

The Applied Professional Skills requirement also includes an ePortfolio and co-curricular transcript. Students will create an ePortfolio during their first semester that will be revised each semester afterward. During senior year, the learning ePortfolio will be encouraged to become a professional ePortfolio through a capstone or culminating course. Each unique Applied Skills Course contributes an artifact and reflection, documenting how a transferable skill was developed through practice and feedback.

For the co-curricular transcript, Miami will use Ready Education as the official record of each student’s learning, activities, and achievements outside the classroom that will include leadership roles, volunteerism, student organizations, and internships.

“MILE is future ready,” Hoover said. “MILE will help our students become future ready no matter what the career is, no matter what they do professionally. As they progress with their learning portfolio, they will become more comfortable with describing the skills they are developing. They can describe specific examples of what they did at Miami to cultivate this skill set. They’ll be able to articulate what was invisible before.”