By Neil Schoenherr
March 30, 2001
If you're wondering how the new curriculum will enrich the educational experiences of future undergraduates, take a close look at how students are currently benefiting from programs such as Text and Tradition, FOCUS, International Leadership, Pathfinder and Hewlett.
"Text and Tradition was made for me," said Bill Bulman, a junior who came to the College of Arts & Sciences already enthusiastic about literature, philosophy and history. "I was thinking about majoring in philosophy, but I really wanted to get a solid basis in the traditional liberal arts areas before deciding. In the first two semesters of Text and Tradition, we read Plato, Aristotle, and works of many the major Classical thinkers that people were reading in the 18th and 19th centuries, and who continue to influence our culture today."
A popular elective in Arts & Sciences for more than 20 years, the Text and Tradition program allows students to explore the classical texts and intellectual traditions upon which Western culture has been built --from Greek political and moral philosophy to the insights of Darwin, Marx and modern novelists. Through courses such as Classical Literature, Early Western History, The Emergence of the Modern Mind, The Rise of the European State, Puzzles and Revolutions, and The Great Economic Thinkers, students emerge with a concise grounding --and a minor --in the humanities.
For Laura Mendiola, Arts & Sciences class of 2003, the promise of the new curriculum has been anticipated in the college's FOCUS program, which consists of small yearlong seminars coupled with companion, clustered courses that encourage the dynamic interchange of ideas and lively debate on topics such as "Thinking Clearly About Moral Issues: The Search for Values," "Writers as Readers" and "America's Changing Health Care System."
"FOCUS was a highlight of my first year," Mendiola said. "We're looking at the way health care is changing. It was a great class. It gave me insight into what's really out there in medicine, and helped convince me that a future in medicine --while not easy --is a good way for me to go."
Asa Eslocker, also in Arts & Sciences class of 2003, gained a taste of the new curriculum via the International Leadership Program, a two-semester offering designed to prepare students for global leadership roles in tomorrow's society. Team-taught by professors with specialties in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the program includes courses on related topics in anthropology, economics, history and foreign languages.
"We studied international political theory, the balance of power, European history and even the Cold War," said Eslocker, describing his first semester, which included a course on international politics and a "Global Cities" seminar examining the relationships of Mexico City, Tokyo and Los Angeles to the international world.
Finally, offering perhaps the most fully-formed prototypes for the new curriculum are several innovative, two-year interdisciplinary programs sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The Hewlett Program in American Culture Studies uses the Lewis and Clark expedition as its theme. Students take courses taught from the perspectives of natural science, literature and history, as well as a coordinated course in English composition. During the second semester, students take a spring break field trip to some portion of the Lewis and Clark exploration trail.
The Hewlett Program in The Mind-Brain examines key ideas about attention, memory and language, including course work from a natural science, philosophical and psychological perspective. Students participate in a weekend retreat where they meet mentors who will work with them during the sophomore year.
The Hewlett Program in Environmental Studies offered a cross-disciplinary, two-year program of intensive study on environmental topics, including a weeklong research trip to California's Mojave Desert or to Native American sites in New Mexico.
In 2000, the environmental Hewlett Program evolved into the Pathfinder Program in Environmental Sustainability, offering students an integrated course of study that spans their entire undergraduate experience. Pathfinder is unique in that students work closely with the same faculty mentor for four years, pursuing research, field work and other special projects that complement their individual majors in Arts & Sciences or the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Until now, these programs have been available to students on a first-come basis. But beginning this fall, the new curriculum will enable all first-year Arts & Sciences students to take part in these extraordinary opportunities to work in small groups with distinguished faculty members on areas of mutual interest.
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