Multidisciplinary Task Force Minutes
February 14, 2001

jvettel@andrew.cmu.edu Posted February 19, 2001
Administrative Details
  Attendance
  • Present: Indira Nair, Jean Vettel, Kenya Dworkin, Erika Linke, Kristina Straub, Janet Stocks, Mark Egerman, Ashley Deal, and Claudia Kirkpatrick
  • Absent: Scott Sandage, Laura Lee, Susan Ambrose, Denise Wittkofski

    Fall 2000 Meeting Times
  • Thursday, October 13 Minutes
  • Thursday, November 9 Minutes
  • Thursday, December 7 Minutes

    Spring 2001 Meeting Times
  • Wednesday, February 14 Minutes
  • Tuesday, March 13 Minutes


  • Potential Meeting Times for next meeting: to be determined

    Hand in Hand: multidisciplinary framework nourishes the disciplinary mind
      Sequence vs Cluster
  • instead of a sequence of courses about the human condition (with the cumbersome world of prerequisites), think in terms of a cluster of courses in a particular aspect of the human condition

    Categories of Human Meaning
  • the current categories reflect the nature of disciplines, i.e., the creation and production of knowledge
  • our task is to reframe the categories to reflect the nature of the world, i.e., the meaning and struggle of being human

    Analytical Skills
  • we need to be careful to distinguish our focus on analytical skills from the current focus on 'problem-solving,' since issues facing the human condition are not always 'problems' nor do they always need a 'solution'
  • however, we also need to remember our obligation as Carnegie Mellon to society, namely, to 'produce' a particular set of professionals
  • Our Process
      Focus on a gradual, *evolution* of the general education
  • create 5 or so categories which capture elements of human meaning, the human condition
  • write descriptions to convey the intended meaning to the audience (departments, advisors) who implement the General Education requirements
  • map the existing GenEd courses as well as the multiDisc seed funded courses under these categories
  • expect that the departments will adapt these categories to their current breadth requirements; we are not designing a universal GenEd program for the university
  • consider our goal as catalog copy.. documents shared with advisors, potentially students..

    Additional Aids of Communication..
  • Indira will request time at each college mtg to share the model and ease the process of adoption
  • we also hope to convert Indira's presentation to the President's Council into an article for FOCUS to share the motivation for the broadening education, hourglass model
  • Allocated Tasks and Agenda for Next Meeting
      Allocated Tasks
  • All committee members work on descriptions for as many of the new categories as possible:
    1. Environments and Sustainability
    2. Mind, Body, and Society ... or ... Mind and Society
    3. Economy and Technology
    4. Creation, Expression, and Communication
    5. Knowledge, Culture, and Language ... or ... Knowledge and Language
  • fine tune the category descriptions to present them to the UEC meeting in March


  • Last Updated: March 14, 2001 12:35