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Attendance
Present: Indira Nair, Jean "Stakhanovite" Vettel, Scott "Fast Tracking" Sandage, Kenya Dworkin, Erika Linke, Kristina Straub, Denise Wittkofski, Laura Lee, Anne Ray, Susan Ambrose
Absent: Janet Stocks, Jeff Walch
Fall 2000 Meeting Times
Thursday, October 13 Minutes
Thursday, November 9 Minutes
Thursday, December 7, 9:30AM-10:30AM, Class of '87 Room (University Center)
Upcoming Multi-Disciplinary Discussions on Campus
Curriculum Conversation:
What can students gain from inter- & multi-disciplinary work? Wednesday (11/15) and/or Thursday, (11/16) 3:15PM-4:30PM, Wright Room (UC)
College Dean's Point/Counter Point about Value of Multi-Disciplinary Education, December 1st, Time TBD
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| "How Dare the Phenomena Be Non-linear?!?!?" |
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Meaning of our terms: InterDisciplinary and MultiDisciplinary
Disciplines provide a scholar with an identity, so these courses can be seen as an attack on that identity
CMU takes great pride in calling itself "interdisciplinary"...
for most CMU folks, multidisciplinary seems to suggest a dilution of the course
does the term reflect the content of the course or the type of student? CFA Interdisciplinary Courses were created as a way for non-majors to take CFA classes, and, therefore, the term describes the student population in the class
remember that the goal of the inter/multi terms in the original UEC discussion was to capture the idea that these courses would educate students to think across the range of paradigms used in different disciplines; recast the name given to these courses as integrated studies...
Integrated Studies
need for a division/program that would act as a clearinghouse for inter- and multidisciplinary courses
avoid the misconception of the class by housing it in a specific department (discipline)
concern that if the courses are separated too much, no one will feel that they 'own' the course
the 99- University Studies course number designed for these classes but faces current problems with students finding the classes listed in this category
Broadening Education via General Education
remember that the 1st and 4th years are broadening, while 2nd and 3rd are focus
current GenEd categories capture the skills that the student will develop, but our suggested categories were attempting to capture the realms of human meaning
important that these categories capture the need for a community based component; student learns from outside the classroom
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| UEC Promotes Educational Innovation |
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"Fast Tracking" a Course for Fall 2001
troubling concern: this idea that the Language Based Humanities must defend their ability to offer anything useful to the students, the 'soft scholarship' needs to defend its existence
YET you may have heard of the "Enlightenment", a revolution in the Humanities which is the source for all the modern day sciences; not to mention the need to look at non-western epistemologies
idea: team taught course for fall of 2001 that would pair a distinguished science scholar/professor to serve as the authoritative figure (Hugh Young, Dana Scott suggested) with either an established figure in the humanities (Kate Lynch suggested) or a junior faculty member who crosses the 'boundries of science and humanities' (Michael Witmore suggested, Shakespeare scholar who teaches History of Science)
suggested course title: History of Knowledge; concern about the word "history".. what about the "Evolution of Knowledge"??
Elective Semester: Students Situate Themselves in the World
with the revamped advising system in place, students have a semester to reflect on what their education has given them thus far, explore who they are and how they may want to fit into the world as a person and as an intellectual, and evaluate how they want to shape the remaining time as an undergrad to capture these thoughts and desires.
basic thoughts about structure: student is about halfway through the undergraduate education, take only one class in their major that semester, student may need to propose their statement of goals for the semester (select with coherent rational.. cue advising system), one aspect of the semester would be the community service component to meet non-academic folks, and provide a more relaxed time during the "burn-out" phase
crucial to think about timing: although the spring semester sophomore may seem best since the "freshman depression" has moved to sophomore year.., important that the proposal allow the best semester to be determined by the personal and professional development of the student in their undergraduate program (Laura shared the concept learned from her interdisciplinary studies course that freshman students do not benefit as much as sophomore as juniors based on their development process)
Pilot These Ideas
use the CIT initiative in place to encourage breadth??
have a group of 250 students or so take the seminar in the fall and then the elective semester in the spring, evaluate success
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| Allocated Tasks and Agenda for Next Meeting |
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Allocated Tasks
Jean will send paper via snail mail to all members: Benson, Thomas C. Five Arguments Against Interdisciplinary Studies. Association of Integrative Studies: University of Maryland, 1982.
All committee members ponder the implementation of the "elective semester"
Next Time
continue to investigate the idea of an elective semester
refine the goals and tasks of the task force
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