This session introduces the overarching questions the academic planning process should address. What will be the mission of selective liberal arts colleges and universities in the 21st Century? What is Wesleyan's distinctive place among our elite competitors? What challenges will we face from changes in technology, demography, and the global economy? What does it mean to say we are committed to liberal learning, to a faculty of scholar-teachers, and to a mission to educate a diverse student body and to prepare them for democratic citizenship and leadership?
1. Susan F. Hirsch, "Finding Ourselves in Difference: Critical Ethnography in the New Century"
2. Steven Horst, "Deep the Hunger: Liberal Education and Local Culture in the 21st Century"
3. Robert A. Rosenbaum, "The Relation of the Academy to Society"
4. Richard Slotkin, "Teaching and Scholarship at Wesleyan"
Session 2
Learning Essential Skills
Oct. 1
Convener: Douglas J. Bennet
Chair: Michael Roberts
Discussants: Michael McAlear and Laurie Nussdorfer
If we are committed to the pursuit of liberal learning rather than to instruction in a specific body of knowledge, what are the skills of critical inquiry and communication that define a liberally educated person and how can we best teach these skills? What students do we wish to attract to Wesleyan?
1. Gage Averill, "Skills, Attributes, and Competencies in Arts Education"
2. Peter Frenzel and Anne Greene, "Wesleyan Writing"
3. Laura Grabel, "Essential Skills for Science and Mathematics Students: Creation of a Level Playing Field and Beyond"
4. Paula Sossen Lawson, "A History of General Education Reforms United States Colleges and Universities"
5. Scott Plous, "Enhancing Diversity at Wesleyan: A Social Psychological Perspective"
6. Rob Rosenthal, "Essential Skills in the Social Sciences"
What is the body of knowledge that supports these essential skills? How does the university create, conceptualize, and present the knowledge that is learned and communicated through teaching and research? What goals should shape each student's curricular choices across the four undergraduate years? What should the relationship be between departments and interdisciplinary programs? What are the implications for governance, including the staffing of departments and programs?
1. Susanne Fusso, "A Humanist's Perspective on the Wesleyan Curriculum"
2. David Gary Shaw,"A Consummate Education"
3. William Herbst, "The Ideal Curriculum: One Scientist's View"
4. Ron Kuivila and Jeffrey Schiff, "SURFING THE TSUNAMI: Arts Education at the Millennial Moment"
5. Ákos Östör, "Cultural Difference, Visual Image, and the University: An Intercultural Education for the 21st Century"
6. Gayle Pemberton, "On becoming descript: Interdisciplinarity and the Curriculum"
7. Ann-Louise Shapiro (in collaboration with Christina Crosby, Jill Morawski, and Joe Rouse), "Report on the Role of Interdisciplinary Scholarship in a Liberal Education"
8. Michael Weir, "Involving Students in the Creation of
Knowledge"
Will changes in technology, demography, or the global economy be truly transformative in their effects on Wesleyan and other selective liberal arts colleges and universities? Will the incomes of the families of prospective students keep pace with the growth of costs in selective liberal arts colleges? Is technology a threat to the residential college or a resource we can even more effectively exploit?
1. Jane Edwards, "Responding to Globalization: Strategies in the Liberal Tradition"
2. Steven Horst, "Liberal Education and the Information Age"
3. Irina M. Russu, "One View on Science Education at Wesleyan in the 21st Century"
4. Khachig Tololyan, "The Humanities in the Twentyfirst Century"
5. Robert Adams, "The Wesleyan Library of the Future"
How will we know if we have succeeded in our mission? Can the learning of skills of critical inquiry and communication be truly measured? What should be our academic planning priorities? How can we serve our alumni in a relationship of life-long learning?
1. Nathan Brody, "Can Learning Be Measured"
2. George R. Creeger, "In Their Own Words: Trustee Assessment of Their Wesleyan Education"
3. Charles Lemert, "Liberal Learning, Ethics, and the Coming Triage Society"
4. Don Moon, Paper on civic education and leadership
5. Peter Patton, "If technology may indeed 'unbundle the university,' will the residential college become archaic?"
6. Mark Slobin, "From Multiculturalism to Convivencia"
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