3 students named to College task force
Evan Boggs
Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Campus News
Three students were selected late last week by the Undergraduate Council of Students to serve on the recently created Task Force on Undergraduate Education.
Jason Becker '09, Fiona Heckscher '09 and Kumar Vasudevan '08 were chosen from 30 applicants during a week-long selection process that included written applications and interviews with UCS members, said Sara Damiano '08, the UCS academic and administrative affairs chair, who was in charge of selecting the committee members.
The task force was announced March 1 in a campus-wide e-mail from Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98. The committee, which will undertake a broad review of the College and its curriculum, will comprise 13 members, including 10 faculty, two of whom are also members of the University administration.
"Demands on educated people are changing," Vasudevan said of the task force's importance. "We don't need to give up our philosophy - it's just adding onto what we already have," he added.
"I don't think the discussion has ever reached the level it is at now on campus," Becker said. Professors have begun to discuss revamping concentrations they supervise, and departments have begun to recognize that the New Curriculum may have shortcomings, he added.
"Seems to me that the environment is appropriate for change right now," Becker said.
Vasudevan said his experiences as a South Asian studies concentrator pushed him to apply for the position. In a program he described as "diffuse" and lacking in strict requirements, Vasudevan found an atmosphere of academic inquiry he would like to spread across campus.
"I was frustrated with the idea that I was forced to justify every class I was taking," Vasudevan said, but he added that he now feels this process should be applied to other more restrictive majors.
Vasudevan said the curriculum should require students to think about why they take the courses they choose regardless of whether they are required for a concentration.
Jason Becker '09, Fiona Heckscher '09 and Kumar Vasudevan '08 were chosen from 30 applicants during a week-long selection process that included written applications and interviews with UCS members, said Sara Damiano '08, the UCS academic and administrative affairs chair, who was in charge of selecting the committee members.
The task force was announced March 1 in a campus-wide e-mail from Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98. The committee, which will undertake a broad review of the College and its curriculum, will comprise 13 members, including 10 faculty, two of whom are also members of the University administration.
"Demands on educated people are changing," Vasudevan said of the task force's importance. "We don't need to give up our philosophy - it's just adding onto what we already have," he added.
"I don't think the discussion has ever reached the level it is at now on campus," Becker said. Professors have begun to discuss revamping concentrations they supervise, and departments have begun to recognize that the New Curriculum may have shortcomings, he added.
"Seems to me that the environment is appropriate for change right now," Becker said.
Vasudevan said his experiences as a South Asian studies concentrator pushed him to apply for the position. In a program he described as "diffuse" and lacking in strict requirements, Vasudevan found an atmosphere of academic inquiry he would like to spread across campus.
"I was frustrated with the idea that I was forced to justify every class I was taking," Vasudevan said, but he added that he now feels this process should be applied to other more restrictive majors.
Vasudevan said the curriculum should require students to think about why they take the courses they choose regardless of whether they are required for a concentration.