College review gains speed, on track for spring report
Evan Boggs
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: Campus News
The University committee charged with evaluating the undergraduate College met Sept. 11 in University Hall for the first time since May and the third time since it was created in March.
"It really felt like we launched," said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, the committee's chair.
The Task Force on Undergraduate Education, which is undertaking a broad review of the College and its curriculum, comprises 10 faculty members and four undergraduates and will make recommendations in the spring of 2008.
"We've kind of been framing the conversation, or occasionally getting off on tangents," said Jason Becker '09, a task force member.
The upcoming reaccreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges was also a key topic of discussion during the recent meeting, and Bergeron was enthusiastic about the potential results the "parallel process" of the two simultaneous evaluations could provide for the College.
"We talked about our task force's relation to the reaccreditation process and about what the task force's actual charge is," said Associate Dean of the College Kathleen McSharry, who staffs the task force.
"Are we critiquing the curriculum, are we reimagining, are we recreating or are we just describing?" she continued.
Barrymore Bogues, professor of Africana studies, chair of the department and a task force member, told The Herald meetings had so far been characterized by "a series of conversations about the meaning of the open curriculum, and I think those conversations will continue throughout the entire life of the task force."
Though Bogues said he was pleased with the direction the task force has taken thus far, he admitted that progress was difficult to determine.
"If you're going to have a series of discussions and conversations, you only outline what will be the key parts of the conversation. ... You don't get to some kind of definite conclusion or even begin to see the conclusion - the shape of what the thing will look like - until a bit further," Bogues said.
"It really felt like we launched," said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, the committee's chair.
The Task Force on Undergraduate Education, which is undertaking a broad review of the College and its curriculum, comprises 10 faculty members and four undergraduates and will make recommendations in the spring of 2008.
"We've kind of been framing the conversation, or occasionally getting off on tangents," said Jason Becker '09, a task force member.
The upcoming reaccreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges was also a key topic of discussion during the recent meeting, and Bergeron was enthusiastic about the potential results the "parallel process" of the two simultaneous evaluations could provide for the College.
"We talked about our task force's relation to the reaccreditation process and about what the task force's actual charge is," said Associate Dean of the College Kathleen McSharry, who staffs the task force.
"Are we critiquing the curriculum, are we reimagining, are we recreating or are we just describing?" she continued.
Barrymore Bogues, professor of Africana studies, chair of the department and a task force member, told The Herald meetings had so far been characterized by "a series of conversations about the meaning of the open curriculum, and I think those conversations will continue throughout the entire life of the task force."
Though Bogues said he was pleased with the direction the task force has taken thus far, he admitted that progress was difficult to determine.
"If you're going to have a series of discussions and conversations, you only outline what will be the key parts of the conversation. ... You don't get to some kind of definite conclusion or even begin to see the conclusion - the shape of what the thing will look like - until a bit further," Bogues said.