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It is our hope that this building will help create a culture and a community of scholarship that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. — Dr. Joseph Dreisbach & Dr. George Gomez
Anticipating the Dedication and Beyond With the dedication of the new construction portion of the USC planned for October 2011, and the renovation portion expected to be completed in summer 2012, we already look forward to the impact of the facility on our campus. We fully expect that the USC will be used by all of our faculty and all of our students in a variety of ways. The faculty commons area is specifically intended to serve as a place for all faculty to gather for meetings and colloquia, as well as for social events. We also expect that the facility will maintain, and likely expand, our community approach to teaching and learning in the sciences. We are anxious to see how, over the years, the faculty will choose to locate in the building and how they will work in crossdisciplinary efforts. As with any project, we seek some outcomes that will maintain the richness and strengths of a particular culture or an organization. But we seek others that will drive change and enhance existing strengths. We are confident that the USC’s design will address both sets of goals with great success.
Project Kaleidoscope’s Approaches that Strengthen Student Learning Curriculum: • contains a feedback loop of setting goals for student learning, choosing pedagogies appropriate for those goals, and assessing whether and how it all works • incorporates promising practices from the work of pedagogical pioneers • is grounded in research, reflecting solid understanding of how people learn and of the efficacy of specific pedagogies relative to particular learning styles • is designed to promote lifelong learning, focusing on critical thinking, problem-solving, communication (writing, speaking, electronic) skills • is infused with topics relevant to the current and future lives of students • brings contemporary science and technology into the learning environment • demonstrates intentional and communal efforts to ensure that the goals of the department/program are being met in the sequence of courses offered.
Facilities:
Joseph H. Dreisbach, Ph.D., is currently serving as interim associate provost for academic affairs at The University of Scranton. Dr. Dreisbach served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for 11 years after a 20-year career on the faculty of the Chemistry Department, which included assignments as chair of the department and director of the graduate chemistry program. In addition to his administrative duties, Dr. Dreisbach continues to teach chemistry. His research areas involve microbial degradation of non-biological compounds and applied enzymology.
• are flexible enough to support and adapt to multiple pedagogies and learning styles
George Gomez, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the University’s Biology Department. His research and teaching interests include avian and human olfaction; nerve cell growth and function in vitro; and cellular effects of hypoxia and hyperoxia. He is a member of the core faculty for neuroscience; biochemistry, cell and molecular biology; and the Asian studies programs. He also currently serves as the project shepherd for the unified science center project.
• send a message about the efficacy of active, discovery-based learning, and about the relationship of the quality of space and the quality of learning.
• foster sustainable learning communities • are fully mediated and interactive (wireless, chairs/tables on wheels) • have ubiquitous opportunities for writing, for collaborating, for connecting to and through technologies
Source: Project Kaleidoscope website: www.pkal.org/documents/WhatWorksPedagogies.cfm.
www.scranton.edu/sciencecenter Fall 2010 The University of Scranton
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collaboration cooperation community
FIGURE 3: View from Monroe Avenue.