Page 6
Thursday, November 15, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
UCS discusses College curriculum review with task force members continued from page 1 tees schedule their own individual meetings. The subcommittees are divided into teaching and assessment, general education, concentrations and advising. Kathleen McSharry, associate dean of the College and dean for chemical dependency, gave the council an overview of the general education subcommittee’s work, dispelling fears that a core curriculum was being considered. “There have been zero conversations about that,” said McSharry, who staffs the committee. McSharr y told UCS that the aim of the subcommittee was to determine “what does the open curriculum mean for today’s students” and how the University can support students in navigating their education.
Discussions have also revolved around the growing phenomenon of students completing their concentration by the end of their junior year and how the University could work to provide for upperclassmen courses similar to first-year seminars. Task force member Jason Becker ’09, speaking on behalf of the concentration subcommittee, said the group is trying to define “what does it mean to have a concentration.” “It’s important to understand why you have something before you talk about it,” Becker said. Becker also mentioned the possibility of strengthening the College Curriculum Council’s abilities to review entire concentrations and the possibility of each concentration requiring a well-defined “mission of purpose.” Task force member Michael Par-
adiso, professor of neuroscience, said the subcommittee on teaching and assessment has been focused on what elements of a course students were attracted to or disappointed by, as well as the importance of course evaluations as a method of professor evaluation. Responding to a council member’s inquiry about greater faculty involvement in student life, Rakim Brooks ’09, UCS academic and administrative affairs chair and a member of the task force, said, “It’s a fine line. ... Is it too much to perhaps move back to Faculty Fellows with faculty (in) dorms? Or faculty near campus off-hours?” Brooks explained. Discussing the freshman advising program, task force member Hannah Pepper-Cunningham ’08 said the advising subcommittee was concerned with “how we can make that initial relation more robust.” The subcommittee has also discussed concentration advising, sophomore advising and training support for faculty advisers, PepperCunningham told The Herald. Other concerns voiced by UCS
members included rumors that the University will hire professors known for seminal work in their field, regardless of their abilities as lecturers, to boost the University’s standing amongst its peers. “As long as we continue to maintain we’re a university-college where teaching is important, it won’t change,” said task force member Sheila Blumstein, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, who has served in the past as an interim president, provost and dean of the College. Blumstein also described a case in which an applicant said teaching courses was something he did only because it was required. “He was never invited here,” she said. A council member expressed concern about communication between the task force and the student body, and Glassman closed the council’s discussion with the task force by urging UCS members to “think about ways we get students involved.” Becker told The Herald that he found the apparent lack of student interest in the committee’s My-
Courses page and the task force section of the dean of the College’s Web site frightening and said he was “concerned that people aren’t using the outlets we’re providing.” “I would say that we are dying to hear student opinions,” said task force member Fiona Heckscher ’09. To boost student input, the student members of the task force have organized a series of focus group discussions. Becker said the first one will take place this evening and will be a chance to discuss with small groups of students specific issues and broader concepts the task force is discussing. A Facebook group created by the student members, informal one-onone conversations and larger open forums — the first one to be held Monday — are other methods the task force is employing to receive feedback from students on the committee’s work. UCS also elected Tyler Rosenbaum ’11 as a representative-at-large and Harris Li ’11 as head delegate to IvyCouncil, an organization of Ivy League student governments.
Brown’s gender gap is narrowing continued from page 1
www.browndailyherald.com
Between 2004 and 2006 the admit rates for men were 3 to 4 percent higher than for women, according to data obtained from the Office of Institutional Research’s Web site. “We’re trying to admit the best class we can admit, and gender falls where it falls,” Miller said. In 2006 the University admitted 1,341 women and 1,190 men. Some of the factors that affect the gender gap are out of the University’s
hands. Miller said Brown does not control the composition of two of the three components in the admission process: the people who apply and the people who matriculate. “The composition of the class, ultimately, is who shows up,” Miller said. The percentage yield of women in the Class of 2011, for instance, was higher than for men, Miller said. The gender gap at Brown reflects a national trend, as more women than men across the country are seeking undergraduate degrees. Brown is in line with its peer
schools. The Herald reported in April that the percentage of female students at Brown is slightly larger than it is at other Ivy League schools. Last year, Yale University’s female enrollment rate was 49.3 percent, and the University of Pennsylvania was 51.9 percent female. Tracy Barnes, coordinator for institutional research, said that it takes many years of moving data to indicate a trend. “Change from one year to another,” she said, “may or may not actually reflect a trend.”