After reviewing faculty input on various aspects of the University, President Michael Roth has outlined five broad initiatives forming a list of the University’s priorities: strengthening the undergraduate experience, internationalization, the “creative campus,” College of the Environment and civic engagement.
In October, Roth invited faculty members to submit two-page proposals addressing any aspect of the University’s educational experience. Faculty members submitted a total of 47 proposals—many of which were written by several professors or entire departments. Most of the proposals focus on developing and expanding curriculum.
The main thrusts of the first initiative, strengthening the undergraduate experience, include hiring more professors, creating a more concrete first year program and encouraging all students to do some type of last year project that would function as a “capstone experience.”
The particular components of this plan have yet to be decided upon. One possibility is to broaden first year initiative courses to include a required freshman course, the goal being to give more shape to the first year experience at the University. Roth would also like to see each student do some sort of senior thesis or project.
“Many students do this already but we haven’t successfully described this experience and tied it together in a coherent way,” said Roth.
According to Roth, this means broadening the idea of a written senior thesis to whatever could be creatively integrated into the student’s particular discipline.
The second area of focus looks to change the way the University approaches international studies. Referred to as “a stool with three legs,” this initiative looks to globalize the curriculum, double the number of international students, and strengthen study abroad programs. A Middle East Studies Program is in the works.
Roth also says that he would like to see more languages taught here. Parts of this language initiative will be implemented as part of the Summer Language Institute.
“Creative campus,” another initiative, will be an effort to expand students’ creative work to all areas of campus, from arts departments to molecular biology. Roth would like to see students exploring creativity through experimentation that would serve their respective disciplines.
“Wesleyan has an edgy, creative, experimental, risk-taking student body,” Roth said.
He feels, however, that the creative work produced is not consistent across the university, and would like to make it easier for students to be creative in their field of study.
As part of fostering a more creative campus, Roth wants more art courses and an expanded writing program. The new writing program is likely to include a writing certificate program, possibly a writing major in English, more writing courses and writers on campus, a Writers’ House that coordinates events with the Writing Program’s Distinguished Writers series and an expanded Wesleyan Writers Conference.
“President Roth has expressed his strong interest in Wesleyan’s writing programs,” said Director of Writing Programs Anne Greene. “The particular configuration of the new programs is being discussed.”
The idea of the Writers’ House is to have a center for student writers that will involve them closely in writing activities and writers’ visits. Within a year, the Writers’ House may also include a student residence and coffee house. The non-resident house programs will begin next year, using the Russell House as a center.
New writing tutorials are being planned, as are other workshops and special events for students.
Greene is now asking each guest writer who visits the University to compile a reading list of books for students who are interested in training themselves as writers. These reading lists will be used in new student-run writing tutorials. Alex Ross, the well-known blogger and music critic for the New York Times, is coming this Wednesday and will be preparing the first booklist.
Also being considered is a graduate studies program in writing as well as a screenwriting program.
The fourth initiative is the College of the Environment, which will be an enhanced environmental studies program modeled off of the College of Social Sciences and College of Letters.
“[The goal is to] graduate students who are conversant in environmental issues,” said Professor of Earth and Environmental Studies Barry Chernoff, who authored the proposal for the College of the Environment. “We have to understand better our relationship to the environment in a deep and scholarly way. If it comes to pass, the program will work to graduate citizens to change the fabric of life for the country.”
The environmental studies major would be the second component of the major. The senior “capstone experience” would integrate environmental studies into whatever is appropriate in the student’s primary field of study.
“Environmental issues by their nature are multi-disciplinary,” Chernoff said. “It’s so central to campus, environmental studies in a sense belongs on Andrus Field.”
As with the other initiatives, the time frame for this program is still uncertain.
An enhanced commitment to civic engagement is the last of the five categories outlined in the plan. Focusing on “action and study,” Roth would like to bring programs like the Green Street Art Center, Traverse Square and WesPREP together in a coherent form and facilitate monetary donations to these programs.
“I’d really like every student to have the possibility of some dimension of civic engagement in their Wesleyan education,” Roth said.
Professors were pleased with Roth’s openness to their ideas and criticisms.
“It is a way of honoring a faculty to ask their opinion of what direction should the university go,” said Professor of American Studies Claire Potter. “It speaks well of a president when he begins his work at the institution by doing this.”
After all of the proposals were submitted, faculty, administration and senior Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) representatives convened to discuss, rank and roughly group the proposals. Since not all of the proposals can be implemented, they tried to look for themes that could be developed into areas of focus.
Proposals called for earlier academic commitment or major declaration, more COL and CSS-like programs and more graduate studies programs (in areas such as writing and film, for example). A proposal for a medical school at Long Lane was even considered. Other proposals include creating a digital library and a racial and ethnic-directed studies concentration for freshmen and sophomores.
Students were also impressed by the initiatives.
“The mere fact that he recognizes activism and creativity at Wesleyan is enough for me,” said WSA member Alex Levy ’08 said. “I appreciate that. It’s unrealistic to expect sweeping changes. In six months Roth has done a lot.”
In his hopes to engage all members of the University community with these initiatives, Roth will soon be inviting both students and alumni to share their ideas for the University.