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The Smith College Faculty Council distributed
the following letter to faculty on March 9, 2006.
Dear Colleagues,
Planning, especially curricular planning, is a mandatory
part of the reaccreditation review that Smith will
soon undergo: the reaccreditation team will evaluate the quality and intelligence
of our efforts on this
front. The present membership of Faculty Council represents all three divisions and
five academic
disciplines: physics, engineering, women’s studies, education and child study,
and (pre-modern) literature.
The six propositions outlined below result from our own cross-disciplinary conversations,
and we offer
them for faculty discussion. Members of the faculty are invited to contact us directly
or to take part in
the remaining campus-wide planning discussions on March 15, 12-1:30 p.m. (College
Club, lower level);
March 15, 4:30-6 p.m. (College Club, lower level); and March 16, 12-1:30 p.m.
(Campus Center 204).
Sign up for a session on line at www.smith.edu/planning.
I. Frame the strategic planning process in a way that
creatively links our future to our past.
In posing the question of ‘what distinguishes us from our competitors?’ we
run the risk of simply
tinkering with the margins of issues, rather than boldly charting a path for Smith
that remains true to its
history and mission and yet distinguishes us from other institutions. It was Sophia
Smith’s wish “that the
institution be so conducted, that during all coming time it shall do the most good
to the greatest
number.” How are we to interpret these words in light of the changing demographics
of our student
population, remaining true to our history of academic excellence and high expectations,
and providing all
of our students with the resources needed to succeed in meeting these expectations?
How do we as an
institution choose to make an impact on the world, and how should we structure the
curriculum and,
indeed, the very organization of the college to do this best?
II. Stimulate inclusive discussions that value and respect
the intellectual commitments of the
entire faculty and preserve the college's core strengths.
As Smith contemplates further commitment of resources to science, technology, and
social policy, we
should also recommit ourselves to the historical dimension of our curriculum and
to the college's
traditional strengths in the arts, languages, and literature. Smith's extraordinary
resources for the study of
the humanities – faculty, courses, performing spaces, and distinguished collections – have
taken many
years to build up, and it will take active effort to ensure that these resources
remain meaningful to
students who come to Smith from a national culture increasingly myopic and present-oriented.
As we
add to the curriculum vital new areas of study, we must also sustain our longstanding
commitment to
international study and the languages that support it, to the visual and performing
arts, and to a richly
nuanced study of the past.
III. Commit to excellence in undergraduate learner-centered
education.
By this we mean first, ground the planning process in
the current educational literature regarding how
students learn. Have CAP and the Provost’s office sponsor a series of seminars
with invited speakers in
which we dig deeply into this topic and ask how we can commit to structuring the
curriculum around
what is known about how students learn vs. what we think is best for them. As we
aim to develop further
our excellence in teaching and learning strategies, we must also recognize that scholarship
about learning
can and should be integral to an institution committed to the highest quality undergraduate
education.
IV. Commit to undergraduate research (broadly defined)
as a focal point of our curriculum.
Smith has the potential to educate outstanding
thinkers and problem-solvers if we are willing to invest
further in faculty-student collaboration and in helping students find meaningful
ways to satisfy their
curiosity and imagination. Fostering student research will require a campus-wide
commitment to helping
students connect what they do in the classroom, laboratory, studio, library, or community
to their
personal values and longer-term goals. This will require self-knowledge, the ability
to answer questions
such as these: Who am I? What matters to me? What are my passions and values? How
do I want to
make an impact on the world, both locally and globally? If our students are to have
the courage to effect
change, they need to understand what matters to them and why. Distinguished by their
intentionality,
rigorous training, and multidisciplinary perspective, the women we educate will not
only continue to
achieve professional success and bring honor to the college, but they will also work
toward solutions to
urgent social, cultural, aesthetic, philosophical, educational, scientific, and technological
challenges.
V. Contextualize the need for capacities by embracing
the need for complex thinking in
response to complex problems.
The important issues that students may ultimately find themselves engaging in are,
by their nature,
complex. Some of these challenges are already evident: poverty, quality of and access
to health care,
technology literacy and the digital divide, sustainability and stewardship of the
environment, education,
human rights, freedom of expression, conflict resolution, and many more. All of these
problems are
messy and difficult, and they require complex, interdisciplinary thinking skills.
Research in higher
education has stressed that the best practice for ensuring students’ abilities
to address such problems is
through synthesis and integration, not simply through the satisfaction of distribution
requirements.
VI. Encourage the creation of alternative models for
achieving curricular initiatives.
The strategic planning process should enable faculty
to take risks, rethink organizational structures, and
propose creative ways of achieving institutional goals. As staffing and curricular
needs shift, we urgently
need to talk to each other across the curriculum, to think beyond departmental losses
(which are deeply
felt) toward new connections and a reconfigured core.
In closing, we believe that the most energizing and
productive approach to planning would be to focus
on Smith’s historic mission and distinctive strengths as they relate to the future.
We offer the above
suggestions as a starting point, and we look forward to lively discussion and debate.
Sincerely,
Faculty Council:
Malgorzata Pfabe (Chair)
Nancy Bradbury
Susan Etheredge
Borjana Mikic
Marilyn Schuster |
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Essential
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