Smith College: Strategic Planning


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STRENGTHEN ESSENTIAL STUDENT CAPACITIES


1	Provide students with alternative "roadmaps" for structuring the courses outside the major in meaningful ways, including integrative and interdisciplinary courses and experiences.

Highlight interesting models from alumnae and students of successful use of the curriculum and other experiences to build capacities and prepare for the future beyond Smith.
Provide students with a "shouldn’t miss" list of courses from across the curriculum akin to the list of non-major courses provided by the sciences.
Develop interactive web-based groupings of courses arranged by topical themes, capacity areas, etc. Make the course catalog searchable via Web.
Complement topic descriptions of course descriptions and syllabi with an articulation of capacities addressed in each course.
Make it easier for students to self-design majors integrating coursework across multiple disciplines.


2	Encourage students to be more reflective of their curricular and other experiences and their learning goals as they progress.

Signal clearly to students the intellectual skills we deem to be essential to their education through advising, teaching, and other means.
Assist students in the preparation of electronic portfolios demonstrating their development in core capacity areas as they progress through Smith.
Require students to explain their rationale for non-major courses—how they fit together.
Encourage students to identify focus for at least one semester in which all of their courses are coordinated around a single theme or topic, perhaps culminating in an independent study or research or service project.
Expand the advising role beyond a single faculty member, using panels of faculty or advising teams to discuss curricular opportunities and exploring better uses of technology to deliver advising information and encouraging student reflection and planning. Enhance networking within college community, leveraging alumnae in various fields. Partner students with mentors in the field, perhaps alumnae, as a resource as they progress through curriculum.
Require students to prepare a one-page written reflection on their academic interests and goals and how the course they have chosen relate to those goals in advance of their meetings with an adviser. Upper level students could be asked to also reflect on how proposed courses build on the work in previous courses. (Julio Alves) SD1-1
Develop a rubric for juniors and their advisers to guide advising conversations. (Margaret Bruzelius / Committee on the Junior Year Experience) SD1-2
Replace current advising system with team-based approach consisting of a faculty member in the student’s stated are of interest, a faculty member outside this area, an upper division student in the area of interest, and (upon declaration of a major) an alumnae mentor/liaison. (Rob Dorit) SD1-3
Increase interactions between students abroad and advisers on campus to improve continuity and to avoid students falling behind with regard to honors proposals, etc.
Address effect of faculty sabbaticals on student advising.


3	Employ pedagogies and develop courses that strengthen essential student capacities.

Extend design clinic model from engineering to other disciplines as a model for linking academic study to issues, working in teams, and learning/demonstrating other desired capacities.
Use January term more effectively as an opportunity to expose students to other forms of learning, such as intensive courses (e.g., languages) and experiential learning.
Develop multiple entry points for students to engage important capacities and experiences.
Introduce a Civic Engagement and Leadership in a Diverse World course requirement. (Common Ground Diversity Committee) SD1-4
Strengthen spatial thinking at Smith by establishing a Visualization Studio within the existing Spatial Analysis Lab. (Jon Caris) SD1-5
In an effort to increase student’ quantitative skills, continue to offer the January term Math Skills Studio, initiate a one-week skills development course offered prior to the start of the academic year, and enhance training for peer tutors. (Doreen Weinberger, Linda Jones) SD1-6


4	Develop courses and programs that encourage integration of fields of knowledge.

Identify a campus-wide theme(s) for the year to serve as focal point for the curriculum, speakers, co-curricular programming, interdisciplinary courses, etc.
Offer more one-credit course offerings related to current events to broaden curricular exposure of students beyond their major(s).
Create a Division of Life Sciences to serve as an umbrella for the various life science- related majors and programs. (Rob Dorit) SD1-7
Construct new building for the arts to provide collaborative space for music, fine arts, dance, theatre, and film. (Rodger Blum / Arts Chairs and Arts Committee) SD1-8
Establish an Arts and Technology program (e.g., major, minor, center or institute) to create an interdisciplinary curriculum to meet the needs of today’s developing artists and scientists, to provide opportunities for collaboration, and to build on Smith’s already strong research and practice in this area. (Rodger Blum, Joanne Carlson, Judy Franklin, Ellen Kaplan, Barbara Kellum, Gary Niswonger, Pau Atela, Damon Blanchette, Lucretia Knapp, Jessica Nicoll, Joe O’Rourke, Karen Smith, Fraser Stables, Paul Voss, Steve Waksman, Edward Check, Thomas Ciufo) SD1-9
Develop interdisciplinary program in Costume Studies, including development of program guidelines and curriculum, a professor in Costume Studies, part-time administrative support, and funding for student internships. (Valija Evalds) SD1-10


5	Approach the curriculum with a developmental focus, defining objectives and experiences specific to each year in a student’s career.

Increase the number of first-year seminars, and extend the model to other years to focus students on different sets of capacities as they progress through college. Develop interdisciplinary courses around themes that enable students to understand the relationships among ways of knowing.
Offer advanced-level interdisciplinary seminars aimed at enrolling juniors and seniors from multiple majors to address intellectual, social, or other problem or issue, and to avoid their having to take 100-level courses to broaden their academic experience beyond their major field(s).
Develop interdisciplinary seminars offered at the junior and senior levels to investigate complicated issues. (Joseph O’Rourke, Susan Van Dyne, Barbara Brehm-Curtis, Jim Johnson) SD1-11, SD1-12, SD1-13
Require all first-year students to take at least two limited-enrollment courses. This would require developing/identifying a series of limited enrollment courses for which first-year students would be given priority registration. The courses could be seen as a partnership between faculty and staff, and could also be supported by a peer mentoring system. (Laura Katz) SD1-15


6	Leverage academic support units and other learning communities.

Assess more fully the needs of students and direct them to the support that will allow them to make maximum use of what the college has to offer.
Embrace opportunities to support students with weaker backgrounds with innovative programs and new approaches to entry-level courses.
Enhance collaboration among academic support functions and units and between these units and academic departments and programs.
Establish faculty development programs to structure courses so that our various support systems are built into student experiences. Encourage faculty to provide feedback on capacities to students in addition to the grades for particular courses.
Establish an institute of global visual culture to create a collaborative learning environment between the Museum and departments so as to educate students in visual literacy. (Jessica Nicoll, Barbara Kellum) SD1-14