EPC Report to the Faculty Fall 2009

This fall EPC has continued our work on Division I based on the ongoing discussion of the last several years. At the end of last year there was a sense that as EPC began to address the “4 areas” voted by the faculty in March 2009, we needed to avoid hitting many of the stumbling blocks we faced last year relating to the specifics of the “4 areas” (e.g. questions about whether we wanted to emphasize skills, exposure to ideas, modes of inquiry, etc. while avoiding recapitulating what we already have).

Thus, this fall we have decided to tackle the issue from a new, different, perhaps more holistic perspective. The overarching idea is to review the intent of Division I, highlighting


 * 1) aspects of Division I that should be addressed with structural changes and
 * 2) aspects that should be addressed through existing structures, including creative curricular experiments and practices historically and currently utilized at Hampshire.

The ultimate goal of this review is to better understand what to include in the “4 areas” and how this change may interact and impact other areas of potential structural change such as the learning goals.

To date, we have reviewed and explored the points of agreement across the faculty and students (through our school representatives) about the types of skills, attributes, and qualities students need by the time they get to Division II. We have surveyed the ways in which we are already addressing these issues through experiments both inside and outside the classroom. We are hopeful that this process will help us address what changes might be proposed in relation to the learning goals and the distribution requirement in keeping with the concerns shared by many across the college that Division I incorporate, among other things, more opportunities for independent work and flexibility in coursework, while simultaneously preparing students for Division II through an intellectually coherent and exciting Division I program.

Due to limited time during the semester EPC is currently planning to meet with the school deans over an extended period of time during January Term to work through different possibilities and ideas so that we can bring a well vetted set of proposals/recommendations to the faculty in the spring semester for further faculty input.

We aim to eventually put together a proposal/recommendations that has two components, one set related to non-structural changes and another related to how we might change the structure (including the “4 areas"). We hope that this process will include strong faculty feedback as we begin to bring ideas to the faculty through school meetings and through larger all-faculty meetings.