Goal 1: Improve the Educational Experience of Undergraduates
The College of Arts and Sciences has no more important missionthan to educate undergraduate students in the liberal arts. As facultymembers in a research university, we recognize four dimensions of ourobligation to educate undergraduates. First, we must provide a solid groundingin fundamental skills so that every graduate will be able to think rigorously,reason quantitatively, and communicate logically-constructed argumentsin written and oral form. Second, we must insure that students receivea broad basis of knowledge across a spectrum of disciplines, so that theywill realize that the world is a larger place than they can know frompersonal experience, made up of people who differ from themselves in importantways; and so that they will understand that this world can be known inother ways than those in which they choose to specialize. Third, we mustprovide every student with rigorous training in at least one discipline,so that our graduates will be capable of making critical judgments andcontinuing to learn independently after the completion of formal academicinstruction. Finally, we must provide opportunities for our students,in proportion to their individual capacities and desires, to advance knowledgein their chosen disciplines by participating in research and creativeprojects under faculty guidance. This, our highest aspiration, marks theunique contribution of the College of Arts & Sciences to the Universityas a community of inquiry. To achieve all four of these interdependent,mutually supportive goals, we propose the following objectives:
1.1. To maintain and regularly revise a coherent curriculum that will educate students broadly across the spectrum of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences disciplines represented in the College. The distinctive value of a liberal arts education is the breadth of intellectual experiences that form a common basis for students to succeed in the academy and beyond. Because skill in written communication is an essential prerequisite for success in undergraduate education, the College must embrace the principle that written course work be an integral component in every area of the curriculum. We support the efforts of the Writing Steering Committee to expand the University Writing Program and place it on a firm financial footing. The College, too, must support these efforts. Because mathematics and quantitative reasoning are critical to the success of our students not only as members of the College, but also as members of society, it is essential that we add rigor to introductory-level mathematics and quantitative instruction in the College. The culmination of a student's progress through the College curriculum is the award of a degree with certification of the student's completion of the requirements for a major. An important component in a first-class liberal arts education is the opportunity to engage in focussed study with a scholar in one's discipline, an experience that the College aspires to offer each of its students.
- To this end we support the efforts of the Core Curriculum Task Force to evaluate, and if necessary modify, the existing core curriculum. The College should consider evaluation and modification of the Core Curriculum as a continuous process.
- Resources should be allocated to the Writing Program so that by the end of the academic year 2004-2005 every graduate of the College will have taken both a lower and upper-division writing course.
- Direct resources toward math instruction to the point that by the end of the academic year 2004-2005 every graduate of CU- Boulder will have received six credit hours of instruction or the equivalent at a high standard, and will be grounded in the fundamentals of quantitative reasoning.
- The College should structure its allocation of resources to departments to encourage and support small critical thinking classes for each senior in the major taught by a tenure-track faculty member.
1.2. To increase the opportunities for undergraduates to learn in small class settings. The Strategic Plan for Academic Affairs (5/31/96) identified the expansion of "academic neighborhoods" as a major goal for the campus. Within the College, we interpret this to mean the extension of opportunities for students learn in settings where discussions can freely take place in the company of their peers and with the supervision of a faculty member. We feel that the unique value of a liberal arts education in the College can best be imparted to our students if this experience begins in the first year. Currently, a significant number of entering freshmen in the College participate in programs such as the Academic Access Institute, Honors, FallFEST, Residential Academic Programs, Presidents Leadership Class, MASP, and First Generation Scholars. The large number of first year students currently enrolled in such programs has created an expectation that demands the extension of similar opportunities to the remainder.
- The College should enroll each first-year student in a small class experience specifically designed to integrate them into the learning community. Depending on their needs, interests, and preparation, their choice could be from a RAP, FallFEST, Honors, MASP, First Generation Scholars, the Academic Access Institute, President's Leadership Class, or another specifically designed alternative. It is vital that a diversity of choices be maintained if we are to meet the diversity of student needs. This may not require the creation of new programs as much as the redistribution and coordination of the existing effort.
1.3. To support individual opportunities for students to work with faculty actively engaged in research and creative work. Formal mechanisms to support such opportunities have focussed primarily upon programs such as Honors and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. In some disciplines students work with faculty members in independentstudies.
- To this end funding for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and the Undergraduate Research Assistants Program should be increased. At the same time, the College should create incentives for faculty to offer individual instruction and supervision of student research and creative projects. The College should also consider enlisting the resources of graduate students, postdoctoral students, and research associates to provide such instruction under appropriate faculty supervision.
1.4. To reduce the student/faculty ratio in those disciplines where it has grown unacceptably high. Class sizes must be consistent with the need for close individual scrutiny and critical evaluation of students' work. In some disciplines the number of student credit hours taught by faculty far exceeds any reasonable level and students' access to full-time faculty is severely constricted. The College must make every effort to ensure that faculty staffing levels are determined by academic, not economic considerations.
- To this end, measures of teaching contributions must be considered in allocating tenure-track faculty positions to academic units. Instructors' positions can also be allocated to departments on the basis of instructional needs, as appropriate to each discipline.
1.5 To employ non-tenure-track faculty in teaching assignments where necessary. Today, a significant fraction of undergraduate student credit hours is generated by non-tenure-track personnel, chiefly rostered instructors, honorarium instructors, and graduate teachers. In fact, the College cannot meet its teaching obligations without their contributions. Our non-tenure-track colleagues provide instruction of high quality. Many are employed to teach skills courses, such as introductory foreign language sections, writing, and mathematics. Some departments are able to employ outstanding instructors who are fully capable of teaching upper-division undergraduate courses. The College should recognize the crucial role of faculty in these ranks by supporting them in their professional responsibilities.
- The College should continue to embrace the principles espoused in the Boulder Campus Guidelines for the Appointment, Evaluation, and Promotion of Lecturer and Instructor Rank Faculty (also known as the "Instructors' Bill of Rights") and ensure that academic units have the capability to provide appropriate compensation for their most valuable instructors. Rostered instructors should be made eligible for special merit increases under the terms of the College policy on Special Merit. Likewise, the College should adopt a flexible approach to compensation for honorarium instructors. Each department should define the optimal balance of tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty within the unit as part of its strategic plan.
1.6. To enable all students to achieve their greatest potential as learners and scholars. All matriculating seniors should have the opportunity to write a thesis or conduct their own research or creative project. The College should expand the incentives to students and faculty to take advantage of these opportunities.
- The Honors Program should be expanded and the goals articulated in its 1999-2000 Honors PRP should be implemented. The implementation of these goals should proceed in concert with departmental honors programs At the same time, the College should endeavor to expand the number of residential instruction programs available to students living in university housing.
1.7. To share the expertise of the faculty and students with the community. Historically, colleges and universities have played a central role in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic and moral problems, a commitment to what has been termed the scholarship of engagement. Outreach extends the College's expert resources in teaching, research and creative work for the benefit of external audiences.
- The College should commit to developing more community and service learning programs in conjunction with our courses. This could represent an important aspect of faculty participation in outreach to schools in the state. The College should support faculty development of courses to expand our offerings and enlist the services of faculty who have successfully taught such courses.
1.8. To insure that students in large lecture classes will receive the best possible learning experience, the College should incorporate instructional technology in the lecture halls, provide appropriate levels of Teaching Assistant support, and encourage senior faculty to contribute to lower division instruction. Although the College strives to increase the opportunities for undergraduates to work with faculty in small class settings, many classes will continue to be taught in large lectures. A large lecture class can be a rewarding educational experience, especially when students are introduced to a subject by a senior scholar who is a recognized authority in her field.
- To this end the College should encourage departments to staff their large lower division lecture courses with distinguished senior faculty wherever possible. The College should continue to support faculty who incorporate instructional technology into large lecture courses in innovative and productive ways. Incentives should be provided to encourage faculty, especially senior faculty, to develop the lecturing skills needed for large classes.
1.9. To improve the quality of instruction provided by graduate teachers. Graduate students play a unique role in the life of the College, to which they contribute both as learners and as teachers. Teaching by graduate students is at once an important component in the training of those who elect to pursue careers in higher education and in the educational experience of our undergraduates. They benefit by learning from young scholars in the early stages of their careers in research, scholarship, and creative work. The College therefore has an obligation to ensure that graduate teachers are well prepared to perform at a high level in the classroom and that the teaching assignments of graduate teachers are consistent with the College's instructional mission.
- The College should foster collaboration with the Graduate Teacher Program and encourage departments to institute discipline-specific training programs. The number of recitation sections taught by graduate students should be increased in order to provide more support for graduate students and to provide more personalized instruction for undergraduate students.
1.10 To provide an effective academic advising program for undergraduates. The undergraduate advising program plays a vital role in ensuring that undergraduate students gain access to the full spectrum of educational opportunities that the College will provide, as we recommend above, and to ensure that they meet their degree requirements in a timely fashion. Information technology, including appropriate hardware and software, should be developed to improve accuracy of student records, to minimize the clerical effort involved in the advising process, to facilitate communication among students, advisors and faculty, and to permit advisors to devote more individual attention to students.
- The College should provide advising services to all undergraduate students to enable them to find the instructional resources of the College that will meet their individual needs and abilities. The College should support the development of informational technology to enhance the effectiveness of the advising program.
