W hat happens during the first two years after a Mount Holyoke student walks through the College's gates for the first time? How might this crucial period be improved to facilitate the most effective liberal arts experience for the College's first- and second-year students? These and related questions were the inspiration behind a two-day workshop attended by nearly seventy members of the MHC community February 4 and 5. The event included a panel discussion with students; plenary sessions and focus groups on topics ranging from "Revisiting the Curriculum in the First Two Years," to "How Can We Make Information Technology a More Central Part of the Curriculum for the First Two Years?," to "Strategies for Enhancing Faculty Advising;" and a talk by Edgar Beckham, a Mount Holyoke trustee.
Making Connections "Making connections" was the theme of the workshop, which was organized by the Committee for the First Two Years and spearheaded by Jane Brown, dean of enrollment; Beverly Daniel Tatum, dean of the College; and Penny Gill, Mary Lyon Professor of Humanities. Gill, who shared opening remarks with Tatum, expressed her wish to engage participants in "talks across the usual department responsibilities and identities." Feeling connected, said Gill, is key to student success, adding that links "between curriculum, cocurriculum and off-campus personal life" can determine students' level of confidence and sense of direction. She asked participants to "brainstorm" on "what makes a student able to claim her own participation in the many facets of the College community."
The Student Perspective Two current students and an alumna spoke on first- and second-year triumphs and travails. Dilrukshi Fonseka '00, a native of Sri Lanka, talked of her initiation into college life through social contacts and her residence-hall community rather than through academics. "I was very homesick and I chose the wrong classes," Fonseka said of her first year. It was through "individual relationships with my professors" that Fonseka ultimately "found [her] place at Mount Holyoke."
Kira Hudson '00 also overcame obstacles before wholeheartedly embracing Mount Holyoke. But for Hudson, one of only two African Americans in her residence hall, academics offered her the connections that residence-hall life failed to provide. Racial tensions in her hall "tore me down," she said, but various Mount Holyoke advisers provided her with a "lifeline." A first-semester independent study in psychology with Beverly Tatum "made all the difference," Hudson said. She also found support through the Association of Pan African Unity and a local church.
Stephanie A. Mackler '98 described her earliest Mount Holyoke connections, which were made largely through residential life and squash team experiences, and praised "the classroom experience" at MHC. During her sophomore year, Mackler attended Wesleyan College on an exchange program, and when she returned to South Hadley, she said, "It was an amazing intellectual revolution. My small classes were incredibly demanding. I was very challenged."
Mackler and the current students also offered suggestions on ways to ensure early connections. "There's nothing better than hearing your professor trust you more than you trust yourself," said Fonseka. "Helping students feel their choices are valid," Hudson added, is key. Mackler, who is exploring the meaning of a liberal arts education in her graduate work, said she would "like to see a component in all classes about why we are studying what we're studying." Race relations at MHC was also mentioned by Hudson as a pivotal area to be addressed.
Two Keynote Speakers Diversity was at the core of Edgar Beckham's talk, titled "American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy, and Liberal Learning." A senior fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, Beckham emphasized the importance of three elements in higher education: "quality, diversity, and the education of students for participation in civil society, and, in particular, in democratic society." "We are at a crucial point in the history of higher education" concerning issues of "diversity, democracy, and liberal learning," he said. According to Beckham, diversity is "an educational resource" inherent as well in the political arena, which enables "engagement in difficult dialogues." Democracy itself "mediates difference," he said. "Without difference there would be no possibility of democracy." In closing, Beckham suggested that students reflect on the "intersection of social identity and social history," addressing issues of who they are as individuals and what historical factors contribute to their identity.
A highlight of Saturday's workshop program was a lecture by Richard Guarafci, author of Democratic Education in an Age of Difference and provost at Wagner College. In his talk, titled "Getting Practical: Making Connections between the Curriculum and the Cocurriculum," Guarafci described Wagner's new curriculum, which links pairs of introductory courses, called learning communities, with an experiential learning or internship component and built-in opportunities for reflection. This coherent and cohesive curriculum helps students and faculty build a sense of connection. In Guarafci's words "when you place experience against the tapestry of ideas, powerful things happen."
Next Steps The conference closed with a discussion of goals--in the areas of advising, curriculum, and cocurriculum--for the first two years. A framework for the next two years will be created for long-term projects, and Gill says that the committee will begin making some changes as early as next semester. One of the first things on the list is creating new ways of supporting advisers. Another early initiative will be to increase the number of small classes with prominent speaking and writing components. Says Gill, "We will proceed in all three areas [advising, curriculum, and cocurriculum] simultaneously." A theme common to all the initiatives will be the concept of connecting and reflecting. "During their first two years--and beyond--we want MHC students to claim their education," Gill says.
"I am very excited by the energy and degree of consensus about our goals for the first two years that were apparent at this workshop," says President Joanne Creighton. "It is gratifying that so many people engaged in this event, and that we are already beginning to sketch out next steps for both the short and longer term. Penny, Bev, and Jane are to be commended for their leadership. Addressing the curriculum is a major goal of the Plan for 2003, and I'm glad we have begun this dialogue about the first two years."
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