2008 Woodie Awards
FYE resolution passes in Academic Senate
Nathanial Garrod
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: News
After over four weeks of debate, the Academic Senate finally decided to add University 150 (Freshman Year Experience, FYE for short) to the university's catalog of courses.
"I've got no clue," said Jenny Tice, ASI Senator said when asked what she expected during the meeting on March 20.
Because of his bias towards the course, Academic Senate head Tim Wandling stepped back and allowed Elaine McDonald to run the conversation.
The first person in the queue to speak was Professor Thaine Stearns, addressed in this environment as Senator. He discussed how FYE was a curricular paradigm and voiced his support for the program.
Senator Stearns quickly passed his time to speak over to Nathan Rank, head of the GE subcommittee.
"It's a nice first step to integrated GE," Rank said. The FYE course is currently a combination of GE course areas A2 and A3. Every week, students in the class receive a lecture from a professor from a different department.
"We need to separate continuation of the course from future changes in the course," Rank said while seconding Stearns support for the program.
The next person to speak was John Kornfeld, the chair of the FYE program.
"A great number of people have worked very hard on this," Kornfeld said. He himself has spent seven months this year working on bringing FYE to the senate, instead of fostering the growth of the curriculum, as his job title declares he should.
"It's good that we're doing something" Professor Robert Coleman-Senghor said of the program, "but what are we doing?" he asked. He brought up that there are serious issues that have not been resolved.
"We've not seen assessment of retention. We've not seen assessment of whether these are better prepared students," Professor Steven Orlick argued. He continued to argue that, "There's an elitist aspect of the program."
Scott Miller, director of the Writing Center, stated that it is hard to assess writing abilities.
"I've got no clue," said Jenny Tice, ASI Senator said when asked what she expected during the meeting on March 20.
Because of his bias towards the course, Academic Senate head Tim Wandling stepped back and allowed Elaine McDonald to run the conversation.
The first person in the queue to speak was Professor Thaine Stearns, addressed in this environment as Senator. He discussed how FYE was a curricular paradigm and voiced his support for the program.
Senator Stearns quickly passed his time to speak over to Nathan Rank, head of the GE subcommittee.
"It's a nice first step to integrated GE," Rank said. The FYE course is currently a combination of GE course areas A2 and A3. Every week, students in the class receive a lecture from a professor from a different department.
"We need to separate continuation of the course from future changes in the course," Rank said while seconding Stearns support for the program.
The next person to speak was John Kornfeld, the chair of the FYE program.
"A great number of people have worked very hard on this," Kornfeld said. He himself has spent seven months this year working on bringing FYE to the senate, instead of fostering the growth of the curriculum, as his job title declares he should.
"It's good that we're doing something" Professor Robert Coleman-Senghor said of the program, "but what are we doing?" he asked. He brought up that there are serious issues that have not been resolved.
"We've not seen assessment of retention. We've not seen assessment of whether these are better prepared students," Professor Steven Orlick argued. He continued to argue that, "There's an elitist aspect of the program."
Scott Miller, director of the Writing Center, stated that it is hard to assess writing abilities.
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