At the beginning of a meeting of the College Curriculum Council Oct. 10, Dean of the College and CCC Chair Katherine Bergeron stressed that the council will not address the potential addition of pluses and minuses to the University's grading system, an issue that dominated its agenda last semester.
Instead, the council will take on issues ranging from the structure of concentrations at Brown to senior capstone projects.
"My hope for the coming semester is to focus on one or two issues that we can really get some traction on," Bergeron said. "What I really want to do is have one broad topic of discussion fueled by prior work, with committees making recommendations."
Bergeron said she would like to increase her office's involvement in overseeing concentrations and potentially implementing revisions.
Looking at concentrations
CCC members spent the bulk of Tuesday's meeting voicing concerns about specific issues relating to concentrations, including concentration advising, the coherence of courses offered within different concentrations and the Declaration of Concentration form.
One point repeatedly raised throughout the discussion was the need to clearly define what it means to concentrate in a subject and how this differs from majors at other colleges and universities.
"We need to figure out what a concentration brings to undergraduate life and education that it wouldn't have otherwise," said University Registrar and CCC Secretary Michael Pesta.
Pesta added the council should evaluate the number of courses required for various bachelor's degrees. Currently, he said different concentrations require anything from eight to 14 courses.
CCC student member Natasha Bronn '07 echoed Pesta's desire to address the issue of requirements.
"The six extra courses required of some students in different departments really makes a big difference," Bronn said. "We should look to make a more equal distribution for concentrators in different areas."
Associate Dean of Biological Sciences Marjorie Thompson proposed the possibility of adding minors or clusters in addition to concentrations in order to reduce students' stress and "concentration collecting."
Bronn said she is interested in discussing the possibility of minors at future meetings.
"I know that I've thought in the past that it would be really nice to minor in certain areas, and I think that a lot of students have what might constitute a minor and would appreciate the recognition," Bronn said. "It's definitely worth discussing and looking back to see why Brown decided not to have minors in the first place."
Associate Dean of the College Karen Krahulik spoke about the need to restructure many concentrations, especially interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary concentrations.
"Some concentrations have a very well thought out structure while some have none, and some might serve as a useful guide for restructuring others," Krahulik said.
Bergeron said there is a particular need to address the organization of interdisciplinary concentrations at a school where nearly 50 percent of students concentrate in such a field.
Another issue repeatedly raised was the need to encourage stronger interaction between faculty and students within a concentration to facilitate meaningful advising.
"There are departments where this interaction occurs naturally because we see the students every day in class, but there are also departments where for one reason or another all the concentrators are handed over to one individual or divided alphabetically," said Lynne de Benedette, senior lecturer in Slavic languages. "There are concentrations in which it is left to students to pick courses randomly without input from members of the concentration."
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry J. William Suggs stressed the need to chart a coherent educational path within individual concentrations.
"There needs to be a path where you begin as a consumer of knowledge and eventually reach the stage of generating knowledge," Suggs said. "I think that's what a concentration should really be about."
Zac Townsend '08, another student member of the CCC, spoke about the difficulties students face when trying to form a coherent path like the one Suggs described.
"I think one of the troubles is that in the humanities and social sciences there isn't a linearity of classes you can take," Townsend said. "I think many concentrators aren't focused on finding a path of courses that is coherent. You have faculty offering classes that don't necessarily wind up forming something totally complete."
Bergeron also raised the issue of revising concentration submission forms.
"When I found out that at Brown students had to write a thought piece to declare a concentration, I thought, 'How great!' But quickly I learned that a majority of students and faculty are cynical about the process," she said. Suggs said he believes that the broad nature of many questions on the form contributes to the relaxed approach many students take when filling it out.
Bronn said students might be more engaged in this process if each department had questions relevant to its own concentrators. Faculty advisers could be more engaged as well.
"There also needs to be an emphasis on letting concentration advisers know that they need to take this seriously and really read students' answers," Bronn added.
