Following concerns raised by several members of the faculty, administrators have slowed their efforts regarding the proposed Integrative Science and Engineering Program, formerly named the Science Cohort. A new faculty committee will oversee future work on the program and will focus on developing its curriculum rather than planning for its implementation, said Provost Robert Zimmer.
"We still hope to move forward," wrote Deputy Provost Vincent Tompkins in an e-mail to The Herald, "but we will be working with science faculty to discuss possible modifications to the program that would be cognizant of concerns that were expressed this spring about various aspects of the program." Tompkins chaired the Science Cohort Committee, which developed the original proposal.
The original plan for the Science Cohort, which was announced last semester, called for a program in multidisciplinary science education that would admit its first batch of 60 students in 2008.
"The current situation is one of ongoing evolution and has been from the beginning," said Zimmer, who helped develop the original proposal. The first step of the new faculty committee will be to develop "multidisciplinary, team-taught sciences courses," he added.
"I think the idea is to get these courses in place before we go much further," Zimmer said. Both Zimmer and Tompkins agreed these courses were at the core of the program's mission.
"The goal was to create a structure which would allow many faculty to create team-taught multidisciplinary science classes so one would have a constant input of energy from a broad array of faculty," Zimmer said. The purpose was not to create "another fixed curriculum."
Zimmer continued: "We want to get the courses in place first so we have more stability. We're sequencing things in a slower way rather than doing it all at once."
After the program was introduced in the fall, it drew opposition from some faculty members. One main concern was housing, already an issue for the University. Adding 60 more students, some professors said, would exacerbate this problem.
Zimmer said the program will not yet be accepting students directly into the program, in response to concerns from the faculty and others. The committee will wait until infrastructure issues such as housing are addressed before considering accepting additional students into the program, Zimmer said.
Zimmer added that he hopes his departure from Brown to become president of the University of Chicago will not hinder the progress of the program. Zimmer acknowledged his role in developing the program but also said "it was always the case that if the program was going to succeed the faculty would need to be behind it."
Zimmer said he hopes his successor and the science faculty will continue to pursue the program in his absence. An additional issue will be finding students who have a multidisciplinary interest in the sciences along with faculty who are interested in the program, he added.
The University's newly stated focus on undergraduate education will also play a role in the future of the program, according to Robert Pelcovits, professor of physics and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee.
Zimmer and President Ruth Simmons announced in February that the University would turn its attention to the undergraduate College, citing five areas on which to focus, including science education. Pelcovits said a task force will be assembled to address each of the areas, and, as a result, undergraduate science education will receive renewed attention from the University in the near future.
Though Zimmer and Tompkins have said aspects of the program, such as the development of courses, are moving forward, Pelcovits acknowledged the program "is conceived as being on the back burner."
"Nothing at the moment is being implemented," he added.
In addition, the program has not come before the faculty for a vote, Pelcovits said.
Pelcovits said he believes the issue of science education is likely to be dealt with in the context of the proposed science task force. Although the University planned to have the five task forces in place by the end of the semester, Pelcovits said the provost's decision to leave the University has slowed down this process.
Pelcovits said he does not believe, however, that the provost's departure from Brown would hinder the original intention of enhancing undergraduate science education.
"His leaving does not in any way derail this effort to improve science education at Brown. The idea of pursuing something general like this is not dead," Pelcovits said.
Some of Pelcovits's own concerns about the original Science Cohort proposal were related to its focus on multidisciplinary education. He is skeptical high school students are likely to be interested in multidisciplinary studies.
"A better solution would, in part, be not to over-emphasize multidisciplinary investigations, since it's not clear to me that you're going to attract students with that kind of track. Once they're already here you can entice them with that kind of education," Pelcovits said.
Pelcovits added that the large number of goals of the program was another concern. "There were so many things it was trying to address, attracting more science students, improving curriculum, adding diversity - it wasn't clear to me that a single program could deal with all that," he said.
Another worry of the professor's was that the development of the program was taking precedence over the development of its curriculum. Pelcovits said this concern has since been allayed by the new focus on creating courses before any overarching program is implemented.
Although the Integrative Science and Engineering Program may be altered from its original form or developed more slowly, undergraduate science education will remain a priority for the University. Pelcovits said he hopes the next dean of the college will have an important role in improving undergraduate science education.
Pelcovits supports the plans to develop the core multidisciplinary courses and believes this action will lessen other faculty's concerns about the program.
"I think that no matter what we do, those are very valuable efforts, whether or not it turns into a program," he said.
