Curriculum II: Self Study

1. PROGRAM CURRICULUM

See Appendix B for course catalog copy describing the CII program and courses. The normal schedule of courses is as follows:

First Year Fall: Historical Perspective I, Biblical Tradition
First Year Spring: Historical Perspective II, Individual and Morality
Second Year Fall: Literary Experience
Second Year Spring: Individual and Society*, Fine Arts*
Third Year Fall or Spring: Natural World
Fourth Year Fall or Spring: Senior Seminar
*Offered by January-term and spring semester
In addition to the above:
Foreign language through intermediate level; one quantitiative reasoning course; Physical Education requirement

As can be seen from the above, the program starts in a student’s first semester with an introduction to two foundational components of Western tradition: the classical world and the Biblical tradition. This historical base is completed in the second semester with a survey of Western history from the Renaissance to the present. The consideration of various moral problems and responses also introduced in the first semester is continued. In the second and third years, building on this historical base, students are exposed to literature, the social sciences, the physical sciences, and the fine arts as ways of understanding the individual, society, and the world. Two things that characterize these courses and make them unique to Curriculum II are their exploration of historical and ethical dimensions of their disciplines. The program culminates in a senior seminar in which students discuss values questions raised by contemporary life. In the major paper for the course students are asked to identify and account for their own values, both theoretically and personally, drawing on their CII courses and other life experiences.

Because part of the power of the program comes from students having a common experience and common texts, students are encouraged to go through the program together. However, students may petition to substitute courses, particularly after the first year. Petitions are granted by the director in consultation, if needed, with Curriculum II faculty in that discipline. Although math, foreign language, and health fitness courses are required as part of the program, they are not special CII course. (At the beginning of the program, there were special CII math and health fitness courses. The CII math course was discontinued early. The CII health fitness sequence was originally more innovative than the CI requirement, including information on such topics as nutrition and relaxation. This information has been integrated into the CI health fitness courses and the CII faculty voted to drop the special CII sequence last year.)

2. ADVISING

At the beginning of the program, CII students were distributed among the CII faculty for advising. In the past five years, CII has changed the advising system to match the FTS advising program where one of the students' first semester professors serve as their advisor until they declared a major. First-year advisors have been given a handout outlining guidelines for substitutions; however, students with scheduling problems, questions about substitutions and petition, etc. consult with the CII director. The director and student worker used to track students’ progress in CI courses, sending out updates, but students can now get that information on-line so the CII office discontinued doing this last year.

Because of the small number of faculty who teach Historical Perspective I and Biblical Tradition, tying the advising to the first semester courses has created a problem with those faculty having larger advising loads than normal for their departments and for the CII faculty as a whole. This problem has been made especially acute recently by deaths, retirements, moves, and staffing pressures in the Classics and Religion Department faculties. This is an issue that needs to be addressed.

3. DIVERSITY

As students have noted, especially in the last few years, this is an area in which we could improve. However, it should be noted that although the program was designed to focus on the Western tradition, from early in the program, the importance of introducing students to non-Western traditions was recognized and integrated into the program. The first-year retreats, for instance, generally focused on non-Western topics. Some courses also have non-Western comparisons in the course descriptions while others have non-Western units incorporated when certain faculty teach the course. Because of student demand for more attention to non-Western cultures and the inconsistencies created by the fact that all of the courses are shared by several faculty, the CII faculty recently agreed to consult among themselves to ensure that each team has incorporated some consideration of non-Western material. Although there is room for improvement, some steps have been taken to make diversity a more visible and intentional part of the CII curriculum as well as the retreats.

For most of its history, CII has attracted and retained more women than men. However, perhaps because of the small number of students of color at Gustavus as well as the focus on the Western tradition, CII has often graduated only one or two students of color per year. This has changed in the last five years, particularly with the increase in Hmong students in the program (See Appendix C); however, although the numbers for students of color are consistent with the general percentages in the student body as a whole, the program would benefit from greater diversity. This is one reason that CII has resisted both internal and external pressure to become an honors program, which is more common for programs like ours. (Curriculum II does attract some of our best students. Almost every year more than a third of the class graduates Phi Beta Kappa, about 8% of the class comprising about 20-25% of the Phi Beta Kappa inductees. This year 17 of the 50 entering Partners in Scholarship winners selected CII.) We feel having a multitude of perspectives enriches the discussion of values. Perhaps because of its small size and the learning community that is fostered by the structure of the program, CII creates a welcoming environment for diverse members of the community.

For much of the program, the faculty of CII has been primarily white males although there have always been some women faculty involved with (and identified with) the program, especially Marleen Flory (Classics). We have succeeded in increasing the number of women faculty, especially teaching the senior seminar, and most of the junior faculty whom we hope to have in the program soon are also women.

The director is the only person of color in the program; however, this statistic is somewhat deceptive in terms of sensitivity to diversity issues and interest and experience with other cultures. Both anthropologists on the faculty as well as other faculty with experience and expertise in non-Western cultures teach in the program. (See next section)

4. INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS

CII supports the college's desire to provide an international perspective in a number of ways. Curricularly, CII requires language study through the intermediate level. (CI does not require language study.) CII also helps facilitate students studying abroad by allowing students to use study abroad experiences to help fulfill their language requirement and other CII requirements, most frequently the Fine Arts requirement. Some courses, most notably the Fine Arts courses, have a comparative element written into their descriptions.

In addition, although a few faculty have a special professional focus in international/cross-cultural comparisons, many CII faculty have had experience living, teaching, and studying abroad (See Appendix D) and have incorporated knowledge or interests cultivated by those experiences in units in their CII courses and are particularly avid in encouraging students to study abroad .

Because CII is made up of faculty drawn from departments across the campus with regular departmental affiliations, CII has not hosted international guests. However, CII is a frequent contributor supporting such visitors.

5. LIBRARY HOLDINGS

Because these are general education, introductory courses, the library holdings ordered by departments are generally sufficient. Small departments with limited budgets and expensive books (primarily Classics) have sometimes used CII funds to fill out holdings for books related to their CII courses. However, because the program is also interdisciplinary and faculty are often asked to stretch beyond their normal specialties, other faculty have also ordered books or videos to support their CII courses.

CII also has a subscription to Liberal Education, the journal of the AAC&U and sometimes buys books on liberal arts education.

CII has also purchased videos to use at retreats or in classes. We have focused on buying films that focus on ethnical issues or intellectual or philosophical debates and on foreign films.

The library keeps records of purchases by originating department for only two years. Except for the unusually high number of videos ordered for one course (the last four videos were all ordered for Literary Experience for this year), the list in Appendix E is typical.

In the early years of the program all books used in CII courses were bought and placed in the CII office area. This has been discontinued in recent years since we have lost the CII office space. We have discussed bringing back this practice to encourage more integration between courses in a sequence. The CII books have been transferred to the library.

6. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Because CII draws faculty from departments and does not have its own office, CII does not hold any computer equipment. All faculty at Gustavus, however, have a computer in their offices. Many classrooms are equipped with overhead and video equipment. A number of classrooms are fully equipped with media equipment.

Slide and overhead projectors and video equipment are the most commonly used technology in CII classrooms, primarily in the history and literature courses and in Individual and Society. Some faculty now direct students to relevant websites and we now have PowerPoint capability available to students who want to use it in class presentations.

A number of faculty have attended workshops on campus related to technology. One CII faculty member (Eric Dugdale, Classics) presented on his work digitizing the Classics Department slide collection for an IT panel on pedagogical uses of technology. This is an ongoing project.

Not all rooms are equipped with media equipment. Faculty have expressed a desire for overhead projectors, access to the web, and a document projector in their classrooms.

7. GRADUATE SCHOOL PREPARATION

Because we are a general education program, we do not have a formal process to prepare students for graduate school. However, CII faculty often become advisors for students who were attracted to particular majors because of CII courses. Some CII faculty have also done research or sponsored internships for students met through CII courses. More generally, given their high level of academic achievement, it is not surprising that a large number of CII students do go on to graduate and professional schools. Alumni tell us that CII courses in particular prepared them for graduate school by helping them improve their writing skills, see the interconnection between different fields, consider values and ethical questions, and love learning.

A partial list of CII students who have recently been accepted to graduate school:

Class of 2001:
Tim Andeen--High Energy Physics, Northwestern University
Jason Haaheim--Electrical Engineering, UC-Santa Barbara
Nathaniel Heintzman--Biomedical Science, UC-San Diego
Ashley Jensen--Medical school, Mayo Medical Center
Becky Smith--Veterinary Medicine, Cornell College
Jacob Valento--Film, University of British Columbia
Laura Yudt--Research Assistant ad NIH, currently applying to grad school

Class of 2000:
Ian Burch--Seminary, Lutheran School of Theology
Erica Lucast--Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University
Eric Martin--Historic Preservation, University of Vermont
David Macmillan--Elementary Education, University of Texas
Lindsey Patterson--Law, University of Minnesota
Daisy Schmidt--Physical Therapy, University of Minnesota
Sarah Spessard--Organic Chemistry, California Institute of Technology

Class of 1999:
Kirstsen Bland--American Studies, University of Iowa
Julie Moberg Gilbert--Liturgical Studies, St. John's University (Collegeville, MN)
Matthew Grussing--University of Iowa
Victor Hanson--University of Minnesota
Erin Holmes--Biological Anthropology, University of Michigan
Kristin Lorentz--University of Washington
Ann Miller--Chemistry, Yale University

8. INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS

Not applicable to CII program although individual CII students have done internships related to their majors and CII faculty may have supervised CII students again related to their majors.

9. TEACHER EDUCATION

Because of the high number of courses required for Minnesota teaching licensure, it is difficult for students to do both education, particularly elementary education, and CII. However, we have had some secondary education majors. They have felt that CII complemented their education studies well.

10. STUDENT/FACULTY RESEARCH, SCHOLARHIP, AND CREATIVITY

Not application to CII program although student/ faculty connections that led to collaborative projects may have been facilitated by CII.

11. DEPARTMENT SEMINAR PROGRAM

Curriculum II senior seminar described elsewhere in this document.

In the early years of the program, the CII faculty gathered periodically to discuss an article or book. This no longer happens regularly although CII sponsored a faculty dinner last fall to discuss a paper presented by a CII faculty member. CII faculty and students have also occasionally met in a special CII-sponsored meeting with campus speakers invited by CII faculty or sponsored by CII.

12. DEPARTMENT FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AND MENTORING

New faculty mentoring is generally handled by the departments as most recruiting of new CII faculty is done after faculty have started teaching at Gustavus. New faculty generally have not taught in CII until they have been at Gustavus for a couple of years. The exceptions are the faculty in the Classics and Religion departments who teach Historical Perspectives I and Biblical Traditions respectively and who often enter the CI program immediately. Because other faculty in these departments share these CII courses, they do the majority of mentoring. The Classics Department, which has been stable for almost 30 years and has been a mainstay in the CII program, has just started hiring new faculty. In that search although the CII director was not on the search committee, she was included in interviewing the candidates brought on campus and her opinion about the candidates was solicited by the department. She also informally mentored the successful candidate during his first year, periodically checking in with him and advising him. However, in this case too, the bulk of the mentoring was handled by the department.

13. DATA

Enrollment and Retention data (last five years):

Entering classes for 1999: 54; 2000: 60; 2001: 69; 2002: 59.

Students could switch from CI to CII but not vice versa. The most common reason for switching from CII to CI is the desire for more flexibility. The second most common reason students had to switch from CII to CI was because adding a second major or switching majors after sophomore year made it impossible to fit in the rest of the CII courses, especially if the student needed to take four semesters of a foreign language.

Placement of graduate majors--N/A

Other student data: Statistics for CII and study abroad, Phi Beta Kappa, St. Ansgar, St. Lucia, and graduation honors show the high level of achievement of CII students. (See Appendix F)

14. COURSE SYLLABI--See Appendix G

15. CURRICULUM VITAE OF CII FACULTY--See Appendix H

16. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DEPARTMENTAL FACILITIES—N/A

17. DEPARTMENT-SPONSORED GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES

CII is supported by an endowment and has several activities integrated into the program. First-year students are taken to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Walker Sculpture Garden and a theater performance during their first semester. In the spring they have a weekend retreat, which for the last five years has been combined with the Senior retreat. A weekend retreat at Blue Cloud Abbey, a small Benedictine monastery in South Dakota, is billed as a junior event but we often have enough room to accommodate interested seniors and sophomores as well. There is an orientation dinner for students going on this trip.

CII has also supported other trips to the Twin Cities, usually to arts museums or cultural events in conjunction with specific courses. CII has also sponsored a variety of on-campus and local events—special CII sessions with guest speakers, movie or bowling nights, all-sequence barbecues and dinners at the beginning and end of the school year, and holiday parties. For the past two years, CII students have had a CII ILS (Intentional Learning and Service) House, which has taken responsibility for organizing many of these activities.

18. DEPARTMENT STUDENT EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

CII employs students in two capacities. The CII student assistant is appointed at the end of his or her first year and is trained by the senior II student assistant during his/her second year. The CII student assistant trains the new CII student assistant his/her senior year. Thus, new CII student assistants are chosen every other year. CII student assistants have the following duties: process drop forms and petitions; assist with recruiting mailings; assist/chaperone first-year trip to Twin Cities and retreat; participate in Admissions events on CII panel; solicit information and write Sequence 3 newsletter; other special projects assigned by Director. For a few years we tried having a Student Advisory Council which the CII student assistant chaired.

CII also employs four Writing Assistant during the fall to help first-year students in their first semester WRIT course, Historical Perspective I. They are offered the opportunity to do the Writing tutor training with the Director of the Writing Center. They are available during regular hours to assistant first-semester CII students develop ideas and arguments, focus and organize their papers. They too are given the opportunity to work as CII Writing Assistants in subsequent years until they graduate.

19. PROGRAM REVIEW REPORT--There has been no previous review of Curriculum II.

20. SURVEYS OF CII ALUMNI--Available from CII secretary Becky Miller. Compilation of occupations, most important aspects of CII, and influence of CII on life after college--Appendix I

A FINAL NOTE:

There are a number of issues CII faculty continue to discuss: how to integrate the courses better; how to make sure more non-Western elements are incorporated in the courses; whether to change some of the courses or requirements to incorporate more non-Western study; whether to make the program an Honors program; how to improve retention. Also, many of the faculty who started the program are now retiring or nearing retirement. There is interest in teaching in CII among the younger faculty, but it is often hard to get their departments to release them to teach in CII because of departmental staffing demands.

On a larger scale, elimination of CII perennially comes up as a possibility in general education revision discussions because the program is small and more expensive than CI. The current general education review is no exception. However, the quality, enthusiasm, and achievements of CII students continue to attest to the success and importance of the program.