|
President’s Column
At the center of this initiative is a plan, within three years, to engage every
entering student in Freshman Seminars learning in a small-class setting
led by a tenure-track faculty member. These seminars will draw from a wide range
of disciplines and topics; the field of study is less important than having the
students even those who will not become researchers gain an
appreciation of the intensity, importance, and promise of the scholarly approach.
The very tools of thought and analysis will be employed in nothing less than the
rigorous, interactive search for truth.
I have a physicist friend who once said to me: “The love of truth implies that
one must search not just for evidence, but for the counter-evidence as well.”
That is the spirit that I hope we can convey.
In addition to providing this experience for freshmen, we will continue to expand
the number and variety of offerings in our Sophomore Seminars, Sophomore
Dialogues, and Sophomore College. Inaugurated in recent years, these have been
highly successful in providing close interaction between teachers and students.
Often, they introduce students to a prospective major and mentor. And they have
been much valued by participants.
Further, we will seek to integrate these and the related parts of the first two
years such as the Science Core and the Cultures, Ideas and Values (CIV)
course sequence into a whole and sensible program. Thus, Stanford
Introductory Studies will be a central theme of a new three-year planning cycle
beginning this fall. Among other things, schools and departments will review
their potential to redistribute current teaching loads to support Stanford
Introductory Studies. In many cases, we believe they can. In others, an already
extremely hard-working faculty will need additional help.
|
|
