Download PDF - University of Rochester Libraries

More documents

Recommendations

Info

"It is important for students to live and work together in small groups. A university should provide a basis for friendships that continue past graduation." do to have a senior faculty that has established a separate, independent cadre of research professors and graduate students, and here at Rochester we do not have any such separation. The value of a graduate program comes as much from the contribution made to undergraduates as from the national reputation its research brings to an institution. The whole vital force of an operation comes from interaction. We intend to make every effort to keep a lively graduate program. What are you doing to ensure an atmosphere of quality in the classroom? The ferment and challenge necessary to a quality education are achieved by a fine faculty. The question of the quality of teaching, and of having senior faculty teaching students, is much in the minds of people who are concerned about the kind of education a student receives. The usual way of checking the quality of a particular course is by student evaluation. But I think the value of student evaluation is overstated. One of the things I keep pushing is getting the faculty to evaluate each other's teaching. I would like to have a small evaluation group of professors who would sit in on faculty, particularly junior faculty, and provide feedback. A student can't know if he or she is being taught rubbish. You need professional evaluation. To sit and read what students say about a course isn't going to work. I've seen the improvement that results from this kind of feedback between faculty in action. It is extremely valuable. One of the first efforts you made toward evaluating the University was to talk with freshmen in relatively small groups. Your intention, apparently, was to make the office of the provost accessible. How effective were these meetings? It was a valuable experience, talking directly to freshmen. However, I don't think I will do it again this year-perhaps once in a while in the future, to test the waters, so to speak. My function as provost is administrative, and the questions of most of the freshmen concerned problems that could be readily solved by a student advisory board or by the faculty and the departments directly in touch with the students. Didyou come to any conclusions about student concerns? Absolutely. I met with the freshmen - and indeed with almost all undergraduates who were interested in talking to me-in part because I wanted to know if we could improve the quality of student life. Every aspect of a university needs to be looked at all the time; changes need to be made. I observed soon after coming here, when I talked with those students who were unhappy with the place, that the unhappiness was rarely directed toward the academic side of things. The picture
"A freshman is assigned someone-a staff member, a faculty member-who will talk with him, take him out to lunch, show him things." Rochester Connection, as the program is called, is purely voluntary, but many freshmen-and their connections-enjoy the opportunity to make a new friend. "In terms of the quality of student life, we found there were areas where we could improve, and we did so." One of the newer traditions on campus is Yellowjacket Day, a day of fun and games celebrating the start of the school year. that was coming across from all of these conversations was that of a competitive institution that overly stressed academic things to the exclusion of an adequate social life. Now, of course, one has to take into account what kind of group one talks to. But, if any substantial number feel they are having a bad time, then we have to pay attention to it. Education is a matter of taking a human being and then being with that individual for four years. We wanted to get away from the Kafkaesque perception of a large and anonymous institution, .to break down the attitude that the administration is on a different level from anyone else. Here at Rochester we are a "bottom-up" institution, not a "top-down" institution. Given that, my meetings with the students were sheer common sense. In terms of the quality of student life, we found there were areas where we could improve, and we did so. With its main campus bounded by the Genesee River and Mt. Hope Cemetery, the University lacks a college- . town atmosphere. We started a bus that runs around town on a regular basis; it goes the rounds of the discos and the shops, and that gives student life more zip, makes the students feel, "Gee, someone does care about us." It is easy for students to feel a sort of uncaringness in any institution, and we do a lot to try to eliminate that. When a freshman comes in, if he wishes, he is assigned someone-a staff member, faculty member-who will talk with him, and not about academic things necessarily, but will take him out to lunch, show him things. Are you attempting to balance the academic and the social sides of a student's life? Absolutely. We are promoting education for life, not just for a period of four years. It is important for students to live and work together in small groups. A university should provide a basis for friendships that continue past graduation. Now, it may be a general sort of truth that this happens automatically in the normal course of events. But whatever the truth is, the plain fact remains that an important network of both professional and social relationships 5
Page 2: Rochester Review University of Roch
Page 5: The College of Engineering and Appl
Page 10: Lighting a Sun on Earth Portrait of
Page 14 and 15: day after his inauguration, Preside
Page 16 and 17: The two residence halls that were t
Page 18 and 19: 16 Wall Street's 'Riverboat Gambler
Page 20 and 21: Hawley Hale, and McGraw-Hill defeat
Page 22 and 23: Chimpanzee Cheesecake Your friends
Page 24 and 25: Inauguration Walter I. Garms gets a
Page 26 and 27: associated with an overproduction o
Page 28 and 29: National meet This is the vanguard
Page 33 and 34: Rochester Alumni University If you
Page 35: · . . Scott Robbins has received a
Page 38 and 39: 1975 Mittler Battipaglia (GE) is a
Page 40: ____.1. I Travel Corner Last Call f

Download PDF - University of Rochester Libraries

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?