SenDoc#5436

 

COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE STANDARDS AND POLICY

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

 

26 March 2003

 

TO:            XXXV Faculty Senate

 

FROM:      Ewart Thomas, Chair, C-USP

 

RE:             Five-year Report from Introduction to the Humanities Program (IHUM)

 

On 27 February 2003, Orrin “Rob” Robinson, Director of the Introduction to the Humanities Program, and Cheri Ross, Associate Director, met with the Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policy to report on a self-study that was compiled over the previous year.  This self-study of the first five years of IHUM was mandated by the Senate’s Area One legislation (1997) that inaugurated the ten-year IHUM program.  The report was thorough and thoughtful, commenting on, e.g., how the program has addressed the objectives and requirements of the initial legislation, and the areas in which it has been most successful.  Their report is attached. 

 

Any across-the-board requirement, such as IHUM, is bound to generate some negative feedback, and “techie” freshmen often feel that there is too much emphasis on the Humanities.  At least for this reason, student response to IHUM varies greatly.  However, by the time most students are seniors, they look back and are “very glad we had to read those books.”  The majority of students complete course evaluations with positive comments on the content of their courses, and on the instruction by the faculty and the Humanities Fellows.  The faculty and staff who have been involved with IHUM are very committed to its success.  Also, the diversity of courses encountered in each quarter of IHUM courses appears to be greater than the previous Cultures, Ideas and Values (CIV) Program ever achieved. 

 

Structured Liberal Education (SLE) is a residence-based Track of Area One, although it is administered separately.  It has been directed by Mark Mancall for the past 30 years, and it rates very highly among its alumni as one of their most satisfactory on-campus experiences.

 

C-USP feels that IHUM has done an excellent job in its first five years.  The program has built a new curriculum, worked to foster informed student choices, built an IHUM Fellows Program, emphasized pedagogy, and improved student writing.  Challenges it has faced, and will continue to face in light of university and world events, include faculty recruiting (frequently in conjunction with departments), budget concerns, nurturing diversity in the curriculum, cultivating consistency in student learning experiences, and adjusting IHUM to better exploit the synergies with the Power in Writing and Rhetoric program.

 

A recommendation from C-USP to the Senate is not required with this report.  However, C-USP would like to express its satisfaction with both the administration and the content of the IHUM program.  The committee sees no reason to make any major changes in the program at this time, although the Subcommittee on General Education Requirements will probably recommend later this year that IHUM consider including a moral reasoning component.  C-USP will receive annual reports from IHUM over the next five years, and expects the program to thrive during that period.