An Le Nguyen – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:45:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 An Le Nguyen – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Stanford prof nominated for Russian ambassadorship https://stanforddaily.com/2011/06/02/stanford-prof-nominated-for-russian-ambassadorship-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/06/02/stanford-prof-nominated-for-russian-ambassadorship-2/#respond Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:06:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1049011 President Barack Obama plans to nominate political science professor Michael McFaul ‘86 M.A. ‘86 to the post of U.S. ambassador to Russia. Pending confirmation by the Senate, McFaul will succeed John Beyrle, who assumed the role of ambassador in 2008.

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President Barack Obama plans to nominate political science professor Michael McFaul ‘86 M.A. ‘86 to the post of U.S. ambassador to Russia. Pending confirmation by the Senate, McFaul will succeed John Beyrle, who assumed the role of ambassador in 2008.

Officials said Obama informed the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, of his selection last week at a G-8 meeting in France. The decision broke a longstanding tradition of designating career diplomats to serve as envoys to Russia; in the last three decades, seven out of eight ambassadors have been professional diplomats.

Stanford prof nominated for Russian ambassadorship
Stanford political science professor Michael McFaul '86 M.A. '86 was nominated by President Barack Obama to the post of U.S. ambassador to Russia. (Courtesy of Rod Searcy).

McFaul, 47, is a leading expert on U.S.-Russian relations and currently serves on the National Security Council as the president’s top advisor in this capacity. He was one of several Stanford professors chosen for Obama’s transition team in the months after the 2008 presidential election.

At present, the scholar-advisor is a key player in the president’s “reset” policy for U.S.-Russian relations, which, among other things, aims to promote shared economic interests and mutual understanding between the two nations.

Before rising to international prominence, McFaul was formerly the director of the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and deputy director of the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies. He was named the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, but is currently on leave from this position.

Current CDDRL Director Larry Diamond ’73 M.A. ’78 Ph.D. ’80, who has worked closely with McFaul through the years, commended his colleague for being “extremely effective in his current role as the special assistant to the president.”

“He’s managed not only to achieve a very important arms control agreement and to ‘reset’ U.S.-Russian relations…but he’s [also] managed to make a lot of progress in realizing what he has long argued to be a necessary balance in American foreign policy, between pursuing strategic interests and standing up for our principles,” Diamond said.

He added that many proponents of democratization and rule of law in Russia are heartened by McFaul’s expected move to Moscow. Barring all obstacles, McFaul would assume the ambassadorship at a critical juncture in which both the United States and Russia are gearing up for their 2012 presidential elections.

FSI Senior Fellow Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, who first met McFaul as a graduate student in Moscow more than 20 years ago and has co-written two books with him, said the nomination “doesn’t come as a huge surprise.” She pointed to her longtime collaborator’s active role in trying to revive a positive tone in Russian-American relations.

“He’s had some positive results, including the signing of the new START agreement,” Stoner-Weiss said. “And supply missions to be flown over Russian airspace into central Asia to fuel our efforts in Afghanistan are another big, positive development.”

McFaul may also provide policy continuity for President Obama as Russia entertains the possibility of entering the World Trade Organization, she said.

“I think from Stanford’s perspective, it’s great anytime when anyone from here is appointed to such a high-profile position,” Stoner-Weiss added, referring to McFaul’s established ties to the University.

McFaul’s roots on the Farm stretch back to his days as an undergraduate. McFaul received his bachelor’s degree in international relations and Slavic languages and his master’s degree in Slavic and East European studies in 1986. He resided in Phi Psi from 1983 to 1984.

A recipient of the Rhodes scholarship, he pursued his doctoral studies in international relations at Oxford University. Now, McFaul’s diplomatic career will likely extend his hiatus from the Farm.

“For Stanford, it means that when Mike comes back, he will come back with an even stronger record of distinguished service and even deeper knowledge of one of the most geopolitically important countries in the world,” Diamond said. “This will be a tremendous asset.”

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University divvies monies to academic, administrative units https://stanforddaily.com/2011/06/02/university-divvies-monies-to-academic-administrative-units/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/06/02/university-divvies-monies-to-academic-administrative-units/#respond Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:03:28 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1049013 The 2011-12 budget will allot different shares of monies to the University’s academic, administrative and auxiliary units. Among these units, the School of Medicine is expected to have the largest share of consolidated expenses next year. Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ’82 formally presented his budget plan at the May 26 meeting of the Faculty Senate. […]

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The 2011-12 budget will allot different shares of monies to the University’s academic, administrative and auxiliary units. Among these units, the School of Medicine is expected to have the largest share of consolidated expenses next year.

Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ’82 formally presented his budget plan at the May 26 meeting of the Faculty Senate. The budget will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval on Wednesday, June 8. According to Etchemendy, the budget plan will likely remain in its current state.

“I don’t anticipate any changes from the proposal,” he wrote in an email to The Daily.

University divvies monies to academic, administrative units
(ANASTASIA YEE/The Stanford Daily)

In drafting the budget, Etchemendy said one key objective was to “maintain support for core academic activities” such as undergraduate financial aid and graduate aid. He noted that other goals were to “fund the highest priority initiatives in the schools and other units” and to “avoid undoing the budget reductions made in the past few years.”

A final consideration was the potential decrease in sponsored research funding in 2012, with the discontinuation of federal grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“There has been no sponsored research shortfall yet,” Etchemendy said. “In fact we have been seeing unexpectedly high research levels in the last two years.

“But the outlook for sponsored research in the coming years is a significant concern, and so we have been cautious to maintain a reserve that will cushion the effects of a flat federal research budget over the next several years,” he added.

The consolidated expenses are divided among those for Stanford’s academic units — including its seven schools — and those for administrative and auxiliary units.

Academic units

The University’s academic units are projected to have $3162.4 million in consolidated expenses next year, with each school and academic body spending different totals.

The School of Medicine is set to receive 44 percent of consolidated expenses for the University’s academic units in 2011-12 — the highest amount among the University’s academic units.

According to the budget plan, the School of Medicine’s “highest priorities are to support current faculty by raising gifts for professorships and research support for junior faculty, diversifying research funding sources, addressing critical research needs and optimizing research space utilization.”

The school expects an overall surplus of $16.9 million next year, compared to this year’s $38.1 million surplus.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is slated to get 11 percent of consolidated expenses. SLAC, which obtains 97 percent of its funding from the Department of Energy, has not received its 2011 funding from the federal government. Based on congressional continuing resolutions, the laboratory is projected to work with $350 million, the amount it was designated in 2010.

The School of Humanities & Sciences (H&S) is projected to receive 12 percent of academic unit expenditures. According to the budget plan, H&S will likely have revenues of $408.6 million and expenses of $393.1 million next year, with a surplus of $15.5 million.

The School of Engineering will get 10 percent of consolidated expenditures and projects an $8.4 million surplus for 2011-12. Sponsored research is expected to constitute 44 percent of the engineering school’s consolidated budget.

The Dean of Research will have a 6-percent share of consolidated expenses in its coffers. It has a planned deficit of $1.5 million for 2011-12, stemming from $190.5 million in revenues, $196.1 million in expenses and $4.2 million in net transfers.

The Graduate School of Business (GSB) is anticipated to have a 5-percent share of expenses. According to the budget plan, the next year’s “consolidated budget is better than break-even at approximately $6.1 million,” after accounting for costs associated with transitioning to the new Knight Management Center.

Stanford Libraries is allotted 3 percent of the consolidated budget for academic units. This represents a 4-percent growth over Stanford Libraries’ budget this year.

The Law School and School of Earth Sciences will both have 2-percent shares of total consolidated expenses for academic units. Stanford Law School anticipates a “minimal consolidated budget surplus of $92,000” next year, while the School of Earth Sciences expects a $700,000 deficit.

The School of Education will see a projected 1-percent share of consolidated expenses and “a $1.3 million consolidated deficit in 2011-12,” according to the budget plan. The remaining expenses, which total 3 percent, will go to the Hoover Institution, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

Administrative and auxiliary units

According to the budget plan, consolidated expenses for administrative and auxiliary units are projected to total $1,066 million in the 2011-12, with the largest share going to Land, Buildings and Real Estate (LBRE).

LBRE will have a $218 million consolidated budget next year, which represents a $15.2 million spike from the budget projection for the current year. This will make up 20 percent of total administrative and auxiliary expenses.

Claiming 18 percent of these expenditures, Business Affairs and Information Technology is close behind LBRE with projected revenues and transfers of $184.2 million and expenses of $187.3 million. The unit will use money from reserves to cover the gap between revenues and expenditures.

Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) makes up 15 percent of consolidated expenses for administrative and auxiliary bodies and is projected have a break-even budget in 2011-12. R&DE expects to use $24 million in new debt to carry out projects to alleviate an existing maintenance backlog, bringing the unit’s total debt service expense to $44 million next year.

According to the budget plan, the Office of Undergraduate Admission (UGA), the Financial Aid Office (FAO) and Visitor Information Services will launch “a strategic outreach plan that will allow them to ramp up a presence worldwide.” UGA and FAO are set to receive 14 percent of consolidated expenses.

The department of Athletics, PE and Recreation (DAPER) will have a 9-percent share of expenses, with anticipated revenues and expenses both ringing in at a price tag of $19.8 million in 2011-12. In spite of this break-even state, Athletics has faced and may still face continued budget challenges.

“The additional 15-percent decline in endowment payouts for 2010-11 combined with continued increases in tuition created financial aid expenses that exceeded the endowment payouts,” the budget reads. “Despite a modest rebound in the endowment, this problem will continue in 2011-12, and the department projects needing to transfer approximately $2.1 million from operating revenues to balance the financial aid budget.”

Among the remaining units, the Office of Development is expected to receive 7 percent of consolidated expenses, the Office of the President and Provost will receive 6 percent and the Office of Student Affairs will receive 5 percent. The remaining 6 percent of expenses goes to the Stanford Management Company, the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Public Affairs.

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Stanford prof nominated to Russian ambassadorship https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/30/stanford-prof-nominated-for-russian-ambassadorship/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/30/stanford-prof-nominated-for-russian-ambassadorship/#respond Mon, 30 May 2011 10:12:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1049003 White House officials said President Barack Obama plans to nominate political science professor Michael McFaul ’86 M.A. ‘86 to the post of U.S. ambassador to Russia. Pending confirmation by the Senate, McFaul will succeed John Beyrle, who assumed the role of ambassador in 2008. Officials said Obama informed the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, of his […]

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White House officials said President Barack Obama plans to nominate political science professor Michael McFaul ’86 M.A. ‘86 to the post of U.S. ambassador to Russia. Pending confirmation by the Senate, McFaul will succeed John Beyrle, who assumed the role of ambassador in 2008.

Officials said Obama informed the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, of his selection last week at a G-8 meeting in France. The decision broke a longstanding tradition of bringing career diplomats to serve as envoys to Russia; in the last three decades, seven out of eight ambassadors have been career diplomats.

McFaul, 47, is a leading expert on U.S.-Russian relations and currently serves on the National Security Council as the president’s top advisor in this capacity. He was one of several Stanford professors chosen for Obama’s transition team in the months after the 2008 presidential election.

At present, the scholar-advisor is a key player in the president’s “reset” policy for U.S.-Russian relations, which, among other things, aims to promote shared economic interests and mutual understanding between the two nations.

Before rising to international prominence, McFaul was formerly the director of the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and deputy director of the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies. He was named the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, but is currently on leave from this position.

McFaul’s roots on the Farm, however, stretch back to his days as an undergraduate. McFaul received his bachelor’s international relations and Slavic languages and his master’s in Slavic and East European studies in 1986. He resided in Phi Psi from 1983 to 1984. A recipient of the Rhodes scholarship, he pursued his doctoral studies in international relations at Oxford University.

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Faculty Senate examines faculty composition, budget plan https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/27/faculty-senate-examines-faculty-composition-budget-plan/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/27/faculty-senate-examines-faculty-composition-budget-plan/#respond Fri, 27 May 2011 10:04:24 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1048960 Faculty composition and the 2011-12 University budget plan were the focal points of the May 26 meeting of the Faculty Senate.

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Faculty Senate examines faculty composition, budget plan
Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. '82 presented the Consolidated Budget for Operations and the Capital Budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year at the Thursday Faculty Senate meeting. It's "a very boring budget,” Etchemendy said, given that the state of University finances has improved since last year. (Courtesy of Linda Cicero)

Faculty composition and the 2011-12 University budget plan were the focal points of the May 26 meeting of the Faculty Senate.

The Senate began the session by addressing professorial gains, losses and composition. Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ’82 then highlighted key points of the Consolidated Budget for Operations and the Capital Budget for the upcoming year.

Commitment to faculty diversity

Karen Cook, vice provost for faculty development and diversity, introduced the “Report on the Faculty.” She underscored a continued “commitment to faculty diversity” before embarking on a discussion of faculty composition by gender, race and ethnicity.

According to Cook, the number of Stanford faculty dropped from 1,908 to 1,900 last year — a consequence of 96 hires and 104 departures, 66 of which were retirements, likely due to enhanced Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP). There were 65 departures in the preceding year.

Women continue to rise in number across the ranks of most professorships. In 2010, they made up 20.7 percent of full professors, 35.7 percent of assistant professors, 30.4 percent of associate professors and 41.7 percent of senior and center fellows.

“University-wide, women are now 26.3 percent of the faculty,” Cook said.

Thursday’s meeting also concentrated on the stunted progress in the hiring of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty. Cook said there has been no increase in the proportion of URM faculty in the past 10 years, especially since turnover has offset the impact of proactive hiring.

Stanford is home to 116 traditional URM faculty members, who represent 6.1 percent of the entire faculty. Among this group, 2.6 percent are black/African American, 3.4 percent are Hispanic/Latino and 0.16 percent are Native American/Alaskan Native. Cook maintained that the task at hand is to “figure out what we can do to move the bar on diversity higher.”

According to history professor Albert Camarillo, the current Faculty Development Initiative (FDI) borrows from it predecessor, the “faculty affirmative action program.” He stressed a continued need for proactive leaders and cooperation in this effort. Camarillo also underlined the need for “quick responses to counteroffers” from competing institutions of higher learning.

“We are into the fourth year of the FDI,” Camarillo said. “We’ve had some remarkable successes.”

All things considered, he noted that Stanford is “on track” to reach its goal of hiring 10 URM colleagues by the end of the fifth year of FDI.

Classics professor Richard Saller agreed that the faculty development initiative has been a critical component in the endeavor to enhance diversity. He stressed the importance of “adding more graduate students of color” since the University “disproportionately” hires back its own graduate students in the long run.

Saller further noted that biggest hurdle to faculty hires involves partner issues. He said Stanford sometimes loses faculty in cases where a couple receives an offer, but “one or the other of the partners was offered a faculty position that was less ideal.”

Dean Deborah Stipek spoke about the successes of the School of Education in encouraging faculty diversity.

“Whatever strategies are available, it is very clear to me that it has be part of the culture of the department or the school,” Stipek said.

University budget plan

“This year the budget is a very boring budget,” Etchemendy said.

He noted that this fact bespoke of the improved state of University finances.

The budget plan consists of the Consolidated Budget for Operations and the Capital Budget, which is one component of the three-year Capital Plan. The Consolidated Budget encompasses all of the University’s expected operating revenue and expenditures, and it is expected to see a surplus of $203 million next year. Etchemendy predicts $4.1 billion in revenues, $3.8 billion in expenditures and $104 million in transfers.

The Capital Budget includes capital projects such as the Bing Concert Hall, the Jill and John Freidenrich Center for Translational Research, the West Campus Recreation Center and the Bioengineering/Chemical Engineering Building. That budget estimates $456 million in expenditures for the following year.

While Stanford finances have improved, “the recovery is not complete,” Etchemendy cautioned.

“This endowment payout here is 12 percent below what we were three years ago at the peak,” he said.

At the same time, tuition and room and board income is projected to increase by 4.2 percent.

Etchemendy noted that the financial crisis led to two adverse effects: a drop in the endowment and increased financial stress felt by students’ families. The President’s Fund and The Stanford Fund filled the financial hole left by this “double whammy” effect, he said. But such a solution cannot continue indefinitely.

The provost said Stanford aims to fill that financial hole by raising additional endowment and building an equal portion into the general fund. Remaining financial gaps would be covered by money from The Stanford Fund.

With financial aid under control, the future of sponsored research might present the greatest challenge in the coming year.

“The main gathering cloud on the horizon is the federal research budget,” Etchemendy said.

In the last couple of years, sponsored research increased thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which provided stimulus funding for research. This ARRA funding will essentially disappear by 2012.

It is anticipated that total sponsored research will fall by 1.7 percent next year, a figure that may change once the federal budget is determined. But the future may not be as dire as these numbers suggest.

“Historically, Stanford’s share of the federal research budget has tended to increase in tight times,” Etchemendy said.

While the federal budget may remain flat in the coming years, Stanford could receive a larger portion of this money, thereby offsetting predicted falls in federal funding.

Etchemendy also spoke at length about incremental general funds allocation, announcing that undergraduate overseas seminars would be reinstated in the future. These seminars were “the number one request from students” for reinstatement among programs that had been cut, he said.

He discussed lessons learned in previous years and defended the University’s decision to consolidate cuts in one year rather than spreading the cut over five years.

 

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It’s a small world https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/25/its-a-small-world/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/25/its-a-small-world/#respond Wed, 25 May 2011 07:10:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1048861 The post It’s a small world appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

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It's a small world
Robert Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, spoke at the Graduate School of Business on Monday. (ALEX LIN/The Stanford Daily)

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Stanford police report shooting in Lag parking lot https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/16/stanford-police-report-shooting-in-lag-parking-lot-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/16/stanford-police-report-shooting-in-lag-parking-lot-2/#respond Mon, 16 May 2011 10:04:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1048574 According to the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS), multiple shots were fired in the Lagunita parking lot at 7:17 p.m. on the evening of Saturday, May 14. The authorities have since detained and questioned possible suspects and reported that no one was injured

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According to the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS), multiple shots were fired in the Lagunita parking lot at 7:17 p.m. on the evening of Saturday, May 14. The authorities have since detained and questioned possible suspects and reported that no one was injured.

The Stanford police alerted students via email and text a little after 8 p.m., stating that one “outstanding suspect” is a black male, aged 18 to 20, “with a slender build and long dreadlocks.” The suspect may have been armed with a silver handgun.

In a subsequent announcement to the campus, the Stanford police said, “it is unknown if any of the gunshots were directed at an individual.” Witnesses saw an individual firing several gunshots into the parking lot asphalt before fleeing the scene in a vehicle, said to be a white Lexus.

An officer responding to the incident identified and pursued the vehicle in question. During the police chase, the vehicle’s two passengers exited and made a run for the wooded area bordered by Campus Drive, Quarry Road, Palm Drive and El Camino Real. Police later brought two individuals found in that vicinity into custody for questioning.

“The suspects were detained, questioned, then released,” said Stanford police sergeant Chris Cohendet. The authorities are currently trying to locate the firearm, he added.

A second vehicle involved in the incident is described as an older car with two scissor doors and large rims. The car is said to be burnt orange, brown or gold in color. According to Cohendet, that vehicle’s driver is still at large, and the police are still trying to follow up on this lead.

“The driver of the second vehicle was observed waving a handgun, possibly silver in color, out of the open window on the driver’s side of the vehicle as he left the scene on Santa Teresa Street,” read an alert by the Stanford police. “One witness described the driver waving the handgun as a black male wearing a baseball cap with a red brim.”

At present, the investigation is still ongoing, and a motivation for the incident has not yet been determined.

“We’re still actively investigating it,” Cohendet said.

He noted that “there were a couple of events on campus” happening around the time of the shooting, one of which was Blackfest, a concert that took place at Roble Field, across the street from the Lagunita parking lot.

“I don’t know if this was associated with that event, but the shooting happened right after,” Cohendet said.

“It is unclear whether the apprehended suspects have any University affiliation,” said University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin. “At the moment, it appears that they don’t.”

While suspects have been detained and questioned, the investigation is still an open case and more information will be available in the days to come.

“We don’t believe there is any threat or danger to the campus,” Lapin said.

“I think that it is an isolated incident,” Cohendet concurred.

“It is concerning when someone is carrying a firearm on campus,” he said. “But I don’t think the motive of this was to hurt anyone.”

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SUES gives update on undergrad curriculum changes https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/13/sues-gives-update-on-undergrad-curriculum-changes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2011/05/13/sues-gives-update-on-undergrad-curriculum-changes/#respond Fri, 13 May 2011 09:06:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1048486 The Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) served as the focal point of Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting. History professor James Campbell ‘83 Ph.D. ‘89 and biology professor Susan McConnell, who jointly chair SUES, delivered a presentation on the shortcomings of the undergraduate curriculum and general solutions to these shortcomings.

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SUES gives update on undergrad curriculum changes
History professor James Campbell '83 Ph.D. '89, who co-chairs the Study on Undergraduate Education with biology professor Susan McConnell, addresses the Faculty Senate with the SUES committee's second update. The meeting focused on the shortcomings in undergraduate education and proposed solutions. (Courtesy of Linda Cicero)

The Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) served as the focal point of Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting. History professor James Campbell ‘83 Ph.D. ‘89 and biology professor Susan McConnell, who jointly chair SUES, delivered a presentation on the shortcomings of the undergraduate curriculum and general solutions to these shortcomings.

Campbell noted that institutions of higher learning have seen an increase in the rigor of their undergraduate majors — specifically, an “escalation of what we expect per unit.” This change in rigor is particularly “acute in the so-called STEM fields” and “has been most acute at Stanford,” he said.

Undergraduate requirements bring an added challenge by reinforcing a culture of instrumentality in which students strategically choose classes to check off general education requirements (GERs). “Many students here simply game the system” by basing their class selection on courses that count for multiple GERs and “the likely percentage of A’s,” Campbell said. Detailed data on students’ course selections demonstrated “a very strong culture of instrumentality,” he added.

Another danger in current Stanford trends is the foreclosing of opportunities as students isolate themselves in “silos” rather than exploring different areas of study.

According to Campbell, at the crux of the SUES agenda is a push to “reclaim a vision of liberal education.” More specifically, SUES maintains that the GERs should be modified to introduce students to a wide array of areas in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, applied sciences and technology. This aim goes hand in hand with an underlying commitment to cultivate students who are responsible and well-informed members of society, according to the SUES co-chairs.

Under the current GER system, undergraduates must complete a three-part Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM) series, a two-part Program Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) series, five Disciplinary Breadth courses, two Education for Citizenship courses, one Writing in the Major (WIM) course and a foreign language component.

But one of the problems with this system, the co-chairs argued, is a front-loading of GER requirements. Many of these requirements are completed freshman year. This frontloading can be especially detrimental to the humanities, since some students view humanities GERs as “something you need to get through” before proceeding to “real” courses, Campbell said.

“There’s no need to frontload the humanities in the freshman year,” McConnell said.

Campbell detailed the “ideal arc” of an undergraduate’s four years on the Farm: exploration for freshman year, focus for sophomore year, reflection for junior year and synthesis for senior year.

“We are thinking very hard about the senior year,” McConnell said, alluding to potential capstone projects.

She noted that a reform of undergraduate education comes with “a lot of trade-offs between freedom and structure.” On the one hand, the SUES committee wants students to have the flexibility to pursue their academic passions; on the flip side, it sees the need for structure to guide and provide freshman with a shared, first-year experience.

McConnell stated that SUES was “drawn to the idea that every freshman take a big ideas course.”

This course would provide a meta-dimensional look at how knowledge is created and transition students toward university-level thinking. The strategy is to promote “the use of pedagogical strategies that are specific to freshmen” and move forward with what works. She also alluded to possible development of new courses on topics such as sustainability and global warming.

McConnell also underlined the important role of introductory seminars. Two-thirds of freshmen take these seminars and, by the end of sophomore year, this statistic goes up to 75 percent. SUES is still deliberating the pros and cons of requiring students to take a seminar.

The co-chairs cited another successful model for undergraduate education.

“In the freshman year, we can capitalize on the success of SLE,” McConnell said.

Given the fact that 96 percent of students live on campus, the SUES committee considered further “integrating learning into the residences,” as SLE currently does.

Other notable recommendations include a lasting commitment to breadth, an appreciation of diversity and difference and a new commitment to scientific analysis. The latter objective would ensure that all students — not only those in “techie” fields — have an understanding of scientific fact, theory and inductive and deductive reasoning.

Throughout the report, Campbell and McConnell both referenced the Commission on Undergraduate Education (CUE), a predecessor to SUES that reevaluated the undergraduate curriculum in 1994. According to Campbell, the CUE study found that “Stanford was a premier research university and a body of undergraduates that had no idea what that meant.” The latter statement no longer applies, Campbell said, but more should be done.

Thursday’s presentation was the third report by SUES to the Faculty Senate this year. A full report — with more definitive recommendations — will be made in the fall of 2011.

“Between now and next fall, one of the things I’d like to see is very, very clear elevator speeches,” Etchemendy said, referring to the need for clearly delineated goals that could be retained by both faculty and student over time.

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