Presenters:
Minerva
San Juan, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the First Year
Seminar [Trinity College, Washington, DC, 20017; 202-884-9284]
Sita
Ramamurti, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Carlota
Ocampo, Assistant Professor of Neuropsychology
Trinity
College’s First Year Seminar, required of all Trinity students, has been
designed as an introduction to the College’s interdisciplinary liberal arts
program that seeks to connect a four-year study of the liberal arts with the
students’ long-term professional focus.
Students thus begin their study at Trinity College as members of an
interdisciplinary seminar designed to provide a shared intellectual experience
for all first-year students and to introduce them to the process of exploring a
concept. Recent examples include revolution, chaos, the distinction between
seeing and perceiving, and the human genome project.
Although the success with the students has been unparalleled, it is also interesting that a new model of cooperation has emerged from the practice of teaching concepts from interdisciplinary perspectives. The course design and pedagogical strategies that it demands grow out of the close work that the Seminar Team faculty does together. As faculty members teach each other the material to be presented and learn from each other, we move across disciplinary borders and forge bonds of trust, bonds of logistic as well as intellectual support, bonds of deep respect for the differences we bring from our own disciplines.
By
describing the ways in which collaborative learning and teaching uniquely
address issues of diversity and equity for an extraordinarily diverse student
population, we will demonstrate the effectiveness of interdisciplinary
methodology and pedagogy in creating learning communities of faculty and of
students which outlive the seminar itself.
We make two controversial claims: first, that the interdisciplinary
pedagogy in itself represents a respect for diversity, that it models
collaborative learning, and that it makes equity actual by the blending and
varied uses of methodologies. Secondly, that collaboration in the production
and presentation of the course engenders community and represents knowledge as
occurring in an intersubjective domain. The ways in which Trinity has pursued
this new design in its curriculum against the resistance, doubt, and
frustration that often challenge the emergence of a new model provides insight
about the power of this model as a seminar course and as a tool for faculty
development.
By
describing the ways in which collaborative learning and teaching uniquely
address issues of diversity and equity for an extraordinarily diverse student
population, we demonstrate the effectiveness of interdisciplinary methodology
and pedagogy in creating learning communities that outlive the seminar
itself. We make two controversial
claims: first, that the interdisciplinary pedagogy in itself represents a
respect for diversity, that it models collaborative learning, and that it makes
equity actual by the blending and varied uses of methodologies. Secondly, that
collaboration in the production and presentation of the course engenders
community and represents knowledge as occurring in an intersubjective domain.
Minerva
San Juan received her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1991. She writes on Kant and Kant’s Ethics, Moral
Psychology, and a variety of pedagogical issues. Dr. San Juan is Associate Professor of Philosophy
and Chair of the Philosophy Program at Trinity College, where she has taught
since 1994.
Trinity
College in Washington, DC, is a Catholic liberal arts college founded in 1897
by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to meet the higher educational needs of
women. Presently the college offers an undergraduate program with strong
liberal arts emphasis, and graduate programs, which offer men and women the
opportunity for advanced professional education. The college has a highly diverse student
population.
PLENARY
SESSIONS
SPRING 2003
16
January NO Session [President
McGuire’s Faculty Luncheon]
23
January Myers-Briggs Test:
Professor Noble-Martocci [Social Hall]
30
January Myers-Briggs Discussion:
Faculty Team [Social Hall]
6
February Campus Ministries: Dr. Nanko [Social Hall]
During this coming week all students must sign-up for a Black History Month Event, a Woman’s History Month Event, A Library Workshop, An academic computing workshop, and a Health & Wellness workshop.
13
February Black History Month Event #1
20
February Health & Wellness
Workshop #1: Shannon Coleman & Anne Cosimano
[Social Hall]
27
February Peace & Justice
Colloquium Event
6 March SPRING BREAK
13
March My Sister’s Place: Dr.
Harris-O’Brien [Social Hall]
20
March Women’s History Event
27
March Meet the Faculty Luncheon [Social Hall]
3
April Health & Wellness
Workshop #2 [Social Hall]
10
April Academic Computing
Workshop/Library/Writing Center assignments due
17
April Health & Wellness
Workshop #3
24
April Faculty Team Bake –Off
Social
List of Resources Needed
Black History Month
Calendar: __________________________
Community Ethnic Activities
Religious: ______________________________
Women in the Arts Museums: _________________________
Air & Space Museum: _______________________________
Holocaust: _______________________________
Political _______________________________
Peace & Justice
Colloquium: __________________________
Woman’s History Month
Calendar: _____________________________
Library Workshops Calendar ______________________________
Academic Computing Workshops
Calendar: _______________________