Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead (center), pictured with students in one of his seminars, will head a major review of Yale College -- the first such reassessment in 30 years.

University launches review of Yale College curriculum

The question of how the University can best educate and prepare its undergraduates for the increasingly international world of the future will be answered in a year-long review of Yale College, President Richard C. Levin announced. Levin has appointed a Committee on Yale College Education to assess the University's current undergraduate program and consider ways it can be enhanced to provide the best education for its students in coming years. The committee, chaired by Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead, will deliberate over the next year, laying out preliminary suggestions in a public forum next fall and making its final recommendations to Levin in the spring of 2003. "The committee will look at many particulars, but a common question will direct its inquiry: What will an educated person need to know a decade or two from now, and what steps can Yale College take to ensure that students are given the best preparation for the future world?" Levin said in a written statement announcing the review. (For the full text of the statement, click here.) Levin announced the review during the University's Tercentennial Convocation on Oct. 5 and described it more fully in a meeting with faculty on Nov. 1. "We will rely heavily on the ideas and suggestions of faculty, students, recent graduates and educators beyond Yale as we undertake this first comprehensive review of the Yale College curriculum in over 30 years," said Brodhead. The review, notes the dean, comes as the University is in the midst of making major investments to strengthen initiatives in the sciences, engineering, environmental studies, the study of globalization and health care, as well as in the fine arts schools and Yale museums. "One of the aims of our review is to look at how we can ensure that these investments pay off in the long-term in undergraduate education," he said. Likewise, while Yale's undergraduate programs in the humanities are renowned for their excellence, Brodhead said that the review provides "an opportune time to explore how these programs can engage in creative interactions with other educational resources, thereby taking the fullest advantage of the whole of what Yale has to offer." Four working groups, or task forces, have been established to look at specific areas of undergraduate education. These are comprised of faculty members, undergraduate students and student representatives from Yale's professional schools. One task force will explore opportunities to engage undergraduates majoring in the sciences, particularly the biomedical, bioengineering and public health fields, in "front-line research," said Levin. It will also look at how the implications of new scientific discoveries can be explored in Yale College courses. A second task force will study ways to enhance science and technology education for non-science majors, while a third will look at Yale's curriculum in the study of societies and their interactions with the goal of exploring how undergraduates might benefit from collaborations with some of the professional schools and other Yale programs. The fourth group will review Yale's teaching in humanities departments and interdisciplinary programs and will consider possibilities for new collaborations between them and with Yale's fine arts schools, libraries and other campus centers. As it undertakes its comprehensive review, each task group will share the common goals of "protecting and strengthening close intellectual contact between faculty and students; multiplying opportunities for students to engage in serious supervised research; increasing faculty participation in undergraduate advising; paying sustained attention to the development of student powers of expression; and enhancing the educational role of the residential college," said Levin. A Steering Committee, made up of representatives from each of the four working groups, will coordinate the review and solicit opinions and suggestions from the University community and beyond. The Yale Committee on Education will consult with already existing Yale committees concerned with undergraduate education. Members of the Steering Committee and the four working groups welcome suggestions and ideas in conjunction with the review. The full list of committee members appears here. 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