Johns Hopkins Gazette: December 4, 1995


Grant Funds Freshman Initiative

     The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences received a $150,000
grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to implement
a general education program for freshmen. The two-year program,
which begins in January, will underwrite efforts to make the
freshman year a more thoughtful introduction to intellectual work
at Hopkins.

     This year marks the first in which freshmen are deferring
their declaration of a major to their sophomore year. With no
specific field of study to guide their course selection, a
university committee has been working to shape both what they
learn and how they learn it.

     The first of two components of the grant involves the
development of new courses--to be created and taught by faculty
and teaching assistants--that will introduce new students to the
importance of research in the various academic disciplines. The
courses will focus on major texts, such as The Origin of the
Species, or broad issues or topics, such as the environment and
the city. Some courses will be team taught in order to bring to
students a wider range of academic perspectives and approaches.

     The second component--intensive four-week institutes held
each summer--will give faculty a chance to discuss the content
and pedagogic techniques of courses already taught, to develop
new courses in consultation with Hopkins and visiting faculty,
and to give shape to the freshman year. 

     The Dean's Office is now accepting course proposals from
faculty and teaching assistants.

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