RECENT ACTIVITIES
Summer 2005

Task Force members are working hard this summer to draft sections of the final report on a wide range of topics.   Each member will synthesize the conclusions and recommendations from committee discussions over the past year.   Each section will be considered by the full Task Force early in the fall for inclusion in the final draft.

In late June, the Student Advisory Committee delivered an addendum to its Preliminary Report.   The report summarized the reaction from the student body garnered through the on-line discussion board and community meetings.   The SAC revised its recommendations on Advanced Placement credit and clarified aspects of its recommendations on the HASS and Communication Requirements.   To download a copy of the original report, click here.

As a follow up to the work of the Task Force Subcommittee on the Humanities, Arts and Social Science Experience, members of the Schools of HASS, Architecture and Planning, and Management will meet this summer to study further the recommendation of a more common experience in HASS for first-year students.   The group, chaired by Associate Dean Deborah Fitzgerald, will explore possible methods of implementing such a change and the implications for other aspects of the requirement, such as concentration and distribution.   

The Task Force also collaborated with the d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education to release a Call for Proposals in mid-June.   The Call seeks preliminary proposals for ambitious projects to enhance the first-year educational experience of our undergraduates. The Task Force hopes to stimulate the development of concrete educational experiments that can serve as models for future subject offerings in three target areas:

• Project-based experiences
• The freshman HASS experience
• Broadening the science and engineering fundamentals

Completed preliminary proposals are due by September 26, 2005 and should be submitted to the d'Arbeloff Grants Committee in care of Peggy Enders, Room 10-183 (peggy@mit.edu) . For more information, click here.

Back to Top