It’s time for students and faculty to get a little closer.
Across all academic disciplines of the University, there is potential for increased interaction between faculty and students, said Laurie Patton, the incoming dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, in her address to the Arts and Sciences Council Thursday.
“I have a profound commitment to collective genius,” Patton said. “It will drive the educational communities of the 21st century.”
Patton, who currently serves as Charles Howard Candler professor of religions at Emory University and director of Emory’s Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, shared her expectations for her new position. As dean, she hopes to answer three questions she said are challenging modern universities, and Duke in particular: how to maintain a balance between online and face-to-face learning, how to remove the boundary between the University and the outside community and how to evaluate Duke’s global impact as it increases its international efforts.
She said this is possible by ensuring research collaboration between Duke faculty, graduates and undergraduates. In particular, she emphasized a need for global engagement, considering that as a result of technological advancement, distance is no longer a barrier separating American students from those in other countries.
“There are no more distant strangers, only approximate strangers,” Patton said. “When everyone now has a stake in globalization, we must create new classroom environments where no one is the subject of study, and everyone is the subject of study.”
Patton added that she hopes to spend her first year listening and learning about Duke’s needs and she encouraged faculty members to look to her as a resource.
Additionally, Alvin Crumbliss, interim dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, spoke to the council about his office’s progress over the past year. He said Trinity College has been successful in balancing the budget, hiring professors that complement the talents of the current faculty and increasing outside-the-classroom learning with programs such as the Winter Forum and the Bass Society of Fellows lecture series.
Although Crumbliss said Trinity will continue to face challenging budgetary constraints, he noted that he is “optimistic about the future of the college.”
In other business:
Keith Whitfield, chair of the curriculum committee and professor of psychology and neuroscience, gave the council an overview of the curriculum committee’s accomplishments during the past year.
In addition to performing a continuous review of majors, minors and certificate programs, the members addressed course credit policies such as limits on transfer courses and the number of requirements a course can fill. Whitfield noted that some significant changes throughout the year included the elimination of the Early Childhood Education and Modeling Biosystems certificate programs and the addition of the South Asian Studies certificate program.
“This is the natural evolution of certificates,” Whitfield said. “Things have changed, they’ve connected with other programs.”
Tom Robisheaux, chair of the global education committee and professor of history, also addressed the council, discussing the importance of creating a truly global experience for students who go abroad so that students are not “just going to islands of American students.” The committee’s efforts include strengthening language requirements and increasing oversight for abroad programs, particularly those not administered through Duke.
“We want students to forget Duke and learn about the world from an entirely different perspective,” Robisheaux said.
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