The goal of the Learning Community Program is to facilitate an interdisciplinary examination of a selected author and his or her work. The Learning Community gives the entire campus a semester-long focus of study and exposes faculty, staff, and students to a recognizable living author. Because not every department will be able to incorporate the author's work into the course readings, the opportunity exists for the diverse departments to exercise creativity and flexibility in determining how best to involve their students in Learning Community activities.
The Learning Community Program was begun in the Spring 2001 academic term, and our first selected author was Margaret Edson, whose play Wit won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1999. Academic units and programs across campus either incorporated the play into their course readings or participated in activities related to the play. For example, the Department of English and Foreign Languages used Wit as one of the texts for ENGL 1102 (Composition II) classes, the Department of Psychology and Sociology addressed issues from the play in PSYC 2101 (Health Psychology), and the Department of Fine Arts put on a production of the play that included as cast members students from the School of Nursing as well as the School of Arts and Sciences; additionally, students in THEA 1100 (Theater Appreciation), a core curriculum class taken by students from all majors, served as production crew. Students in the Honors Program used Wit as the text in their Honors Seminar and also met privately with Ms. Edson following the opening night performance of the play. Ms. Edson was also the speaker at the campus-wide Convocation honoring the student winners of the Dolores Capitan Writing Across the Curriculum contest.
Since the Spring 2001 academic term, several other authors have had their works discussed as part of the Learning Community Program. In Fall 2001, the Learning Community Author was Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity International and author of More Than Houses: How Habitat for Humanity Is Transforming Lives and Neighborhoods. Related activities included a campus-wide Convocation at which Mr. Fuller was the speaker, utilization of Mr. Fuller's book in several English classes, and a tour of Habitat for Humanity International Headquarters for students participating in the Honors Seminar. The Honors students also attended a local performance of Tom DeTitta's Darkness Lifting, a play about Habitat homeowners.
In Fall 2001, Dr. Richard Light, Professor at Harvard University, came to campus to discuss his book, Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. Every faculty and staff member on campus received a copy of Dr. Light's book, which was discussed at several Teaching Circle meetings, and some freshmen orientation classes used the book as the text for their class.
The Learning Community Author for Spring 2002 is Dr. Robert Olen Butler, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1993 with his collection of stories, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Numerous ancillary activities are planned around Dr. Butler and his work:
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