HMC
The strategic planning initiative at HMC is organized into several phases, as follows:
1. Alumni and parent focus groups (March-June, 2006): focus groups held in several locations, including San Diego, Los Angeles and San Jose, to gather some preliminary information on how alumni and parents feel about HMC and how it should develop in the future.
2. Strategic planning workshops (October 17, 18, 20, 21, 2006): four one-day workshops to gather a wide range of ideas and possible strategies about how HMC should change (or not).
3. Community feedback (November 2006): discussion with trustees (at the Saddle Rock retreat), faculty, students, staff and alumni on ideas generated in workshops.
4. Bullet point draft of strategic vision (December 2006): steering committee disseminates outline of strategic vision and revises it based on feedback.
5. Strategic vision (January 2007): written version is prepared, disseminated, revised and printed as 10-to-12 page glossy publication.
6. Launch of strategic vision (February 3, 2007): official launch occurs at HMC presidential inauguration.
7. Implementation plan developed (February-June 2007)
8. Resources raised (July 2007 – 2012).
Each of the four fall workshops will be planned and moderated by a committee of 15–20 people co-chaired by two or three faculty members. Each committee will includes at least one faculty member from each department as well as student, staff, alumni and trustee representatives. The committees are still being assembled but the current members are listed with the description of the workshops.
The tasks of the committee include the following:
1. Inviting one or two keynote speakers
2. Selecting background reading material
3. Choosing topics for breakout sessions
4. Acting as moderators and scribes during breakout session 5. Writing the preliminary summary report (2-3 pages) within two days after the workshop
6. Developing the final report (8-12 pages) within two weeks after the workshop
Each workshop will follow the same format in order to minimize the planning workload. The most important components are the breakout sessions. In the morning the breakout sessions will involve gathering ideas on six to eight different issues related to the overall topic. During a breakout session there will be one group discussing each issue and the group will be facilitated by a pair of committee members (one acting as moderator, the other as scribe).There will be two morning breakout session periods and the same set of issues will be covered during both sessions so that each attendee has the chance to discuss two different issues. Each facilitator pair will handle the same issue during both sessions and will report out to the whole group at the end of the morning.
During lunch the committee members will post the five or six key ideas from their session around the room, and after lunch the attendees will place dots on the ideas they would be most interested in developing further during the afternoon sessions. The committee will choose the six to eight most popular ideas for the two afternoon breakout sessions. The moderators will report the key ideas to the whole group after the two afternoon sessions. During the closing session of the workshop the attendees complete evaluations while we go around the room with each person saying the most exciting (interesting, unexpected) idea they heard during the day.
We will be using a specific process during the breakout sessions that is designed to ensure that everyone's ideas are heard and recorded, and facilitation training will be provided for the committee members.
The tentative workshop schedule is as follows. Note that this schedule begins at the conclusion of fall break and requires the canceling of classes for the week. We have shared this with the other Claremont Colleges and while classes will not be held on our campus, HMC students will be required to attend classes at the other colleges for which they are registered. In addition all students enrolled in HMC classes will have a special educational assignment during that week.
Kickoff Event
Monday, October 16:
5:30 p.m. Wine and cheese reception
6:15 p.m. Keynote speaker with Q and A
7 – 8:30 p.m. Dinner
Days of the workshops:
9:00 a.m. Welcome and intro by Maria and workshop co-chairs
9:20 Half-hour keynote
10:00 First breakout session
10:45 Coffee break
11:00 Second breakout session
11:45 Moderators prepare reports on breakout sessions
Noon Three-minute reports from moderators
12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:30 Voting
2:00 Third breakout session
2:45 Fourth breakout session
3:30 Moderators prepare reports on breakout sessions (break for others)
3:45 Three-minute reports from moderators
4:30 Closing session
5:00 End of workshop
As a result of the feedback we received from the HMC community, the following workshop topics were developed. These topics and the questions we will consider might be modified slightly as the workshop co-chairs and their committees develop their programs.
Sweeping changes are taking place in the world at large and in higher education in particular. What changes should occur at HMC to enable us to excel at our mission in a rapidly changing world?
Questions for breakout brainstorming:
Topic 1. Sustainability, Environment, and Healthcare
Issues of global sustainability and health care will become increasingly important in the coming decades. To what extent and how should Harvey Mudd respond to issues like global warming, the rising cost of oil, scarce water resources, species extinction, and access to affordable and effective health care? Can these issues provide focal points for interdisciplinary research, clinic projects, and coursework that will fully integrate HMC educational programs in both the technical disciplines and in the humanities and social sciences? Can HMC address sustainability issues with progressive campus policies in the areas of energy and water usage, grounds keeping, building maintenance and housekeeping, transportation and travel, and procurement? Can HMC create a showcase sustainable campus? How might extra-curricular projects on sustainability and healthcare be promoted and supported?
Topic 2. The Changing Student Population: Addressing Demographic and Financial Trends
What kinds of students, faculty, staff, and trustees do we want at Harvey Mudd? How well are we doing at including these individuals in our community? How can we most successfully recruit, retain, nurture, challenge, engage, and reward them? With college tuition consuming an ever higher percentage of family assets, are we pre-determining our future student demographics to come increasingly from higher income families? Growing the ratio of students to faculty at Harvey Mudd would be one way to reduce tuition costs, but would it compromise the quality of the Harvey Mudd education?
Topic 3. Changing Attitudes towards Science
How are attitudes towards science changing in today's world? How do or should these changes affect us at HMC? Should the college be more active in promoting science, striving to improve public understanding of science and our own understanding of public needs? Should the college forge closer relations with public officials weighing the risks and rewards of new technologies, mid-career technical professionals seeking new skills, and others who might benefit from technical collaborations? Should the college be more politically active in lobbying for science funding? With respect to our own views on campus, what philosophical, ethical, and/or religious perspectives impact our attitudes towards science? What inspires people to pursue science? What are the bases for an ethical approach to science?
Topic 4. Identifying and Adapting to the Next Big Changes
Many of the future trends that will affect the college and the society in which we work are not even yet perceptible. How might HMC put in place mechanisms that allow us to continually identify, assess, and respond to these trends as they arise, turning them into opportunities for learning, personal growth, professional training, public service, and institutional strengthening? What financial mechanisms, administrative processes, curricular approaches, and programmatic structures should be put in place to ensure that HMC can respond rapidly and effectively to opportunities that arise from our changing world? How can we give our students opportunities in new, emerging industries? In approaching this challenge, what kinds of skepticism should we have about popular visions of the future? Looking to the near-term, what new technologies or trends are just over the horizon that we should be considering for our curriculum? What are the emerging or soon-to-be emerging technical fields and social challenges for which our students should be prepared to contribute?
Topic 5. Communicating in an Increasingly Interconnected World
Today's technologies generate more data than previous generations could imagine. Sifting through these data to find meaning is a skill that is more important to this generation of engineers and scientists than ever before. In this increasingly interconnected and data-rich world, are we teaching our students to be effective communicators and collaborators? What institutional and technological tools can we incorporate to help students understand and use principals of effective communication (writing, speaking, listening, teamwork)? Where in our curriculum should communication skills be taught? Clinic provides a great opportunity for students to collaborate; a few departments provide formal writing instruction; and there are a number of opportunities for public presentations of student work. But are these various approaches adequate? How should we work to improve our ability to communicate with one another on campus, with the community, and across borders? In meeting these goals, how can we take full advantage of rapidly changing computer connectivity, web conferencing, AV technology, and other new tools?
Topic 6. Breaking the Bubble: Engaging the HMC Culturein Global Life
To effectively train future leaders in a global setting, our students must be actively aware and engaged in the rapidly changing activities of the world. Yet many students admit that they pay little attention to world affairs, often arguing that their workload leaves little time for such efforts. Indeed, one often hears of the "Mudd bubble," meaning our students tend to focus on the limited activities occuring on our campus. To what extent is our college community truly disengaged from the society around us and the world at large? How does the "Mudd bubble" compare to the experience at other colleges? Is it really the case that our workload is preventing students from spending more time thinking about and engaging the world around them, or is the workload just a handy excuse? What activities do or can we do to promote cultural awareness and to increase understanding of the role of science and technology in the global setting (and the opportunities therein)?
Topic 7. Embracing Today's Technologies
It's all very well to look over the the technological horizon, but we need to also ask ourselves whether we are adequately embracing today's technologies. Are members of the Harvey Mudd community given the technologies they need to be effective? How can we leverage the information revolution? How can we apply current technologies in innovative ways? Which technologies ought to be an integral part of the Mudd experience? To what extent does the current curriculum reflect today's science and technology landscape? Which technological solutions to research and teaching problems are faculty or students largely unaware of? Does it matter if students or faculty have no idea as to how the tools they use today work? If there are current technologies that we should be using but are not, why is that? Lack of time to learn them? Lack of money to buy them? Lack of interest in broadening our skills? Fear? Reasoned choice based on conclusions that these technologies won't actually help us?
Table 8. Economic Globalization: Opportunities and Threats
Our world has become increasingly interconnected, forming a two-edged sword of risk and opportunity. On the one hand, events, places, and people outside the United States are becoming more important and the opportunities for enriching cross-national scientific and cultural exchanges are greater than ever. On the other hand, the aspirations of poorer nations now joining the global economy are dramatically affecting the labor market. Meanwhile corporate influence on government, on higher education, and on everyday life is pervasive and seems to be growing. How can HMC best engage with this new global economy? How can the college best prepare students for a world in which many technical jobs are moving overseas? Can the college embrace the numerous benefits of corporate partnerships without skewing its social mission toward for-profit aims?
Should some international educational experience be required of all students? If so, what types of experiences? How should Mudd address the shifts in international and national copyright and patent laws? How does (and how should) Mudd prepare its students to work in a world in which technology can be used for dubious purposes, in America and overseas?
Topic 9. The Future of Liberal Arts Education in the Worldand at HMC
What exactly does it mean to be a "liberal arts college of science, mathematics, and engineering"? Is it what students want? Is it what they need? To what extent and how does HMC focus on the vocational skills and nonvocational skills (personal growth, artistic exploration, social awareness, etc.) of our students? In what ways is this consistent or inconsistent with being a "liberal arts college" versus a "college of science, mathematics, and engineering"? With these considerations in mind, this table will focus on three questions: What kind of school do we say we are? What kind of school are we really? What kind of school do we want to be?
Recommended readings for Workshop 1
Table Topic #1: Proposal for the HMC Center for Environmental Innovation
Table Topic #2: The College Cost Crisis Report
Various tables of comparative information on colleges and universities (including HMC):
Table Topic #3: Highlights from 2006 National Science Foundation report on American attitudes towards science
Science and Public Engagement, Alan Leshner, Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct 13, 2006
Table Topic #4: None
Table Topic #5: None
Table Topic #6: Same readings as Table Topic #8
Table Topic #8: Engineering Globalization: Oxymoron or Opportunity?, Byron Newberry, IEEE Technology and Society, Fall 2005
Assessing Study Abroad’s Effect on an International Mission, K.S. Gray, G.K. Murdock, & C.D. Stebbins, Change (May/June 2002).
Why Study Abroad?, Center for Global Education
Table Topic #9: Engineering and the Liberal Arts by Shirley Ann Jackson
Workshop planning committee
Faculty co-chairs: Dick Haskell, Paul Steinberg, Melissa O'Neill
Members: Stephen Adolph, David Vosburg, Ziyad Duron '81, Jon Jacobsen, Michael Orrison, Daniel Petersen, Scott Fraser '76, Malcolm Lewis '67, Glen Hastings '93, Minal Shankar '08, Guy Gerbick, Claire Connelly, Hubie Clark, Eric Busboom '93
Workshop Planning Committee
Faculty co-chairs: Zach Dodds, Mary Williams
Members: Mary Cardenas, Gary Evans, Sarah Harris, Adam Johnson, Greg Lyzenga '75, Darryl Yong '96, Dylan Hixon, Ray Grainger '88, Andrea Leebron-Clay P99, Jerome Jackson '76, Thomas Johnson '02, Marielle Wardell '08, Stephen Jones '07, Elizabeth Baughman, Michael Kopp '78
What changes are needed to support our students, faculty and staff in achieving their full intellectual and personal potential during their time at HMC?
Questions for breakout brainstorming:
Topic 1. Thriving at HMC: Balancing Life and Work
How can we help faculty, staff, and students achieve an appropriate work/life balance? What is the optimal balance between academic expectations, personal development and time for fun? How can our curriculum and campus culture best support the outcomes we most desire for our students, faculty, staff, and alumni?
Topic 2. Teaching and Learning Beyond the Traditional Curriculum
How can we most effectively teach the things valued in our mission statement, such as leadership and well-roundedness? How can we utilize activities and educational experiences beyond the traditional classroom to encourage these outcomes? How can faculty and staff acquire the skills to teach these lessons?
Topic 3. More than the Sum of the Parts: Valuing Each Other
What strategies can we employ to encourage a culture of valuing each other and ourselves for diverse contributions to the college (teaching, research, service, student interactions)? How do we optimize/improve communication, coordination and cooperation between departments, across the College, the Consortium, and the Claremont community? What is diversity and how do we value it? How can we best recruit, retain, and support students, faculty and staff with diverse backgrounds and experiences?
Topic 4. The ABCs of HMC: Achieving a Balanced Curriculum
What is the optimal balance between…
How can we best encourage alumni commitment, involvement and investment in the HMC community? How can HMC’s alumni support the college? How can the college support HMC’s alumni? How are alums’ feelings about and impressions of HMC influenced by their experiences both during their undergraduate years and after? How can we optimize/improve these feelings and impressions?
Topic 6. Mission Control: The Staff Experience
How can we best integrate the staff into the broader educational mission of the institution? What is the optimal staff and staffing pattern to support the college’s mission and goals? How do we optimize the overall work environment for both administrative and support staff? How can we best support the continued education, growth, and development of staff?
Topic 7. Pursuing Passions: The HMC Research Experience
How can we optimize/improve the educational impact of, the research experiences of both students and faculty? How can improve the financial and administrative support for research? How might we better support and streamline the pursuit of funding?
Topic 8. Classrooms of the Future: Technology & Facilities
What would the optimal HMC 2020 classroom look like? What technology should it include? How can we design a campus that better supports the college’s mission? How can we improve our current classrooms and other facilities?
Topic 9. The Paradox of Goldilocks: Too Small? Too Big? Or, Just Right?
How do we balance the size of the institution with the desire to optimize the academic experience and overall well-being of our students? How large should the student body be? What is the optimal student/faculty/staff ratio? Are classes too small? Too large?
Recommended readings:
Reading #1
Liberation and the Liberal Arts: The Aims of Education
by Robert Pippin
Reading #2
Excerpt from 1999 WASC report addressing student mental health, campus climate, and retention by WASC visitation team
Reading #3
The introduction to Dean Tom Helliwell's 2005 "Report on the Curriculum" and an appendix summarizing his survey of HMC seniors
Reading #4
Introduction and Part I of "Making the Most of College Writing"
by Emily O'Brien, Jane Rosenzweig and Nancy Sommers
Unabridged source material:
Faculty co-chairs: Andy Bernoff, Debra Mashek
Members: Howard Deshong '89, Jennifer Holladay '79, Bob Cave, Liz Orwin '95, Christine Alvarado, Karl Haushalter, Jonathan Mersel '75, Karen Taggart '77, Fang Chang '07, Becky Kelcher '07, Wendy Menefee-Libey, Patty Sparks, Howard Deshong '89, Rachel Howden '08, Carl Carrera '75, Scott Williams
Questions for breakout brainstorming:
Mission Statement: Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well-versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.
What does it mean to "look outside the box?" As a first approximation, it entails an internal assessment—taking a good look at the “box” we already have. At the institutional level, what does Harvey Mudd look like? What should it look like? On a second pass, the phrase also implies an external examination: looking outside at other institutions’ best practices; looking outside to reflect on how the world is changing around us; and providing leadership to the outside world in innovative education. Implicit in our mission statement is the belief that Harvey Mudd College cannot exist in isolation and that we are obligated to consider our impact on society and its impact on us. How best, then, to fulfill our mission?The topics in this workshop speak to both of these aspects. The nine discussion questions probe the optimal composition of the College and urge us to explore ways to deepen, refine, and expand our execution of the College’s mission. The questions asked in this workshop are intended to be provocative and to force us to consider myriad strategies to achieve excellence, both at the College and in our wider society.
1. How big a box?
What is the optimal size of the College that will enable us to achieve our mission? Should we be larger or smaller than the current 720 students and 80 faculty? What would a different size allow us to do? What should the student-faculty ratio be? And, if we choose to grow, what is our capacity for growth?
2. Who should be in the box?
How can Harvey Mudd College create and sustain a diverse and inclusive community of learners? Increasingly complex and diverse communities and workplaces require students to develop new modes of understanding and appreciate a variety of perspectives. Diversity encompasses many forms—e.g., gender, ethnicity, geography and nationality, economic background, "newness" to college-level education, and discipline. What would constitute a rich level of diversity among the people who comprise Harvey Mudd College (i.e., the student body, the faculty, the staff)? How can we achieve, measure, and maintain a compelling level of diversity?
3. Is the box well built?
Personnel, services, administrative structure, communication strategies, as well as physical facilities and equipment are vital to the quality and productivity of an institution’s academic programs. Has the infrastructure kept pace with growth in student and faculty size, the expansion of majors, the increased focus on interdisciplinary learning and discovery, and the explosion in the use of information technology? Does the infrastructure reflect the caliber of the institution? What can we do better to support teaching and research?
4. Is the box unique?
Does the Harvey Mudd College curriculum deliver the “distinctive educational experience” envisioned by our founders and expressed in our mission statement? How well do our degree programs and the structure of our curriculum prepare students for emerging areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? What can we learn from other institutions that have developed new pedagogical strategies? And, if we build a unique, innovative, and effective educational experience, how do we provide leadership in college level science teaching outside of Harvey Mudd?
5. Is the box complete?
How can Harvey Mudd College be a leader in the ethical education of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers? How can we encourage students to respect differences and value social responsibility? How well do we develop in our students a “clear understanding of the impact of their work on society”?
6. What should we add to the box?
Are there new programs that will enhance the educational experience of our students? For example, should we develop new joint programs with other members of the Claremont University Consortium? What about exchange programs (e.g., Swarthmore College)? Should we add one or more new degree programs at the bachelor’s or master’s level?
7. How can we open the box?
A global perspective is central to a contemporary liberal arts education, and study abroad enhances a student’s understanding of the global nature of society and provides a greater appreciation of other cultures. However, relatively few Harvey Mudd students will have the opportunity for such an immersive experience. How can Harvey Mudd College best provide students with an international/global perspective? Should we increase the number of students who study abroad? Are there other innovative ways to prepare students for citizenship in a world of global change and interdependence?
8. How can we cultivate creativity within the box?
Harvey Mudd students are imaginative, creative, and technologically-savvy, yet many lament the lack of creative and artistic outlets at Mudd. Are there ways to better enable our students to develop their creativity in both the academic and student life portions of their Harvey Mudd experience? Would a Harvey Mudd center for creativity and the creative arts help serve as an interdisciplinary nexus? Do our resources and structure enable us to be at “the cutting edge” of creative endeavors?
9. How do we sustain the box?
Who are the future students, faculty, and staff of Harvey Mudd College? What kind of students, faculty, and staff will populate the College in the next 50 years? What factors will affect our ability to attract these people? For example, factors affecting students may include financial costs and degree programs. Factors affecting faculty and staff may include professional development opportunities and expectations and salaries. Factors affecting all of us may include the size of the College, the curriculum, demographics, connection with the Consortium, and geography.
Suggested Readings
In the area of the future of higher education:
Higher Education 2015: How Will the Future Shake Out? (Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 25, 2005)
Ferment and Change: Higher Education in 2015 (The Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 25, 2005)
Creating a Culture for Innovation (The Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 14, 2006)
Time for action: science education for an alternative future (PDF)
In the area of curricular initiatives at other institutions:
Some Examples of Pioneering Undergraduate Curricular and Pedagogical Initiatives across the Country (PDF)
Building a Better Engineer; With No Tuition or Tenure, Olin College Aims to Produce Grads for a Global Economy
David Wessel. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Dec 20, 2005. pg. B.1
To spur creativity:
"The Ten Faces of Innovation" and "The Art of Innovation" by Tom Kelley
"100-WHATS of Creativity" by Don the Idea Guy
"Orbiting the Giant Hairball" by Gordon MacKenzie
"How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day" by Michael J. Gelb
Workshop Planning Committee
Faculty co-chairs: David Asai, David Harris, Kerry Karukstis
Members: Greg Rae '00, Anne Kroeker P06, Martha Dennis, Ran Libeskind-Hadas, Susan Martonosi, John Molinder, Peter Saeta, Chris Tirres, Pennie Gordon '87, Mina Youssef '07, Jonathan Azose '07, Stephanie Graham, Tony LaFetra, Jack Appleman '68
Strategic Planning Initiative
The result of HMC's strategic planning process "HMC 2020: Envisioning the Future" was unveiled during President Maria Klawe's inauguration weekend, Feb. 2-3, 2007.
Background on the strategic planning process:
Monday, Oct. 16
Kickoff Event
Tuesday, Oct. 17
Workshop 1:
Responding to a changing world
Wednesday, Oct. 18
Workshop 2:
Maximizing our impact on society
Friday, Oct. 20
Workshop 3:
Optimizing the HMC experience
Saturday, Oct. 21
Workshop 4:
Looking outside the box
Friday-Sunday, Nov. 3-5
Saddlerock trustee retreat
Smoke Tree Ranch, Palm Springs
Report from Saddlerock workshops (pdf)
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 2-3, 2007
"Envisioning the Future"
Inauguration of Maria M. Klawe
Fifth President of Harvey Mudd College
Keynote speakers:
Monday, Oct. 16
Padmanabhan Anandan
Managing Director
Microsoft Research India
Watch the video
Judy Estrin
President and CEO
Packet Design, LLC
Watch the video
Tuesday, Oct. 17
Bruce Sterling
Author/journalist/editor
Watch the video
Wednesday, Oct. 18
Freeman Hrabowski
President
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Watch the video
Friday, Oct. 20
Sanj Kulkarni
Master of Butler College and
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Princeton University
Watch the video
Saturday, Oct. 21
David Oxtoby
President
Pomona College
Watch the video
The Process
Strategic Planning is being jointly led by President Maria Klawe and Dean of Faculty Daniel Goroff, together with a steering committee of faculty, staff, students, trustees and alumni. The committee includes:
- Maria Klawe – President
- William Mingst – Associate chair, board of trustees
- David Asai – Stuart Mudd Professor of Biology and chair, Department of Biology
- Don Davidson –Director, public relations
- Martha Dennis – Member, board of trustees
- Jim Dewar '66 – Alumni representative
- Marisa Fierro – Development office
- Daniel Goroff – Vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty
- Jeffrey Groves – Professor of literature
- Amanda Hickman '07 – Student representative
- Ed Johnson – Member, board of trustees
- John Molinder – James Howard Kindelberger Professor of Engineering
- Jeanne Noda – Vice president and dean of students
- Barry Patmore – Member, board of trustees
- Lisa Sullivan – Professor of economics and chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Ben Tribelhorn '07– Student representative
- Hal Van Ryswyk – Professor of chemistry and chair of the faculty
- Bill Wiesmann – Member, board of trustees
The strategic planning initiative at HMC is organized into several phases, as follows:
1. Alumni and parent focus groups (March-June, 2006): focus groups held in several locations, including San Diego, Los Angeles and San Jose, to gather some preliminary information on how alumni and parents feel about HMC and how it should develop in the future.
2. Strategic planning workshops (October 17, 18, 20, 21, 2006): four one-day workshops to gather a wide range of ideas and possible strategies about how HMC should change (or not).
3. Community feedback (November 2006): discussion with trustees (at the Saddle Rock retreat), faculty, students, staff and alumni on ideas generated in workshops.
4. Bullet point draft of strategic vision (December 2006): steering committee disseminates outline of strategic vision and revises it based on feedback.
5. Strategic vision (January 2007): written version is prepared, disseminated, revised and printed as 10-to-12 page glossy publication.
6. Launch of strategic vision (February 3, 2007): official launch occurs at HMC presidential inauguration.
7. Implementation plan developed (February-June 2007)
8. Resources raised (July 2007 – 2012).
Each of the four fall workshops will be planned and moderated by a committee of 15–20 people co-chaired by two or three faculty members. Each committee will includes at least one faculty member from each department as well as student, staff, alumni and trustee representatives. The committees are still being assembled but the current members are listed with the description of the workshops.
The tasks of the committee include the following:
1. Inviting one or two keynote speakers
2. Selecting background reading material
3. Choosing topics for breakout sessions
4. Acting as moderators and scribes during breakout session 5. Writing the preliminary summary report (2-3 pages) within two days after the workshop
6. Developing the final report (8-12 pages) within two weeks after the workshop
Each workshop will follow the same format in order to minimize the planning workload. The most important components are the breakout sessions. In the morning the breakout sessions will involve gathering ideas on six to eight different issues related to the overall topic. During a breakout session there will be one group discussing each issue and the group will be facilitated by a pair of committee members (one acting as moderator, the other as scribe).There will be two morning breakout session periods and the same set of issues will be covered during both sessions so that each attendee has the chance to discuss two different issues. Each facilitator pair will handle the same issue during both sessions and will report out to the whole group at the end of the morning.
During lunch the committee members will post the five or six key ideas from their session around the room, and after lunch the attendees will place dots on the ideas they would be most interested in developing further during the afternoon sessions. The committee will choose the six to eight most popular ideas for the two afternoon breakout sessions. The moderators will report the key ideas to the whole group after the two afternoon sessions. During the closing session of the workshop the attendees complete evaluations while we go around the room with each person saying the most exciting (interesting, unexpected) idea they heard during the day.
We will be using a specific process during the breakout sessions that is designed to ensure that everyone's ideas are heard and recorded, and facilitation training will be provided for the committee members.
The tentative workshop schedule is as follows. Note that this schedule begins at the conclusion of fall break and requires the canceling of classes for the week. We have shared this with the other Claremont Colleges and while classes will not be held on our campus, HMC students will be required to attend classes at the other colleges for which they are registered. In addition all students enrolled in HMC classes will have a special educational assignment during that week.
Kickoff Event
Monday, October 16:
5:30 p.m. Wine and cheese reception
6:15 p.m. Keynote speaker with Q and A
7 – 8:30 p.m. Dinner
Days of the workshops:
9:00 a.m. Welcome and intro by Maria and workshop co-chairs
9:20 Half-hour keynote
10:00 First breakout session
10:45 Coffee break
11:00 Second breakout session
11:45 Moderators prepare reports on breakout sessions
Noon Three-minute reports from moderators
12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:30 Voting
2:00 Third breakout session
2:45 Fourth breakout session
3:30 Moderators prepare reports on breakout sessions (break for others)
3:45 Three-minute reports from moderators
4:30 Closing session
5:00 End of workshop
As a result of the feedback we received from the HMC community, the following workshop topics were developed. These topics and the questions we will consider might be modified slightly as the workshop co-chairs and their committees develop their programs.
1. Tuesday, October 17:
Responding to a changing world
Preliminary Summary Report
from October 17 workshop (pdf)
Responding to a changing world
Preliminary Summary Report
from October 17 workshop (pdf)
Sweeping changes are taking place in the world at large and in higher education in particular. What changes should occur at HMC to enable us to excel at our mission in a rapidly changing world?
Questions for breakout brainstorming:
Topic 1. Sustainability, Environment, and Healthcare
Issues of global sustainability and health care will become increasingly important in the coming decades. To what extent and how should Harvey Mudd respond to issues like global warming, the rising cost of oil, scarce water resources, species extinction, and access to affordable and effective health care? Can these issues provide focal points for interdisciplinary research, clinic projects, and coursework that will fully integrate HMC educational programs in both the technical disciplines and in the humanities and social sciences? Can HMC address sustainability issues with progressive campus policies in the areas of energy and water usage, grounds keeping, building maintenance and housekeeping, transportation and travel, and procurement? Can HMC create a showcase sustainable campus? How might extra-curricular projects on sustainability and healthcare be promoted and supported?
Topic 2. The Changing Student Population: Addressing Demographic and Financial Trends
What kinds of students, faculty, staff, and trustees do we want at Harvey Mudd? How well are we doing at including these individuals in our community? How can we most successfully recruit, retain, nurture, challenge, engage, and reward them? With college tuition consuming an ever higher percentage of family assets, are we pre-determining our future student demographics to come increasingly from higher income families? Growing the ratio of students to faculty at Harvey Mudd would be one way to reduce tuition costs, but would it compromise the quality of the Harvey Mudd education?
Topic 3. Changing Attitudes towards Science
How are attitudes towards science changing in today's world? How do or should these changes affect us at HMC? Should the college be more active in promoting science, striving to improve public understanding of science and our own understanding of public needs? Should the college forge closer relations with public officials weighing the risks and rewards of new technologies, mid-career technical professionals seeking new skills, and others who might benefit from technical collaborations? Should the college be more politically active in lobbying for science funding? With respect to our own views on campus, what philosophical, ethical, and/or religious perspectives impact our attitudes towards science? What inspires people to pursue science? What are the bases for an ethical approach to science?
Topic 4. Identifying and Adapting to the Next Big Changes
Many of the future trends that will affect the college and the society in which we work are not even yet perceptible. How might HMC put in place mechanisms that allow us to continually identify, assess, and respond to these trends as they arise, turning them into opportunities for learning, personal growth, professional training, public service, and institutional strengthening? What financial mechanisms, administrative processes, curricular approaches, and programmatic structures should be put in place to ensure that HMC can respond rapidly and effectively to opportunities that arise from our changing world? How can we give our students opportunities in new, emerging industries? In approaching this challenge, what kinds of skepticism should we have about popular visions of the future? Looking to the near-term, what new technologies or trends are just over the horizon that we should be considering for our curriculum? What are the emerging or soon-to-be emerging technical fields and social challenges for which our students should be prepared to contribute?
Topic 5. Communicating in an Increasingly Interconnected World
Today's technologies generate more data than previous generations could imagine. Sifting through these data to find meaning is a skill that is more important to this generation of engineers and scientists than ever before. In this increasingly interconnected and data-rich world, are we teaching our students to be effective communicators and collaborators? What institutional and technological tools can we incorporate to help students understand and use principals of effective communication (writing, speaking, listening, teamwork)? Where in our curriculum should communication skills be taught? Clinic provides a great opportunity for students to collaborate; a few departments provide formal writing instruction; and there are a number of opportunities for public presentations of student work. But are these various approaches adequate? How should we work to improve our ability to communicate with one another on campus, with the community, and across borders? In meeting these goals, how can we take full advantage of rapidly changing computer connectivity, web conferencing, AV technology, and other new tools?
Topic 6. Breaking the Bubble: Engaging the HMC Culturein Global Life
To effectively train future leaders in a global setting, our students must be actively aware and engaged in the rapidly changing activities of the world. Yet many students admit that they pay little attention to world affairs, often arguing that their workload leaves little time for such efforts. Indeed, one often hears of the "Mudd bubble," meaning our students tend to focus on the limited activities occuring on our campus. To what extent is our college community truly disengaged from the society around us and the world at large? How does the "Mudd bubble" compare to the experience at other colleges? Is it really the case that our workload is preventing students from spending more time thinking about and engaging the world around them, or is the workload just a handy excuse? What activities do or can we do to promote cultural awareness and to increase understanding of the role of science and technology in the global setting (and the opportunities therein)?
Topic 7. Embracing Today's Technologies
It's all very well to look over the the technological horizon, but we need to also ask ourselves whether we are adequately embracing today's technologies. Are members of the Harvey Mudd community given the technologies they need to be effective? How can we leverage the information revolution? How can we apply current technologies in innovative ways? Which technologies ought to be an integral part of the Mudd experience? To what extent does the current curriculum reflect today's science and technology landscape? Which technological solutions to research and teaching problems are faculty or students largely unaware of? Does it matter if students or faculty have no idea as to how the tools they use today work? If there are current technologies that we should be using but are not, why is that? Lack of time to learn them? Lack of money to buy them? Lack of interest in broadening our skills? Fear? Reasoned choice based on conclusions that these technologies won't actually help us?
Table 8. Economic Globalization: Opportunities and Threats
Our world has become increasingly interconnected, forming a two-edged sword of risk and opportunity. On the one hand, events, places, and people outside the United States are becoming more important and the opportunities for enriching cross-national scientific and cultural exchanges are greater than ever. On the other hand, the aspirations of poorer nations now joining the global economy are dramatically affecting the labor market. Meanwhile corporate influence on government, on higher education, and on everyday life is pervasive and seems to be growing. How can HMC best engage with this new global economy? How can the college best prepare students for a world in which many technical jobs are moving overseas? Can the college embrace the numerous benefits of corporate partnerships without skewing its social mission toward for-profit aims?
Should some international educational experience be required of all students? If so, what types of experiences? How should Mudd address the shifts in international and national copyright and patent laws? How does (and how should) Mudd prepare its students to work in a world in which technology can be used for dubious purposes, in America and overseas?
Topic 9. The Future of Liberal Arts Education in the Worldand at HMC
What exactly does it mean to be a "liberal arts college of science, mathematics, and engineering"? Is it what students want? Is it what they need? To what extent and how does HMC focus on the vocational skills and nonvocational skills (personal growth, artistic exploration, social awareness, etc.) of our students? In what ways is this consistent or inconsistent with being a "liberal arts college" versus a "college of science, mathematics, and engineering"? With these considerations in mind, this table will focus on three questions: What kind of school do we say we are? What kind of school are we really? What kind of school do we want to be?
Recommended readings for Workshop 1
Table Topic #1: Proposal for the HMC Center for Environmental Innovation
Table Topic #2: The College Cost Crisis Report
Various tables of comparative information on colleges and universities (including HMC):
Table Topic #3: Highlights from 2006 National Science Foundation report on American attitudes towards science
Science and Public Engagement, Alan Leshner, Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct 13, 2006
Table Topic #4: None
Table Topic #5: None
Table Topic #6: Same readings as Table Topic #8
Table Topic #8: Engineering Globalization: Oxymoron or Opportunity?, Byron Newberry, IEEE Technology and Society, Fall 2005
Assessing Study Abroad’s Effect on an International Mission, K.S. Gray, G.K. Murdock, & C.D. Stebbins, Change (May/June 2002).
Why Study Abroad?, Center for Global Education
Table Topic #9: Engineering and the Liberal Arts by Shirley Ann Jackson
Workshop planning committee
Faculty co-chairs: Dick Haskell, Paul Steinberg, Melissa O'Neill
Members: Stephen Adolph, David Vosburg, Ziyad Duron '81, Jon Jacobsen, Michael Orrison, Daniel Petersen, Scott Fraser '76, Malcolm Lewis '67, Glen Hastings '93, Minal Shankar '08, Guy Gerbick, Claire Connelly, Hubie Clark, Eric Busboom '93
2. Wednesday, October 18:
Maximizing our impact on society
Details for this session can be found at:
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/hmc2020society/
Maximizing our impact on society
Details for this session can be found at:
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/hmc2020society/
Workshop Planning Committee
Faculty co-chairs: Zach Dodds, Mary Williams
Members: Mary Cardenas, Gary Evans, Sarah Harris, Adam Johnson, Greg Lyzenga '75, Darryl Yong '96, Dylan Hixon, Ray Grainger '88, Andrea Leebron-Clay P99, Jerome Jackson '76, Thomas Johnson '02, Marielle Wardell '08, Stephen Jones '07, Elizabeth Baughman, Michael Kopp '78
What changes are needed to support our students, faculty and staff in achieving their full intellectual and personal potential during their time at HMC?
Questions for breakout brainstorming:
Topic 1. Thriving at HMC: Balancing Life and Work
How can we help faculty, staff, and students achieve an appropriate work/life balance? What is the optimal balance between academic expectations, personal development and time for fun? How can our curriculum and campus culture best support the outcomes we most desire for our students, faculty, staff, and alumni?
Topic 2. Teaching and Learning Beyond the Traditional Curriculum
How can we most effectively teach the things valued in our mission statement, such as leadership and well-roundedness? How can we utilize activities and educational experiences beyond the traditional classroom to encourage these outcomes? How can faculty and staff acquire the skills to teach these lessons?
Topic 3. More than the Sum of the Parts: Valuing Each Other
What strategies can we employ to encourage a culture of valuing each other and ourselves for diverse contributions to the college (teaching, research, service, student interactions)? How do we optimize/improve communication, coordination and cooperation between departments, across the College, the Consortium, and the Claremont community? What is diversity and how do we value it? How can we best recruit, retain, and support students, faculty and staff with diverse backgrounds and experiences?
Topic 4. The ABCs of HMC: Achieving a Balanced Curriculum
What is the optimal balance between…
- Flexibility and degree requirements in the HMC curriculum?
- The humanities and social sciences and the technical curriculum?
- Interdisciplinarity vs. departmentalism?
- On-campus vs. Off-campus experiences (e.g., consortium, study abroad)?
- Individual vs. Collaborative work?
How can we best encourage alumni commitment, involvement and investment in the HMC community? How can HMC’s alumni support the college? How can the college support HMC’s alumni? How are alums’ feelings about and impressions of HMC influenced by their experiences both during their undergraduate years and after? How can we optimize/improve these feelings and impressions?
Topic 6. Mission Control: The Staff Experience
How can we best integrate the staff into the broader educational mission of the institution? What is the optimal staff and staffing pattern to support the college’s mission and goals? How do we optimize the overall work environment for both administrative and support staff? How can we best support the continued education, growth, and development of staff?
Topic 7. Pursuing Passions: The HMC Research Experience
How can we optimize/improve the educational impact of, the research experiences of both students and faculty? How can improve the financial and administrative support for research? How might we better support and streamline the pursuit of funding?
Topic 8. Classrooms of the Future: Technology & Facilities
What would the optimal HMC 2020 classroom look like? What technology should it include? How can we design a campus that better supports the college’s mission? How can we improve our current classrooms and other facilities?
Topic 9. The Paradox of Goldilocks: Too Small? Too Big? Or, Just Right?
How do we balance the size of the institution with the desire to optimize the academic experience and overall well-being of our students? How large should the student body be? What is the optimal student/faculty/staff ratio? Are classes too small? Too large?
Recommended readings:
Reading #1
Liberation and the Liberal Arts: The Aims of Education
by Robert Pippin
Reading #2
Excerpt from 1999 WASC report addressing student mental health, campus climate, and retention by WASC visitation team
Reading #3
The introduction to Dean Tom Helliwell's 2005 "Report on the Curriculum" and an appendix summarizing his survey of HMC seniors
Reading #4
Introduction and Part I of "Making the Most of College Writing"
by Emily O'Brien, Jane Rosenzweig and Nancy Sommers
Unabridged source material:
- 1999 WASC report
- "Report on the Curriculum" (Dean Tom Helliwell)
- "Making the Most of College Writing" (Harvard University guide for freshmen)
Faculty co-chairs: Andy Bernoff, Debra Mashek
Members: Howard Deshong '89, Jennifer Holladay '79, Bob Cave, Liz Orwin '95, Christine Alvarado, Karl Haushalter, Jonathan Mersel '75, Karen Taggart '77, Fang Chang '07, Becky Kelcher '07, Wendy Menefee-Libey, Patty Sparks, Howard Deshong '89, Rachel Howden '08, Carl Carrera '75, Scott Williams
Questions for breakout brainstorming:
Mission Statement: Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well-versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.
What does it mean to "look outside the box?" As a first approximation, it entails an internal assessment—taking a good look at the “box” we already have. At the institutional level, what does Harvey Mudd look like? What should it look like? On a second pass, the phrase also implies an external examination: looking outside at other institutions’ best practices; looking outside to reflect on how the world is changing around us; and providing leadership to the outside world in innovative education. Implicit in our mission statement is the belief that Harvey Mudd College cannot exist in isolation and that we are obligated to consider our impact on society and its impact on us. How best, then, to fulfill our mission?The topics in this workshop speak to both of these aspects. The nine discussion questions probe the optimal composition of the College and urge us to explore ways to deepen, refine, and expand our execution of the College’s mission. The questions asked in this workshop are intended to be provocative and to force us to consider myriad strategies to achieve excellence, both at the College and in our wider society.
1. How big a box?
What is the optimal size of the College that will enable us to achieve our mission? Should we be larger or smaller than the current 720 students and 80 faculty? What would a different size allow us to do? What should the student-faculty ratio be? And, if we choose to grow, what is our capacity for growth?
2. Who should be in the box?
How can Harvey Mudd College create and sustain a diverse and inclusive community of learners? Increasingly complex and diverse communities and workplaces require students to develop new modes of understanding and appreciate a variety of perspectives. Diversity encompasses many forms—e.g., gender, ethnicity, geography and nationality, economic background, "newness" to college-level education, and discipline. What would constitute a rich level of diversity among the people who comprise Harvey Mudd College (i.e., the student body, the faculty, the staff)? How can we achieve, measure, and maintain a compelling level of diversity?
3. Is the box well built?
Personnel, services, administrative structure, communication strategies, as well as physical facilities and equipment are vital to the quality and productivity of an institution’s academic programs. Has the infrastructure kept pace with growth in student and faculty size, the expansion of majors, the increased focus on interdisciplinary learning and discovery, and the explosion in the use of information technology? Does the infrastructure reflect the caliber of the institution? What can we do better to support teaching and research?
4. Is the box unique?
Does the Harvey Mudd College curriculum deliver the “distinctive educational experience” envisioned by our founders and expressed in our mission statement? How well do our degree programs and the structure of our curriculum prepare students for emerging areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? What can we learn from other institutions that have developed new pedagogical strategies? And, if we build a unique, innovative, and effective educational experience, how do we provide leadership in college level science teaching outside of Harvey Mudd?
5. Is the box complete?
How can Harvey Mudd College be a leader in the ethical education of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers? How can we encourage students to respect differences and value social responsibility? How well do we develop in our students a “clear understanding of the impact of their work on society”?
6. What should we add to the box?
Are there new programs that will enhance the educational experience of our students? For example, should we develop new joint programs with other members of the Claremont University Consortium? What about exchange programs (e.g., Swarthmore College)? Should we add one or more new degree programs at the bachelor’s or master’s level?
7. How can we open the box?
A global perspective is central to a contemporary liberal arts education, and study abroad enhances a student’s understanding of the global nature of society and provides a greater appreciation of other cultures. However, relatively few Harvey Mudd students will have the opportunity for such an immersive experience. How can Harvey Mudd College best provide students with an international/global perspective? Should we increase the number of students who study abroad? Are there other innovative ways to prepare students for citizenship in a world of global change and interdependence?
8. How can we cultivate creativity within the box?
Harvey Mudd students are imaginative, creative, and technologically-savvy, yet many lament the lack of creative and artistic outlets at Mudd. Are there ways to better enable our students to develop their creativity in both the academic and student life portions of their Harvey Mudd experience? Would a Harvey Mudd center for creativity and the creative arts help serve as an interdisciplinary nexus? Do our resources and structure enable us to be at “the cutting edge” of creative endeavors?
9. How do we sustain the box?
Who are the future students, faculty, and staff of Harvey Mudd College? What kind of students, faculty, and staff will populate the College in the next 50 years? What factors will affect our ability to attract these people? For example, factors affecting students may include financial costs and degree programs. Factors affecting faculty and staff may include professional development opportunities and expectations and salaries. Factors affecting all of us may include the size of the College, the curriculum, demographics, connection with the Consortium, and geography.
Suggested Readings
In the area of the future of higher education:
Higher Education 2015: How Will the Future Shake Out? (Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 25, 2005)
Ferment and Change: Higher Education in 2015 (The Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 25, 2005)
Creating a Culture for Innovation (The Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 14, 2006)
Time for action: science education for an alternative future (PDF)
In the area of curricular initiatives at other institutions:
Some Examples of Pioneering Undergraduate Curricular and Pedagogical Initiatives across the Country (PDF)
Building a Better Engineer; With No Tuition or Tenure, Olin College Aims to Produce Grads for a Global Economy
David Wessel. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Dec 20, 2005. pg. B.1
To spur creativity:
"The Ten Faces of Innovation" and "The Art of Innovation" by Tom Kelley
"100-WHATS of Creativity" by Don the Idea Guy
"Orbiting the Giant Hairball" by Gordon MacKenzie
"How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day" by Michael J. Gelb
Workshop Planning Committee
Faculty co-chairs: David Asai, David Harris, Kerry Karukstis
Members: Greg Rae '00, Anne Kroeker P06, Martha Dennis, Ran Libeskind-Hadas, Susan Martonosi, John Molinder, Peter Saeta, Chris Tirres, Pennie Gordon '87, Mina Youssef '07, Jonathan Azose '07, Stephanie Graham, Tony LaFetra, Jack Appleman '68
Copyright 2012 Harvey Mudd College