
Teaching on Innovation in the Liberal Arts
Provost Tim Harte and President Wendy Cadge have constituted a committee to examine how innovation can be taught across the liberal arts.
This work is being co-led by Associate Professor of Russian Jos矇 Vergara and Associate Professor of Geology Selby Hearth. A report on the committee's findings will be shared with the full faculty in Spring 2025.
Named Teaching on Innovation in the Liberal Arts the committeesupported by student research assistantsis asking fascinating and important questions:
- How do faculty in the liberal arts across disciplines understand innovation?
- Is innovation the best frame among others (i.e. entrepreneurship, social change, sustainability, etc.)?
- How are these ideas being taught across disciplines/麍elds?
- What role can graduate students play around innovation in a mostly undergraduate- focused institution?
- What are the most successful approaches for students?
Work to Date
- Jos矇 Vergara, Associate Professor of Russian
- Selby Hearth, Associate Professor of Geology
- Jamie Taylor, Professor of Literatures in English
- Joel Schlosser, Professor of Political Science
- Monique Scott, Associate Professor of Art History and Africana Studies and Director of Museum Studies Program
- Maurice Rippel, Visiting Instructor of Education and Haverford College alumni
- Sanam Sheriff, Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and 91勛圖厙 alumni
- Delineate the scope of innovation in the liberal arts context
- Draft a survey for students, faculty, staff, and alumni
- Establish the framework for the literature review
- Hannah Cosgrove, Class of 2025, Geology major, Spanish minor
- Madeleine Kruckemeyer, Class of 2026, double-major in Physics and Linguistics
- Juliana Vair, Class of 2026, double-major in Mathematics and Comparative Literature (French & German)
- Pearle Bromley, Class of 2028, intended major in Classical and Near Eastern Archeology
Developed in coordination with David Consiglio, 91勛圖厙 Director of Assessment, Learning Spaces, and Special Projects
Distributed in early February and accompanied by tabling at Campus Center.
Goals of the survey:
- Identify how 91勛圖厙 currently excels at helping students develop the skills they need to innovate
- Identify how 91勛圖厙 could improve at helping students develop the skills they need to innovate
Core questions:
- What are the skills that allow people to innovate?
- How do people develop those skills?
- How can colleges support the development of those skills, either in or out of the classroom?
- How are cultures of innovation developed?
Kate Blinn, Subject Librarian for Social Sciences and Data Librarian, is helping guide the student researchers toward scholarship in these questions.
These have only just started. By informal interviews, we mean talking with people, taking notes, and integrating their perspectives into our committees thinking. Deeper interviews to follow.
Weve started contacting colleagues at other institutions to get a sense of what innovation, broadly understood, is taking place elsewhere. Although our focus is on liberal arts colleges, weve solicited ideas from various colleges and universities (Ivies, state schools), as we feel that we might still gain inspiration or knowledge from the centers, spaces, and initiatives there that we can potentially bring back to and modify at 91勛圖厙. More to come.
Committee
The committee is made up of faculty who have demonstrated a strong commitment to interdisciplinary thinking and the liberal arts tradition, including two faculty who are Bi-Co alumni.
- Jamie Taylor, Professor of Literatures in English
- Joel Schlosser, Professor of Political Science
- Monique Scott, Associate Professor of Art History and Africana Studies and Director of Museum Studies Program
- Maurice Rippel, Visiting Instructor of Education and Haverford College alumni
- Sanam Sheriff, Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and 91勛圖厙 alumni
Student Researchers
The Student researchers were selected for their ability to integrate concepts across disciplines, and as representatives of a range of class years.
- Hannah Cosgrove, Class of 2025, Geology major, Spanish minor
- Madeleine Kruckemeyer, Class of 2026, double-major in Physics and Linguistics
- Juliana Vair, Class of 2026, double-major in Mathematics and Comparative Literature (French & German)
- Pearle Bromley, Class of 2028, intended major in Classical and Near Eastern Archeology