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Meeting Notes
Tuesday, March 20th,
2001. 5.45 pm. 3335 Dwinelle
Persons in
Attendance:
Paul Eason,
Marianne Hong, Joanne Chen, Agatha de la Cruz, Cynthia (Cindy) Lau,
Catherine Hester, Dan Kim, Julie Pham, Shirley Ye, Andrew Massey,
Nina Milosevic, Edward Hsu
Consensus:
- Survey
for 101 and 103 topics to be taught for the Fall 2001 semester
- Institutionalize
Undergraduate Representative in the History Department
How will we
accomplish Consensus?
- Meeting
on Tuesday, April 3rd, 5.45 pm in 3335 Dwinelle to
discuss Consensus
- Nina
Milosevic, Catherine Hester, Joanne Chen, and Cindy Lau agreed
to work on the Survey for the 101 and 103 topics for fall 2001
- Andrew
Massey will take responsibility for drafting up responsibilities
and selection process of the Undergraduate Representative in
consultation with Shirley Ye.
Concerns Aired
- Discussion
sections for upper-division classes
- Orienting
new/potential History major students
- Logistics
of history major such as course requirements; would encourage
students to think ahead for possible research topics for the
101/195
- Would
perhaps make the history major more popular
- Uses
of history beyond the B.A.
- Students
going abroad would find such a handbook helpful
- For
example, the Psychology Department holds an orientation for
interested Psychology majors at the beginning of the new
academic year.
- Need
for a department-wide survey on topics for 101 and 103s for next
semester
- Lack
of choice of 101 topics will cause students to stay an extra
year because topics offered do not overlap with student’s
research interests
- Addresses
students’ intellectual concerns more adequately
- Inconsistent
Graduate Student Instructor quality
- Unfair
grading compared to students taught by other graduate students
of the same course
- Graduate
Student Instructors who are late to their own sections
- Graduate
Student Instructors who, despite poor evaluations from
previous courses, are still given teaching fellowships.
- 195
- Isolating:
Frequently there is no structure or standard imposed upon the
student, unless the student is very disciplined.
- Frequently
students take 101 in the fall and 195 in the spring, and the
101 will have consumed a lot of the student’s energy, so
little energy is left for the 195.
- Graduate
students teaching 101’s
- Most
students expect professors who have had more experience to
teach this course
- This
is the course/paper undergraduates want recommendation letters
from. Students would prefer to have a professor writing a
letter of rec.
- Institutionalized
Undergraduate Student Representative(s) separate from Phi Alpha
Theta and embedded in the Department
- Honor’s
society connote a certain elitism; student representative(s)
should be as broad-based as possible
- Undergraduates
have an official avenue to air concerns about their education
since appearing in faculty’s office hours can be
intimidating.
- This
will provide an official avenue of communication between
undergraduates and faculty and contribute to an intellectual
community that will include undergraduate students.
Proposed
Solutions
- Handbook
for History Majors
- Orientation
at the beginning of the school year for interested History
majors
- 101/195
- Research
methods taught in conjunction with the 101 either in a
separate course or integrated uniformly in all 101s
- G.S.I.
teaches a portion of the 101 in the style of “Craft of
Historical Research” seminar with Justin Suran and J.P.
Daughton earlier this semester (March 1).
Professor would provide intellectual guidance
concerning sources student could consult while graduate
student would provide advice on research methodology.
- Honors’
Thesis could be a yearlong process that would supplant the
101/195 honors’. The first semester will be studied with a
graduate student on research methods while the second semester
will be studied with a Professor for intellectual guidance.
- Prospect
of 101 original research should be publicized early on in
lower division courses as a tantalizing goal for
upper-division/senior-year work.
- It
is generally agreed that there needs to be an official and
uniform avenue to communicate research methods to
undergraduates either in the form of a seminar such as
“Craft of Historical Research” or class-form.
Many students have articulated that they wish they had
taken a version of the 102 course before writing their 101
and/or 195, not during.
- Undergraduate
Representative to the History department and a new committee
formed with faculty to include Undergraduate Representative. Possible Scenario: Representatives will hold official
office hours open to students. R will hold regular meetings to
discuss with group of students concerns. R will be required to
draft regular memos summarizing student concerns, i.e. weekly or
bi-weekly report memos. R will be required to attend all
meetings with faculty concerning undergraduate education.
R will gain P/NP units for the work they devote to their
position.
- Inconsistent
Graduate Student Instructor quality
- Mid-semester
evaluations for graduate student instructors
- Impromptu
visits on graduate student taught sections by Professors
- If
instructor receives predominately negative evaluations,
graduate student will not be rewarded further teaching
fellowships
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