DATE: January 9, 2008
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Jayne Pennington, 434.517.7035
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Founders College First Semester - Successes and Lessons Learned
The first semester of Founders College wrapped up December 20, 2007. The small band of first-year students, exhausted from an intensive week of final exams, headed home to far away places like Arizona, Maryland, and Florida. Some students had travel plans to venture to distant lands for their holiday break.
Founders College began its fall semester with 12 adventurous students. As with all colleges, freshmen classes experience some attrition and Founders will begin the Spring semester with 9 students.
Tamara Fuller, Chairman and CEO, said, “Starting a brand new college is a monumental feat, full of challenges at every turn. As with any new enterprise, we have had our share of ‘bumps’ this past 4 months, but I am proud of the current faculty and administration of the College and their unfailing efforts to deliver on our educational promise. I am also pleased with the progress our pioneering students have made. We’re fortunate to have several new faculty joining us in January and are looking forward to an academically invigorating Spring.”
As final grades were recorded, the faculty submitted their first semester assessment reports.
The Dean of Faculty, Bryan Niblett, Ph.D. in his summary stated, “The number of students was small—but their quality was remarkable high. It seems likely that the unique nature of the education, the Founders difference as it is called, attracts particularly venturesome and motivated students.”
The educational model of the College provides for a core curriculum where the various disciplines integrate their content to give students knowledge, perspective, and a depth of understanding about civilization. In support of this model, Dr. Niblett added, “The four core courses offered this semester, Grammar and Writing, Ancient and Medieval History, Philosophy, and Novels I were a sensible combination for the beginning of a 4-year liberal arts degree. The purpose was to produce an inte-grated curriculum in which each subject adds value to the others. This integration has worked well.”
Faculty members constructed their syllabi in concert with each other prior to the start of classes and met frequently to discuss the connections between and among their courses. Faculty also provided individual student assessments. Dr. Robert Garmong, Professor of Philosophy, commented, "In a few short weeks, my students made huge strides in their understanding of complex philosophical issues and their clarity of expression to communicate those ideas. The gains I’ve observed far outstrip anything I’ve ever experienced in my ten years as a college professor.”
Final Exams can be viewed in their entirety at: http://www.founderscollege.com/News/
The College has announced the addition of 2 new and distinguished faculty, Scott Adams, Psy.D., who will be teaching Psychology, and Thomas Rustici, Ph.D. a leading economics lecturer who teaches at George Mason University and Georgetown University in addition to Founders College.
With the departure of Dr. Niblett and Dr. Jena Trammell, whose contracts expired Dec. 22, 2007, the remaining faculty are working with the new faculty to insure the content integration so vital to the educational model.
Founders faculty are also leading the development of the Spring Speaker’s Series to be announced the end of January and administrators are working on expanding community and social interaction for the residential student body.
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Thursday, January 10, 2008
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3 comments:
Why has Founders gone from twelve students at the start of the fall semester to seven students on the eve of the spring semester? Why did the two faculty listed as having expired contracts teach for only one semester?
Outside looking in, it seems that Founders is either imploding, or at bare minimum, suffering some serious attrition. What facts can Founders offer to make one see otherwise?
The Sexy Seven refers to those students on our physical campus. Yes, Founders College did begin with twelve students - two of which are enrolled to take courses online - and were not included as part of the sexy seven. And as with most colleges, if not all colleges, Founders did experience attrition. Every college is not a fit for every student and that fact sometimes leads to a student reconsidering his or her place at their college, including Founders.
Thank you for your quick reply, but frankly, I'm more concerned about the loss of key faculty, which is the ultimate justification for Founders College as a business. From the outside looking in, it seems worrying. For example, Gary Hull, the original Founders founder is seemingly no longer involved in the college (at least as far as I can tell). From my vantage point, this loss is simply inexplicable, akin to Bill Gates quitting Microsoft just after it signed its deal with IBM.
Also, this blog post said that Founders has learned a lot of lessons in its first semester. Just what might those lessons be?
You may be in no position to provide answers as to why Gary Hull is no longer involved with the college he ostensively created or what institutional lessons the faculty and administration have learned as it sits its first class, but as someone with college-bound children who would like to consider Founders as a possible educational choice, I would like to better understand what's going on at Founders. As much as I like the idea of an integrated college education, I get the vague sense that Founders is high on promise, but somewhat shaky on execution. Am I right, or am I being unfair?
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