When the U.S. public thinks about higher education, foremost in their minds is where their kids and their neighbor’s kids do or don’t go to college, keynote speaker Elizabeth Loizeaux said during the Center for Teaching Excellence’s annual symposium on teaching and learning on Friday, Jan. 5.
That’s how Loizeaux framed the discussion around the symposium’s topic, “The Future of General Education at Rice.”
“Undergraduate education is where higher education most visibly meets the public it serves,” said Loizeaux, special adviser to the provost of Boston University and contributor to the Boyer 2030 Commission Report , creating a blueprint for excellence in undergraduate education at leading research universities. “Universities have a powerful role to play in addressing the daunting challenges that face all of us, and undergraduate education is one of the largest arenas for exercising that power for good.”
Loizeaux was joined by Paul Hanstedt, vice chancellor for academic affairs and innovation at the University of Minnesota Rochester, and Ashley Finley, vice president for research and senior adviser to the president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Amy Dittmar, Rice’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, gave the opening remarks.
At Rice, a general education committee is creating recommendations for reimagining general education. Currently, Rice students must take three designated courses each in humanities, social sciences and natural sciences/engineering, plus a first-year writing-intensive seminar and a lifetime physical activity course. Students must meet an analyzing diversity course requirement through one of the distribution courses or the writing seminar.
During an afternoon panel discussion, Rice faculty shared their innovative teaching strategies and high-impact practices. Lesa Tran Lu, executive director of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, shared takeaways from her popular Chemistry of Cooking course, which attracts a wide range of students and draws on the expertise of chefs in the Houston culinary scene.
Students recognize and apply scientific concepts in a variety of settings, including the kitchen. At the end of the semester, small groups of students present an original recipe to a panel of 15 judges. The presentation includes a 10-minute talk about the science and cultural importance of the recipe, Lu said.
The Chemistry of Cooking is one of more than 100 courses that meet the analyzing diversity requirement, underscoring the breadth of the courses available, said Alex Byrd, vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Sometimes new courses are developed because a curriculum requirement exists, he said. For example, a group from MUSE, short for Musicians United for Social Equality, sought help creating an analyzing diversity course in the Shepherd School of Music.
“It speaks to the way a curriculum requirement can reverberate across the campus in a variety of ways,” Byrd said.
Fay Yarbrough, associate dean of humanities, spoke about her school’s highly sought-after Big Questions courses. Courses have explored “What is love?,” “What is hate?,” “What is the meaning of death?” and “Why did so many die?” taught during the peak of the pandemic, and “Who should vote?”
Most students who take the courses are not humanities majors, Yarbrough said, and professors are often paired with teaching assistants from a different discipline than their own to add to the interdisciplinary flavor of the courses.
Nia Georges, professor of anthropology, spoke about an international research course she co-teaches with a doctoral candidate who has been living in Thailand. Students read extensively about the society, culture and politics of the site that they’ve chosen to research. Over spring break, students travel to Thailand to conduct interviews and observations. They then write and present a 15-page research paper at the end of the semester, Georges said.
For the first time this year, Rice waived a $2,000 course fee. The quality of the research proposals was “superb,” because the course became more competitive to get into.
“This year, we achieved the goal that any student could go on the trip, regardless of their financial situation,” Georges said.