The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Hartwick College a grant of $273,000 to strengthen the College's First Year Seminar Program. The grant will fund a three-year project to improve the focus, challenge, and effectiveness of first year programming at Hartwick.
The project will be led by Katrina Zalatan, Hartwick's dean of experiential and integrative learning, and teams of faculty from across Hartwick's academic divisions.
"Hartwick's great strength is the creativity of our faculty," Zalatan said. "They have exhibited tremendous imagination in designing courses that kindle the intellectual curiosity of our students. We know that this kind of upper-level work requires preparation and guidance, and the first year is pivotal in the life of all college students."
A First Year Seminar is required as part of Hartwick's new Liberal Arts in Practice curriculum, as it was for more than two decades under the previous version, Curriculum XXI. FYS courses are small, and taught by full-time faculty members. The goals of these classes include the development of core communication and intellectual skills for all students.
The FYS project funded by the Mellon Foundation aims to further strengthen this important Hartwick program. Student learning will be enhanced through more engaging, challenging first year seminars, co-curricular reinforcement of the first year academic program, and enhanced professional development for faculty.
"The challenge for faculty is to make certain that all students have the basic tools for advanced work, a firm grounding in core skills," Zalatan said. "Mellon support will reinvigorate Hartwick's conversation about teaching and learning in this context and emphasize that first year instruction matters."
In keeping with Hartwick's emphasis on hands-on learning, all FYS courses developed through this project will incorporate an engaged, active learning component such as collaborative projects, research, service learning, or an off-campus experience through which students will develop foundational intellectual skills like critical thinking, analysis, and the ability to construct an argument, and the ability to communicate as members of a learning community.
The three year implementation period for this project provides the time for faculty to engage in focused discussion during the summer months and to implement other project activities during the academic year.
This grant builds on the work supported by a $40,000 Presidential Planning Grant the Mellon Foundation awarded Hartwick in 2006.
"This grant from The Mellon Foundation will have a significant impact on the learning of Hartwick's first year students, and for that we are very grateful," Hartwick President Richard P. Miller, Jr. said. "I am confident that Dean Zalatan and our faculty leadership will steward this project to a successful and exciting conclusion. Moreover, this vote of confidence from the Foundation reaffirms the College's positive momentum, and the value of the important work we do here each day."
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was formed on June 30, 1969. The Foundation program areas include the Liberal Arts Colleges Program under the Higher Education and Scholarship program. Grants in this program are aimed at providing research and professional opportunities for faculty members, strengthening liberal arts colleges, and assisting colleges as they refresh their curricular offerings. In addition, Foundation staff work with liberal arts college presidents to devise grant support that addresses institutional and/or strategic planning goals.
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Hartwick College is a private liberal arts and sciences college of 1,480 students, located in Oneonta, NY in the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Hartwick's expansive curriculum emphasizes connecting the classroom to the world. Through personalized teaching, collaborative research, a unique January Term, a wide range of internships, and limitless study-abroad opportunities, Hartwick ensures that students are prepared for the world ahead. Strong financial aid and scholarship programs keep a Hartwick education affordable.
Contact: Christopher Lott
E-mail:lottc@hartwick.edu
Phone: 607-431-4030
