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All dynamic colleges, in my experience, regularly ask the question, "What have we become and where are we going?" During the past year, the faculty, staff and trustees at Sierra Nevada College have spent considerable time reflecting on the role of a liberal arts education and our reason for existing as an educational institution.
All agree that a liberal arts college should craft a curriculum which ensures that students are exposed to the best of human thought and ideals. Four basic goals of a liberal arts education are perhaps best described by Yale University classics professor Donald Kagan:
• To experience the pure joy of learning, for its own sake
• To shape character, style, and taste
• To prepare for useful, contributing membership in society
• To be liberally educated in order to be free
Sierra Nevada College was founded in 1969 as a four-year, private liberal arts college. The goal of the founders was to integrate the college and its programs with the unique environmental qualities of Lake Tahoe. The small size of the college and accessibility to instructors reinforce the emphasis on the development of the potential of each individual student.
At Sierra Nevada College the curriculum emphasizes the skills needed not only to be successful in a chosen career field, but also the skills that will serve to make its graduates lifetime learners armed with the intellectual flexibility to adapt to an increasingly complex world.
All institutions of higher education strive to teach the cognitive skills of problem solving, critical thinking and sound analysis. At SNC, this is reflected in the courses that students take as part of their general education core: mathematics, environmental science, computer application, and psychology. All SNC students also are exposed to the study of entrepreneurship and graduates adapt quite well in this environment. The college is also expanding the number of team-taught courses in order to allow students to explore an issue or problem from different methodological perspectives.
SNC students also are encouraged to seek international experiences during their college years and all students take at least one course which has an international/ global emphasis. Six students are visiting several east and southern African nations this summer along with adjunct professor of International Studies Mary Lewellen. Prior to teaching at SNC, Professor Lewellen had a distinguished 30-year career with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Of course, a college experience is more than a collection of courses taken sequentially. What is available to students between classes is a vital part of life at an American college. Extra-curricular offerings add texture to an undergraduate education and SNC is increasingly utilizing the natural wonders of the Lake Tahoe Basin as a learning resource for students.
So what has SNC become and where is it going? It has become a small college with pockets of excellence served by a talented faculty and staff, supported by a dedicated board of trustees. It also has become a college that values partnering with other institutions.
Over the past few years, SNC has entered into several mutually beneficial relationships, partnering with Sodexho physical plant and food services to enhance the campus and the food served; with the University of California Davis to create the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences; and with Carnegie Mellon University to offer the iCarnegie Certificate in computer programming. More partnerships are probably in the future as we look to enhance higher education in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The campus is also changing with the closure of the original mountain campus on College Drive and the relocation of all classrooms and offices to the lake campus at Hwy 28 and Country Club Drive. David Hall is being refurbished to house the Fine Arts Department. The new Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences will open for classes in late August, and a grand opening public ceremony will take place on October 14.
The main focus of Sierra Nevada College continues to be how best to offer an education of enduring value. While the curriculum and the campus may change, the values of the founders of this college endure.
Paul B. Ranslow has just completed his first year as president of Sierra Nevada College.
All agree that a liberal arts college should craft a curriculum which ensures that students are exposed to the best of human thought and ideals. Four basic goals of a liberal arts education are perhaps best described by Yale University classics professor Donald Kagan:
• To experience the pure joy of learning, for its own sake
• To shape character, style, and taste
• To prepare for useful, contributing membership in society
• To be liberally educated in order to be free
Sierra Nevada College was founded in 1969 as a four-year, private liberal arts college. The goal of the founders was to integrate the college and its programs with the unique environmental qualities of Lake Tahoe. The small size of the college and accessibility to instructors reinforce the emphasis on the development of the potential of each individual student.
At Sierra Nevada College the curriculum emphasizes the skills needed not only to be successful in a chosen career field, but also the skills that will serve to make its graduates lifetime learners armed with the intellectual flexibility to adapt to an increasingly complex world.
All institutions of higher education strive to teach the cognitive skills of problem solving, critical thinking and sound analysis. At SNC, this is reflected in the courses that students take as part of their general education core: mathematics, environmental science, computer application, and psychology. All SNC students also are exposed to the study of entrepreneurship and graduates adapt quite well in this environment. The college is also expanding the number of team-taught courses in order to allow students to explore an issue or problem from different methodological perspectives.
SNC students also are encouraged to seek international experiences during their college years and all students take at least one course which has an international/ global emphasis. Six students are visiting several east and southern African nations this summer along with adjunct professor of International Studies Mary Lewellen. Prior to teaching at SNC, Professor Lewellen had a distinguished 30-year career with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Of course, a college experience is more than a collection of courses taken sequentially. What is available to students between classes is a vital part of life at an American college. Extra-curricular offerings add texture to an undergraduate education and SNC is increasingly utilizing the natural wonders of the Lake Tahoe Basin as a learning resource for students.
So what has SNC become and where is it going? It has become a small college with pockets of excellence served by a talented faculty and staff, supported by a dedicated board of trustees. It also has become a college that values partnering with other institutions.
Over the past few years, SNC has entered into several mutually beneficial relationships, partnering with Sodexho physical plant and food services to enhance the campus and the food served; with the University of California Davis to create the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences; and with Carnegie Mellon University to offer the iCarnegie Certificate in computer programming. More partnerships are probably in the future as we look to enhance higher education in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The campus is also changing with the closure of the original mountain campus on College Drive and the relocation of all classrooms and offices to the lake campus at Hwy 28 and Country Club Drive. David Hall is being refurbished to house the Fine Arts Department. The new Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences will open for classes in late August, and a grand opening public ceremony will take place on October 14.
The main focus of Sierra Nevada College continues to be how best to offer an education of enduring value. While the curriculum and the campus may change, the values of the founders of this college endure.
Paul B. Ranslow has just completed his first year as president of Sierra Nevada College.
