CONWAY, Ark. (Nov. 24, 2009) – A $600,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has funded an innovative approach to interdisciplinary study at Hendrix College. The program, called “Crossings,” will simultaneously link courses from different departments and blend classroom educational opportunities with hands-on experiences.
Crossings ties into the college’s engaged-learning "Your Hendrix Odyssey" – specifically combining professors and courses from a variety of subject areas to create a unique, broad-reaching sequence. For example, Philosophy Associate Professor Fred Ablondi, Psychology Associate Professor Jennifer Peszka, and Philosophy Professor Lawrence Schmidt have joined to create a Crossing called “Study of the Mind,” which will provide students an opportunity to examine the mind from multiple perspectives. Students will learn how the newest advances in science can help answer some of the oldest questions in philosophy.
Dr. Jay Barth, M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of Politics and Director of Civic Engagement Projects at Hendrix, will serve as the dedicated faculty leader for Crossings and will oversee the project.
“With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Hendrix is allowing its faculty and students to collaborate in exploring and identifying the hidden links that exist between courses and help bring those connections to visibility so that students may better see them and deliberately explore those connections during their course of study,” Barth said. “At an institution dedicated to the liberal arts, we have a unique opportunity to move beyond the sharp disciplinary boundaries that inhibit our ability to see linkages across all the subjects our students study.”
Other Crossings sequences include:
- Intercultural Dialogue: Food, Language and Identity – Hendrix Sociology Professor Stella Capek, English Professor Carol West, Writing Center Assistant Director Jo Ann Stevens, and Religion Professor Jay McDaniel will join to teach this sequence, which focuses on cultural globalization in the context of three key elements of community: food, language and intercultural dialogue. People are socially bound together by speaking a common language, and likewise derive their identity from traditional foods, many of them local. This Crossings sequence integrates existing courses, experiential learning components, and an undergraduate research component through a recurring focus on China, highlighting its rich confluence of food culture, language issues, and complex responses to globalization.
- Documentary Studies – Hendrix English Assistant Professor Kristi McKim, Visual Arts Associate Professor Maxine Payne, English Associate Professor Alex Vernon, and Sociology assistant professor Anne Goldberg will join to teach this sequence, which includes both the study and creation of documentary work. The sequence will occur over two years, with the first year consisting of coursework and the second year culminating with students producing and presenting their own documentary project on an Arkansas subject matter. Students will come to understand the value and complexity of a particular subject through their first-hand involvement with researching the subject.
Two additional Crossings sequences are being developed for the 2011-2012 school year.
The new program comes five years after Hendrix created Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning. Like Crossings, Odyssey builds upon the College’s historical strength of encouraging students to undertake engaged learning projects, such as undergraduate research, to enhance, expand, and frame the knowledge and questions they encounter inside the classroom. As part of Odyssey, all Hendrix students are required to participate in at least three engaged learning projects drawn from three of the following six categories: Artistic Creativity, Global Awareness, Professional and Leadership Development, Service to the World, Undergraduate Research, and Special Projects. To increase the breadth of engaged learning experiences, students must complete their three required Odyssey experiences in separate project categories.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation based in New York, was formed on June 30, 1969, through the consolidation of two existing foundations—Avalon Foundation and Old Dominion Foundation. At the end of 1969, the assets of the Foundation totaled $220 million. By the end of 2007, assets totaled $6.5 billion, with annual grantmaking appropriations of approximately $286 million.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.