Jordan Freisleben
2015-01-11T22:00:03Z
School of Engineering and Applied Science students will have a lot of no-brainers next week: Most of the candidates for the Engineering Student Council executive board, class councils, and special representatives are running unopposed.
The candidates were announced yesterday, and nine of the 11 categories are uncontested, including the executive board and councils for the classes of 2013 and 2014. Three students are running for the seat in the University Senate for a SEAS undergraduate.
Campaigning began Monday and voting is open from April 2 through April 5. The candidates will hold a forum from 3 to 5 p.m. on April 1.
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Project Blue is the only party running for executive board, headed by University Senator Tim Qin, SEAS '13, as president.
"I think we were all kind of surprised, because we thought it would be more contested," Qin said. "But we're definitely excited with the ideas we have for next year."
The party's slogan is "Make Columbia Engineering bluer." "We want more school spirit—more interschool collaboration with CC, GS, Barnard, and the graduate schools—and most importantly, communication with students," Qin said.
"You can't have good policies without input from the student body," he added.
Rounding out Project Blue's ticket are Bora Kim, SEAS '13, as vice president of policy; Caroline Taylor, SEAS '14, as vice president of communications; Siddhant Bhatt, SEAS '14, as vice president of finance; and Sheila Misheni, SEAS '14, as vice president of student life.
"I would like a lot of participation from the non-ESC members from the general SEAS community," Kim said. "People do want to work on policy changes, but it's hard to make the changes when you don't know exactly how things work currently."
Kim said she plans to make a handbook documenting "how everything works on campus," from alcohol policies to student government.
UNIVERSITY SENATE
Three students are running for the University Senate seat vacated by Qin: Logan Donovan, SEAS '13 and current vice president of policy; Adam Hadar, SEAS '15; and Akshay Shah, SEAS '14 and class of 2014 president.
"I feel like I've done a lot of policy and got a lot of things done for council," Donovan said. "Senator felt like a logical move to accomplish most things for SEAS."
Shah said the biggest challenge for him as a University senator would be communicating the purpose and necessity of the University Senate.
At the same time, he said, "There needs to be a two-way communication. People need to tell me their issues so I can raise them in the senate."
CLASS COUNCILS
The class council races for the classes of 2013 and 2014 are both uncontested. Mary Byers, SEAS '13, is leading the SEASian party to be reelected as class of 2013 president, and Daniel O'Leary, SEAS '14 and class representative, is running for president of the FuTASTIC 14.
Two parties, CE Change and Kung Fu Pandas, are running for election to the class of 2015 council.
CE Change includes Tanay Doctor, SEAS '15, for president; Andre Paiva, SEAS '15, as vice president; and Aditya Naganath, SEAS '15, as class representative.
The Kung Fu Pandas, the current class of 2015 council, is once again being led by Joshua Boggs, SEAS '15, as president.
"We're very influenced by what we've done and witnessed and learned from the past year," Boggs said.
Boggs said one of the biggest focuses for the party is promoting student group collaboration.
"We have a ton of money to give out on student council. Our biggest ability to effect change is in financing—it's one of our most overlooked aspects of our council," Boggs said.
Boggs said he would also like to improve engineers' student wellness in "all facets of student life," from dining and facilities to pushing for the ability to take elective courses pass/D/fail.
Running again with Boggs are Shensi Ding, SEAS '15, for vice president; Manali Yavatkar, SEAS '15, for class representative; and Edward Zahrebelski, SEAS '15, for class representative.
Six other races—for the special representatives for academic affairs, student services, and professional development and alumni affairs, as well as the three liaisons to the other undergraduate councils—are also uncontested. Four are first-years and two are sophomores.
For a complete list of candidates, read our Spectrum post from Monday.
jordan.freisleben@columbiaspectator.com
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that all six special representative and liaison candidates were first years. Spectator regrets the error.
... The candidates were announced yesterday, and nine of the 11 categories are uncontested, including the executive board and councils for the classes of 2013 and 2014. Three students are running for the seat in the University Senate for a SEAS undergraduate.
Campaigning began Monday and voting is open from April 2 through April 5. The candidates will hold a forum from 3 to 5 p.m. on April 1.
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Project Blue is the only party running for executive board, headed by University Senator Tim Qin, SEAS '13, as president.
"I think we were all kind of surprised, because we thought it would be more contested," Qin said. "But we're definitely excited with the ideas we have for next year."
The party's slogan is "Make Columbia Engineering bluer." "We want more school spirit—more interschool collaboration with CC, GS, Barnard, and the graduate schools—and most importantly, communication with students," Qin said.
"You can't have good policies without input from the student body," he added.
Rounding out Project Blue's ticket are Bora Kim, SEAS '13, as vice president of policy; Caroline Taylor, SEAS '14, as vice president of communications; Siddhant Bhatt, SEAS '14, as vice president of finance; and Sheila Misheni, SEAS '14, as vice president of student life.
"I would like a lot of participation from the non-ESC members from the general SEAS community," Kim said. "People do want to work on policy changes, but it's hard to make the changes when you don't know exactly how things work currently."
Kim said she plans to make a handbook documenting "how everything works on campus," from alcohol policies to student government.
UNIVERSITY SENATE
Three students are running for the University Senate seat vacated by Qin: Logan Donovan, SEAS '13 and current vice president of policy; Adam Hadar, SEAS '15; and Akshay Shah, SEAS '14 and class of 2014 president.
"I feel like I've done a lot of policy and got a lot of things done for council," Donovan said. "Senator felt like a logical move to accomplish most things for SEAS."
Shah said the biggest challenge for him as a University senator would be communicating the purpose and necessity of the University Senate.
At the same time, he said, "There needs to be a two-way communication. People need to tell me their issues so I can raise them in the senate."
CLASS COUNCILS
The class council races for the classes of 2013 and 2014 are both uncontested. Mary Byers, SEAS '13, is leading the SEASian party to be reelected as class of 2013 president, and Daniel O'Leary, SEAS '14 and class representative, is running for president of the FuTASTIC 14.
Two parties, CE Change and Kung Fu Pandas, are running for election to the class of 2015 council.
CE Change includes Tanay Doctor, SEAS '15, for president; Andre Paiva, SEAS '15, as vice president; and Aditya Naganath, SEAS '15, as class representative.
The Kung Fu Pandas, the current class of 2015 council, is once again being led by Joshua Boggs, SEAS '15, as president.
"We're very influenced by what we've done and witnessed and learned from the past year," Boggs said.
Boggs said one of the biggest focuses for the party is promoting student group collaboration.
"We have a ton of money to give out on student council. Our biggest ability to effect change is in financing—it's one of our most overlooked aspects of our council," Boggs said.
Boggs said he would also like to improve engineers' student wellness in "all facets of student life," from dining and facilities to pushing for the ability to take elective courses pass/D/fail.
Running again with Boggs are Shensi Ding, SEAS '15, for vice president; Manali Yavatkar, SEAS '15, for class representative; and Edward Zahrebelski, SEAS '15, for class representative.
Six other races—for the special representatives for academic affairs, student services, and professional development and alumni affairs, as well as the three liaisons to the other undergraduate councils—are also uncontested. Four are first-years and two are sophomores.
For a complete list of candidates, read our Spectrum post from Monday.
jordan.freisleben@columbiaspectator.com
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that all six special representative and liaison candidates were first years. Spectator regrets the error.
2014-10-20T01:35:03Z
Adam Gentle, GS '15, had what he calls a "rigid, preconceived vision of the world" when he arrived at Columbia last year, but he now credits his Contemporary Civilization course with helping him re-evaluate the world around him.
Though Gentle is currently enrolled in one of the two CC sections exclusively for School of General Studies students, GS students are not required to take CC or Literature Humanities as part of their Core Curriculum.
But GS Dean Peter Awn said he wants to change this.
"This idea first started a couple of years ago, but the implementation has been a little slow," Awn said. "The key is that there are not enough sections for all of the students in GS, so you can't make it a requirement."
Currently, GS students can take Lit Hum or CC to fulfill their literature or social science general education requirements, respectively, but only a handful of students can fit in the two CC sections. A third GS-only Lit Hum section was added this year.
Awn said that adding Lit Hum and Contemporary Civilization as GS requirements would be the "final step" in synchronizing the Columbia College and GS curricula, a process that began in the mid-1980s. A Global Core requirement was added for GS students last year.
"There is progress—not as rapid as people would like it to be, but there's progress," Awn said.
The primary roadblock to the addition of the Lit Hum and CC requirements is funding.
"It's an exceedingly expensive program to run, as we know through the college," Awn said. "It's not designed for efficiency, but for intense collaboration between the students and faculty."
Though Awn does not have a timeline for the changes he wants to make, he said GS is slowly increasing the number of GS-only Lit Hum and CC sections until it is feasible to require all students to take one of the classes.
For Gentle, Lit Hum and CC were integral parts of his Columbia experience.
"I think what makes a Columbia education a Columbia education is the Core," Gentle said. "Given the opportunity, I would love to take the same Core requirements as the college, and I think it's good for the GS degree to have the same backing as the college."
Ann Gleason, GS '14, is currently enrolled in a GS-only Lit Hum section. She said she agreed that the Core is a defining aspect of Columbia.
"CC and Lit Hum are the backbone of the undergraduate program at Columbia University," she said. "CC and Lit Hum remind one that Columbia is not just a trade school with the lovely veneer of classical architecture."
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student Dalia Inbal, an instructor of one of the GS-only Lit Hum sections, said that the two courses are important precursors to other classes at Columbia.
"From my students, I've heard that since CC and Lit Hum are such important parts of the Columbia curriculum, texts read in these classes automatically come up in other classes," Inbal said.
Inbal added that the breadth of GS students' backgrounds only adds to the classroom dynamic.
"Discussions are particularly rewarding and challenging given the very different backgrounds and life experiences GS students have," she said.
Sandipto Dasgupta, GSAS, teaches one of the two GS-only CC sections. Last year, he taught CC at the college.
"To be honest, I wish I had a course like CC in my undergraduate experience," Dasgupta said.
Like Inbal, Dasgupta appreciates the diverse backgrounds of the students in his GS section.
"As a teacher, it's always a joy to teach with that because you have a lot more to work with," he said. "When you have people with much more life experience, it creates a richer class."
Awn said that financial issues aside, the proposal to require Lit Hum and CC for GS students faces no opposition.
"There's no intellectual or administrative resistance, except we're all realists about what can be done and what can't be done with budgets," he said.
The next step, Awn said, is to fund a Core endowment, which he said "would help free up the tension for funds that could be used to add additional sections of CC and Lit Hum."
While Gentle is a proponent of making both courses requirements, he acknowledged the difficulties it could pose for some GS transfer students.
"There's a huge time pressure," he said, adding that there "would have to be some flexibility" for transfers hoping to graduate in two years.
Gentle said he wants to graduate knowing that he received the signature Columbia education.
"We don't want to be less than,' and I think a way not to be less than' is to remove the perception that GS is an academically less rigorous environment with fewer requirements," Gentle said. "Sometimes there's a bit of an insecurity—I like to feel like we're receiving the exact same education."
"If the Core's the same, then we're doing the same thing," he added.
jordan.freisleben@columbiaspectator.com | @ColumbiaSpec
... Though Gentle is currently enrolled in one of the two CC sections exclusively for School of General Studies students, GS students are not required to take CC or Literature Humanities as part of their Core Curriculum.
But GS Dean Peter Awn said he wants to change this.
"This idea first started a couple of years ago, but the implementation has been a little slow," Awn said. "The key is that there are not enough sections for all of the students in GS, so you can't make it a requirement."
Currently, GS students can take Lit Hum or CC to fulfill their literature or social science general education requirements, respectively, but only a handful of students can fit in the two CC sections. A third GS-only Lit Hum section was added this year.
Awn said that adding Lit Hum and Contemporary Civilization as GS requirements would be the "final step" in synchronizing the Columbia College and GS curricula, a process that began in the mid-1980s. A Global Core requirement was added for GS students last year.
"There is progress—not as rapid as people would like it to be, but there's progress," Awn said.
The primary roadblock to the addition of the Lit Hum and CC requirements is funding.
"It's an exceedingly expensive program to run, as we know through the college," Awn said. "It's not designed for efficiency, but for intense collaboration between the students and faculty."
Though Awn does not have a timeline for the changes he wants to make, he said GS is slowly increasing the number of GS-only Lit Hum and CC sections until it is feasible to require all students to take one of the classes.
For Gentle, Lit Hum and CC were integral parts of his Columbia experience.
"I think what makes a Columbia education a Columbia education is the Core," Gentle said. "Given the opportunity, I would love to take the same Core requirements as the college, and I think it's good for the GS degree to have the same backing as the college."
Ann Gleason, GS '14, is currently enrolled in a GS-only Lit Hum section. She said she agreed that the Core is a defining aspect of Columbia.
"CC and Lit Hum are the backbone of the undergraduate program at Columbia University," she said. "CC and Lit Hum remind one that Columbia is not just a trade school with the lovely veneer of classical architecture."
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student Dalia Inbal, an instructor of one of the GS-only Lit Hum sections, said that the two courses are important precursors to other classes at Columbia.
"From my students, I've heard that since CC and Lit Hum are such important parts of the Columbia curriculum, texts read in these classes automatically come up in other classes," Inbal said.
Inbal added that the breadth of GS students' backgrounds only adds to the classroom dynamic.
"Discussions are particularly rewarding and challenging given the very different backgrounds and life experiences GS students have," she said.
Sandipto Dasgupta, GSAS, teaches one of the two GS-only CC sections. Last year, he taught CC at the college.
"To be honest, I wish I had a course like CC in my undergraduate experience," Dasgupta said.
Like Inbal, Dasgupta appreciates the diverse backgrounds of the students in his GS section.
"As a teacher, it's always a joy to teach with that because you have a lot more to work with," he said. "When you have people with much more life experience, it creates a richer class."
Awn said that financial issues aside, the proposal to require Lit Hum and CC for GS students faces no opposition.
"There's no intellectual or administrative resistance, except we're all realists about what can be done and what can't be done with budgets," he said.
The next step, Awn said, is to fund a Core endowment, which he said "would help free up the tension for funds that could be used to add additional sections of CC and Lit Hum."
While Gentle is a proponent of making both courses requirements, he acknowledged the difficulties it could pose for some GS transfer students.
"There's a huge time pressure," he said, adding that there "would have to be some flexibility" for transfers hoping to graduate in two years.
Gentle said he wants to graduate knowing that he received the signature Columbia education.
"We don't want to be less than,' and I think a way not to be less than' is to remove the perception that GS is an academically less rigorous environment with fewer requirements," Gentle said. "Sometimes there's a bit of an insecurity—I like to feel like we're receiving the exact same education."
"If the Core's the same, then we're doing the same thing," he added.
jordan.freisleben@columbiaspectator.com | @ColumbiaSpec
2014-08-25T05:00:10Z
First-year elections for the Columbia College Student Council and the Engineering Student Council were dominated by two parties, with The Corps taking all five CCSC seats and All Aboard! winning the four ESC seats.
The Corps won a seven-party race for CCSC's class of 2016 council. President-elect Ramis Wadood and vice president-elect Ana Vargas edged out The Movement party 116 votes to 108.
"We talked to administrators and talked to dining hall managers to find out what is actually realistic," Wadood said. "We have a bunch of strong but realistic reforms that we can actually try to get fulfilled this year."
Columbia College first-years elected The Corps' Peter Bailinson, Claudia Khoury, and Grayson Warrick as their representatives. Warrick received 154 votes, the most of any candidate in the CCSC election.
The Corps' agenda includes increasing attendance at athletic events and adding study breaks in order to reduce student stress, Wadood said. Vargas said her main goal is "to make sure that our students are as stress-free as possible."
The All Aboard! party's Jillian Ross was elected president of the engineering school's class of 2016, garnering 56 of the 153 votes cast. First-years also voted the rest of the party's ticket into office, with Chloé Blanchard winning the race for vice president and Nicolas Camacho and Stephanie Lee being elected as class representatives.
"Some of the more important issues [in our platform] are making sure that Google Docs works for students on LionMail, and that we have a lot more events, mixers, and opportunities for these freshmen so that they can find out more about jobs and what work is like in the [engineering] industry," Blanchard said.
When Columbia switched to the Google-based LionMail last semester, administrators chose not to include Google Documents, saying its incompatibility with screen-reading technology might make it noncompliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
news@columbiaspectator.com
... The Corps won a seven-party race for CCSC's class of 2016 council. President-elect Ramis Wadood and vice president-elect Ana Vargas edged out The Movement party 116 votes to 108.
"We talked to administrators and talked to dining hall managers to find out what is actually realistic," Wadood said. "We have a bunch of strong but realistic reforms that we can actually try to get fulfilled this year."
Columbia College first-years elected The Corps' Peter Bailinson, Claudia Khoury, and Grayson Warrick as their representatives. Warrick received 154 votes, the most of any candidate in the CCSC election.
The Corps' agenda includes increasing attendance at athletic events and adding study breaks in order to reduce student stress, Wadood said. Vargas said her main goal is "to make sure that our students are as stress-free as possible."
The All Aboard! party's Jillian Ross was elected president of the engineering school's class of 2016, garnering 56 of the 153 votes cast. First-years also voted the rest of the party's ticket into office, with Chloé Blanchard winning the race for vice president and Nicolas Camacho and Stephanie Lee being elected as class representatives.
"Some of the more important issues [in our platform] are making sure that Google Docs works for students on LionMail, and that we have a lot more events, mixers, and opportunities for these freshmen so that they can find out more about jobs and what work is like in the [engineering] industry," Blanchard said.
When Columbia switched to the Google-based LionMail last semester, administrators chose not to include Google Documents, saying its incompatibility with screen-reading technology might make it noncompliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
news@columbiaspectator.com
2014-08-24T17:15:13Z
A semester after SEAS implemented substantial changes to Gateway, some students think that the engineering school's flagship introductory course still leaves something to be desired.
The semester-long course, which is a requirement for all first-years at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, was revamped last year, with electrical engineering professor David Vallancourt recreating the lecture material and engineering professors coming up with nine semester-long projects for students to choose from. But professors and administrators are continuing to solicit feedback on the new version of the course, and while it seems to be more popular than the old version—which was widely criticized by students—some issues remain.
SEAS class of 2014 president Akshay Shah, one of several Engineering Student Council members who solicited student feedback on Gateway last year and presented recommendations to administrators, said that the changes this year are "quite significant." But Gateway, he said, still lacks a strong and defined purpose.
"The problem with Gateway is that people are confused about how it fits in their course plan. It is not a prerequisite for any other course. It tries to teach you some basic skills like MATLAB, but you will have to take the MATLAB course anyways," Shah said. "It tries to give you a taste for the different kinds of engineering, but you probably need a pre-professional course to make up your mind. The course needs clear direction."
Brian McGrattan, SEAS '15 and a student in Gateway this semester, said that Gateway needs to draw clearer connections between the course material and engineering.
"I like the projects, and the lectures are somewhat interesting and thought-provoking but are kind of specialized," he said. "Right now, the lectures are Intro to Length' or Intro to Force.' It'd be cooler if it could be an intro to what chemical engineering and what applied physics are about and what puts engineering' into chemical engineering.'"
Vallancourt, who chaired the committee that revamped Gateway and who now teaches it, said that he is relying on student feedback to find out what further changes to make to the course. He said he understands that students might still feel uncomfortable with its organization.
"This course is not going to set out to teach them a specific skill. Other than MATLAB, the course itself is not, Here's a bunch of things—memorize them and spit them out on a test,'" he said. "This isn't that. It's time to stop looking for this linear progression in your classes. This is the good stuff."
Still, he added, "I think the students have some legitimate issues. We tried to address the ones we know about."
One of the concerns with the old Gateway that the committee tried to address, Vallancourt said, was that it had "insufficient technical content." But even with changes this year, Shah said, the course needs to give students more opportunities to "get their hands dirty" exploring the different types of engineering.
Additionally, ESC class of 2015 president Josh Boggs said that the breadth of the course makes it difficult to engage every student.
"Issues arise due to the disparity in students' engineering-related experience," he said. "Some may find the lectures boring after taking classes which have covered the lecture topics extensively."
Still, many students have reacted positively to the new Gateway. Dina Lamdany, SEAS '15 and a student in Gateway last semester, said that she enjoyed the group project and that the course caused her to reconsider her academic plans.
"I thought it was a really useful experience. It gave me exposure in something I didn't have experience in," she said. "I thought I was going to be an electrical engineering major, and after taking the EE project seminar, now I know I don't."
SEAS Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora said in a recent interview that before the changes to Gateway were made, students frequently wanted to discuss the course with him in his "toolbox meetings," informal gatherings he holds with students.
"It was a topic at every meeting. Once somebody raised the Gateway flag, that was the topic of the whole meeting," he said. "Nowadays, Gateway only comes up when I ask about it."
Peña-Mora emphasized that the course is still likely to change based on students' responses it.
"This is the first year that we are doing it, and, as you can imagine, we are very attentive to the feedback of the students," he said. "I believe that by the end of this year, we are going to more of a steady state."
Another change implemented to Gateway this year is that attendance at the two-hour Friday morning lectures is mostly optional. Boggs said that as a result, attendance has "dropped significantly," despite the course being "far more interesting than many other classes engineering students take."
"If the lectures are not required, why would you come?" Vallancourt said. "You'll come if you feel like it's of value to you and if you value engineering content and take an interest in specific engineering examples."
Due to low attendance, lecture attendance was made mandatory for several guest lectures, and Vallancourt announced that students who do not attend all lectures will not be able to receive an A+ in the course.
"Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the time and day of the class, and my classmates share similar sentiments," Boggs said. "I guess these problems have been remedied by making lectures nonmandatory, but I assume more improvements are on the way."
Lamdany, though, said that she felt motivated to attend lectures—even though some were optional—because she enjoyed them.
"I thought Vallancourt was really relaxed about it and was really excited," she said. "Even when class was optional, I would go to class just because he was teaching it."
jordan.freisleben@columbiaspectator.com
... The semester-long course, which is a requirement for all first-years at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, was revamped last year, with electrical engineering professor David Vallancourt recreating the lecture material and engineering professors coming up with nine semester-long projects for students to choose from. But professors and administrators are continuing to solicit feedback on the new version of the course, and while it seems to be more popular than the old version—which was widely criticized by students—some issues remain.
SEAS class of 2014 president Akshay Shah, one of several Engineering Student Council members who solicited student feedback on Gateway last year and presented recommendations to administrators, said that the changes this year are "quite significant." But Gateway, he said, still lacks a strong and defined purpose.
"The problem with Gateway is that people are confused about how it fits in their course plan. It is not a prerequisite for any other course. It tries to teach you some basic skills like MATLAB, but you will have to take the MATLAB course anyways," Shah said. "It tries to give you a taste for the different kinds of engineering, but you probably need a pre-professional course to make up your mind. The course needs clear direction."
Brian McGrattan, SEAS '15 and a student in Gateway this semester, said that Gateway needs to draw clearer connections between the course material and engineering.
"I like the projects, and the lectures are somewhat interesting and thought-provoking but are kind of specialized," he said. "Right now, the lectures are Intro to Length' or Intro to Force.' It'd be cooler if it could be an intro to what chemical engineering and what applied physics are about and what puts engineering' into chemical engineering.'"
Vallancourt, who chaired the committee that revamped Gateway and who now teaches it, said that he is relying on student feedback to find out what further changes to make to the course. He said he understands that students might still feel uncomfortable with its organization.
"This course is not going to set out to teach them a specific skill. Other than MATLAB, the course itself is not, Here's a bunch of things—memorize them and spit them out on a test,'" he said. "This isn't that. It's time to stop looking for this linear progression in your classes. This is the good stuff."
Still, he added, "I think the students have some legitimate issues. We tried to address the ones we know about."
One of the concerns with the old Gateway that the committee tried to address, Vallancourt said, was that it had "insufficient technical content." But even with changes this year, Shah said, the course needs to give students more opportunities to "get their hands dirty" exploring the different types of engineering.
Additionally, ESC class of 2015 president Josh Boggs said that the breadth of the course makes it difficult to engage every student.
"Issues arise due to the disparity in students' engineering-related experience," he said. "Some may find the lectures boring after taking classes which have covered the lecture topics extensively."
Still, many students have reacted positively to the new Gateway. Dina Lamdany, SEAS '15 and a student in Gateway last semester, said that she enjoyed the group project and that the course caused her to reconsider her academic plans.
"I thought it was a really useful experience. It gave me exposure in something I didn't have experience in," she said. "I thought I was going to be an electrical engineering major, and after taking the EE project seminar, now I know I don't."
SEAS Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora said in a recent interview that before the changes to Gateway were made, students frequently wanted to discuss the course with him in his "toolbox meetings," informal gatherings he holds with students.
"It was a topic at every meeting. Once somebody raised the Gateway flag, that was the topic of the whole meeting," he said. "Nowadays, Gateway only comes up when I ask about it."
Peña-Mora emphasized that the course is still likely to change based on students' responses it.
"This is the first year that we are doing it, and, as you can imagine, we are very attentive to the feedback of the students," he said. "I believe that by the end of this year, we are going to more of a steady state."
Another change implemented to Gateway this year is that attendance at the two-hour Friday morning lectures is mostly optional. Boggs said that as a result, attendance has "dropped significantly," despite the course being "far more interesting than many other classes engineering students take."
"If the lectures are not required, why would you come?" Vallancourt said. "You'll come if you feel like it's of value to you and if you value engineering content and take an interest in specific engineering examples."
Due to low attendance, lecture attendance was made mandatory for several guest lectures, and Vallancourt announced that students who do not attend all lectures will not be able to receive an A+ in the course.
"Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the time and day of the class, and my classmates share similar sentiments," Boggs said. "I guess these problems have been remedied by making lectures nonmandatory, but I assume more improvements are on the way."
Lamdany, though, said that she felt motivated to attend lectures—even though some were optional—because she enjoyed them.
"I thought Vallancourt was really relaxed about it and was really excited," she said. "Even when class was optional, I would go to class just because he was teaching it."
jordan.freisleben@columbiaspectator.com
2014-08-24T13:34:56Z
Highlights from Monday night's Engineering Student Council meeting:
