President’s Report 1992

in teaching and learning

A 1993 national survey,
"Exploring Good Practices in
General Education," ranked
the Brooklyn College core
curriculum first among United
States institutions of public
higher education.

The central activities of Brooklyn College continue to be teaching and learning. Through he core curriculum, students learn the languages of the disciplines and develop a lifelong capacity for critical thinking. The comprehensive curriculum allows the diverse student body to challenge both themselves and the faculty.

Council study of baccalaureate origins of Ph.D. recipients between 1920 and 1992, Brooklyn College ranked sixteenth in the nation. In the period 1983-92, 947 Brooklyn College alumni received doctorates, compared with 946 from the University of Chicago, 934 from New York University, and 798 from Columbia University.
For his accomplishment and dedication to his craft, Professor of History Teofilo Ruiz was recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as its 1994 Outstanding Professor of the Year.
Demanding and inspiring, he opens up the world of Western intellectual history to his students. In his intensive Summer Ford Colloquium, students write papers on topics related to Greek and Roman classics, anthropology, Renaissance painting, and contemporary theory.
The Freshman Year College, inaugurated in 1994, equips first - year students with the skills they need for academic success. Building on the college’s highly successful Summer Pre - Freshman Institute, which became a model in the City University and received national recognition, the Freshman Year College coordinates academic and support programs for all new students. It operates a Freshman Help Center to answer questions, employs block programming to assist students in developing peer relationships and support, draws upon the resources of the Learning Center’s peer tutoring programs, provides special orientation programs, and offers additional academic advisement.
Beginning fall 1996, a new Honors Academy is bringing together the college’s Ford Colloquium, Scholars Program, Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship Program, and B.A./M.D. program, creating communities of excellence where the college’s most talented students may interact. Full-tuition scholarships, research projects, internships, faculty mentoring, and enhanced study facilities will d e velop the potential of Honors Academy students. Future plans call for doubling the number of Honors Academy students.
The core curriculum, a nationally recognized educational hallmark of Brooklyn College, provides students with a common intellectual experience and serves as the foundation for advanced study. Following the recommendations of a 1992-93 faculty task force, the curriculum is being revised to reflect changes in the academic disciplines, to incorporate new pedagogical approaches, and to strengthen student learning through block programming in the freshman year. The faculty has enhanced the multicultural components of the core and is experimenting with multimedia and distance learning.