Three New Courses Approved for Gen Ed

Three courses adapted from current classes have been approved for the new General Education curriculum.

The three courses that are being revamped for the new Gen Ed curriculum are Science B-47: “Molecules of Life,” English 171: “Poetry in America,” and Science B-62: “The Human Mind.”

These courses bring the total of approved courses to 11.

The Gen Ed implementation committee has not asked the professors to make radical changes to their existing syllabi.

“Actually the process was much more asking us for more information about what we intended to do,” said Harvard Medical School professor Jon C. Clardy who will co-teach “Molecules of Life” with chemistry professor David R. Liu next fall. “They really didn’t make any suggestions.”

“The earlier version of it was pretty popular from the CUE guide ratings, so they probably don’t want to change it too much,” said Clardy, who first submitted a proposal for his course to be approved for the new Gen Ed curriculum in late January. “I think they thought it was a successful model.”

Clardy, who offered the course last fall, said that his students will continue to extract DNA from strawberries in section. He said he plans to incorporate software into the course so that students can examine molecules in section and on their personal laptops.

Last fall, Gen Ed implementation committee chair Jay M. Harris sent an e-mail to all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences asking them to submit course proposals.

Clardy said this e-mail was the only encouragement he received to petition to be a part of the new curriculum.

He said he primarily communicated with Harris through e-mail to answer the committee’s questions and was never asked to attend a committee meeting. Clardy said he has yet to meet Harris.

Elisa New said she needed no incentives to submit a course proposal.

“I wanted to be part of the new program, hastening its arrival and bringing the era of the Core to a close,” she wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Getting the new Gen Ed off the ground was a strong motivation for me.”

New said that “Poetry in America” will incorporate field trips to Houghton Library and Mt. Auburn Cemetery in addition to lecture discussions. She also said students will memorize and recite poetry in class.

Thus far, the majority of course proposals have been in the sciences and the humanities. Harris said the General Education implementation committee is aiming for approximately 20 Gen Ed courses to be offered next year.

The committee plans to offer 12 courses for each of the eight categories by 2009, when Gen Ed will be a requirement, he added.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu.