Oustide committee to visit U.

An outside committee will be on campus for the next two days to speak with students, deans and faculty as part of its evaluation of the interworkings of the University's schools and student life. Executive Assistant to the Provost Linda Koons said the two-day visit is part of an ongoing evaluation process by the External Visiting Committee on Undergraduate Education. "It will be an external look at all programs on an undergraduate level," Koons said. "Not as a critique, but just to let us know if we're going in the right direction." The visit to campus is a continuation of last year's communications between the committee and former Provost Michael Aiken. The committee is working toward objectives laid out by the University Five Year Plan's sections on undergraduate education. The 14-member committee, headed by Bryn Mawr College President Mary Patterson McPherson, split up and focused on each of the four undergraduate schools separately last year. In contrast, the committee will spend the next few days meeting with students and faculty from all schools at once. "There will be a lot of meetings this time with students," Koons said. "There are faculty focus groups and student focus groups." Susan Shaman, assistant vice president for planning and analysis for the Institute of Research on Higher Education, said Wednesday afternoon's schedule will include student lunches and faculty roundtables with the visitors. The centerpiece of the visit will be tomorrow night's public panel discussion, in which University Interim President Claire Fagin will introduce six faculty members who will discuss the future of undergraduate education. Three of the faculty members are from the University – History Professor Drew Faust, Materials Science and Engineering Professor David Pope and Undergraduate Mathematics Chairperson Dennis DeTurck – and the other three are visiting panelists. The panel, which will be held in Lauder-Fischer Hall tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., will be open to the University community, and interaction between panelists and the audience will be welcomed. Student Committee on Undergraduate Education Chairperson Jonathan Pitt said the committee is an opportunity for the University to improve itself. "I hope that the provost and the deans of the schools will use this as an opportunity to re-examine their programs critically, and will make necessary changes," the College senior said. "Certainly, I support this as part of a larger effort to improve education at Penn." Pitt praised the qualifications of the members of the visiting committee, which includes Harvard University Business School Professor Linda Hill to Princeton University Physics Professor Aaron Lemonick. "They're all very well suited for their job," Pitt said. "They've asked very probing questions [in the past] and they've been trying earnestly to probe to the root of whatever problems Penn may have with undergraduate education." Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington said he hopes the committee delves into the issue of interaction between the schools. "I'm looking forward to trying to learning how we can bridge the gap between technology schools and the humanities," he said.

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