College house plan to begin next fall

"Virtual colleges" may become a reality at the University next fall. As part of the 21st Century Project, students will have the opportunity to interact in four "pilot" college house systems -- or "virtual colleges." The purpose of these colleges will be to incorporate academics with residential living and other aspects of student life. According to proposals released by English Professor Robert Lucid, who chairs the 21st Century Project, the four pilot colleges represent the first step in the eventual creation of "virtual colleges" -- a concept which the Residential Faculty Council developed last spring. Lucid is a member of the Committee of Undergraduate Deans, the group spearheading the effort to overhaul the University's undergraduate education system -- an effort first initiated by University President Judith Rodin last fall. Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow charged the Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education with developing preliminary recommendations for the 21st Century Project last spring. The organization then turned its report over to the Committee. Although the Residential Faculty Council developed an expansive proposal calling for "collegiate clusters," PCUE recommended that the Committee begin revamping undergraduate education on a smaller scale. In line with PCUE's suggestions, the four pilot programs are residentially based, although each goes beyond the residence it is housed in, Lucid said. He added that the Council hopes to eventually extend the scope of the virtual colleges beyond dormitory life. Undergraduate English Chairperson Al Filreis said that the pilots are almost superfluous because current models already exist in the form of college houses and living-learning programs. The first pilot will be housed at the Castle, on the corner of 36th Street and Locust Walk. This "Civic College House" will have many of the same community service-oriented objectives that the Castle has now, only with an added academic basis that may entail classes scheduled in the building. "It's best to think of all of this as faculty and academic items," he added. English Professor Peter Kahn will take charge of this program but Center for Community Partnerships Director Ira Harkavy will also play a key role, Lucid said. The second pilot program will be located in King's Court/English House and will center around science and technology. Although King's Court/English House currently contains the Science and Technology Wing, Lucid said the new plan will change and expand the concepts involved in the wing. Since the entire collegiate planning process attempts to involve students living off campus in academic pursuits outside of class, this second pilot plan will center around that effort. "We will use it as a base to reach out to Penn students in West Philadelphia," Lucid said. "It is the project that will show us if we can link up what is now a broken link." The third pilot program, to be directed by Political Science Professor William Harris, will most likely take place in the Upper Quadrangle. This phase, called the Residential Research Project, is "very ambitious," Lucid said, because it brings research into the residences. Primarily geared towards juniors and seniors who hope to do research that requires them to spend time on campus, this pilot is fairly vague in nature. According to Lucid, the specific areas of research to be conducted and the facilities required for them have yet to be determined and will be based on who shows interest in the pilot. "Some services are more readily available than others," Lucid added. "But we want to penetrate the world of the undergraduate research experience." The final pilot is simply titled, "The Hub," and is a very general program that currently lacks both a location and a faculty leader. "The students who come to the Hub will almost by definition be students not in the residences," Lucid said, adding that a specific student constituency may take over that fourth pilot. And although Lucid does not agree with the idea, he noted that it is also possible that the Hub could be the center for the other three areas. Last spring, reactions to the Council "collegiate cluster" plan varied and some thought the system would not work because many students would not be interested. But Lucid said he thinks the college house plan will work. "I think there is a constituency that wants it, needs it and is waiting for it," Lucid added.