New SCUE to head education projects

The reins of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education were handed down from Jacob Cytryn to Ophelia Roman yesterday afternoon. With a number of accomplishments over the past year and a number of projects still in limbo, Roman said she will have to work closely with her predecessor while making her own mark. "I don't have the expertise that he has as a junior so there will be a period when we will work together, but there is no grace period," the College sophomore said. "Today I take power." All students enrolled at Penn have their reasons for being here, primarily -- parents hope -- for a top education. Cytryn, a College junior, claims that for almost everything involving academics at Penn, SCUE was most likely involved at some point in time. The three main functions of the committee are to monitor undergraduate programs, create new programs to improve education and advise administration on subjects that are relevant to undergraduate education. More than that, Cytryn said that SCUE "really wants to educate Penn's undergraduates about education." Cytryn expressed faith in the leadership of Roman. As a SCUE member present at Roman's initial interview, Cytryn said that for a while he has "known that she is brilliant... and that her heart is in the right place." "I look forward to seeing the great work that her and her steering committee are going to do and the potential that they're going to fulfill," Cytryn added. But Roman has some big shoes to fill. Over the course of the past year, Cytryn has led SCUE in developing a variety of new academic-related programs for undergraduate students. They initiated MAPS, the major advising program which links underclassmen with upperclassmen who can then guide them to make decisions within their respective majors. Another project was launched as a pilot program and is the seed for what SCUE hopes will one day be a widespread phenomenon. Action-oriented, Inquiry-based, Multi-disciplinary Seminars -- commonly known as AIMS -- brings undergraduates together to work intensively on a project which incorporates research and interdisciplinary applications. SCUE members also sat in on committees for the undergraduate education section of the University's strategic plan. Over the next few years, aspects of this proposal that have been articulated by SCUE members over the last two semesters will be carried out. SCUE has also worked closely with Van Pelt Library to initiate the laptop lending program. Additionally, its members have developed two types of teaching awards for affiliated faculty. However, despite these significant accomplishments, Cytryn said that "for [him], SCUE has always been more about striving toward ideals in education than accomplishing any specific short-term goals." He said he is satisfied with his work as chairman not because of the laundry list of items they have addressed, but because they "placed the committee on firmer ground than how predecessors left it."