As the second principle of her agenda, President Gutmann is determined to expand Penn's interdisciplanary approach to education and integrate knowledge across the University. While this encompasses many areas, including a team-teaching approach to some classes and knocking down barriers for effective research across departments, at the undergraduate level there are specifics we believe Gutmann's administration would do well to focus on.
First, Penn should expand the number of courses that students in the College of Arts and Sciences can take from other schools and count as credit toward graduation. Currently, students in the College can take up to four courses in other schools that count as electives. It should be more. Penn should expand the number of courses from other schools that can count toward the general requirement.
Second, Penn should better integrate the infrastructure of its schools. Students now use WebCafe or Blackboard depending on their school, and issues of cross-disciplinary compatability often arise. Physical access to certain buildings can also be a problem: Students in the College attempting to gain access to the Fine Arts building after certain hours, for example, are often denied. Computer access remains a barrier as well: While it is unlikely that the notorious Huntsman Hall computers and study rooms will be opened to students not taking Wharton classes, this inequity stands in opposition to the spirit of President Gutmann's goal.
Third, to truly integrate knowledge -- not just among schools but among levels of learning -- the University should encourage more undergraduate participation in lower-level graduate courses. There are already undergraduates who undertake this commitment, but encouraging it and making these courses more widely known and available would go a long way toward achieving the president's goal.
We wholeheartedly support the idea of an integrated approach to learning, teaching and researching accross the University. Penn's 12 graduate schools afford students and faculty a wealth of research opportunities that is rare indeed; however, for the president's goal to be achieved at the undergraduate level, Penn must truly expand these options for students. In many cases we are already ahead of our peer institutions in this regard. But by truly integrating the University -- in practicality and not just in principle -- we would be poised to set a new standard for higher education.
