The Gray Area | Year of the Tipping Point

Tipping points are pretty interesting.

They represent a point of no return at which something that was relatively unknown may pass the threshold and become widespread.

The Provost’s theme year is at a tipping point. And it has become very clear that Penn has that chance to go all-in on this initiative to help it cross that point.

The theme year is a topic that the Provost’s Office promotes through a unified set of events. In advancing this year’s theme, the “Year of Water,” there have been some particularly positive developments.

“Because we had a gift, we were able to do a number of things that included developing a full service website and also funding a number of initiatives,” said David Fox, director of New Student Orientation/Academic Initiatives.

These initiatives include two conferences at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and speeches by journalist Rose George and scientist Jared Diamond at Irvine Auditorium.

But there is a key final step that needs to be taken before the theme year truly resonates with the entire student body. The academic theme needs to enter the classroom on a larger scale.

Imagine the unique and innovative discussions that could occur if we are able to fund a set of new courses involving the theme year. Every year, we would have new course topics in traditionally unchanging lectures. The focused academic conversations (and potentially even research) that could develop would be a unique aspect of the Penn experience.

In its most lasting and permeable form, that could include bringing in visiting academics to teach innovative, requirement-fulfilling lecture courses.

A key example of these course developments is Classical Studies professor Cam Grey’s class “Ancient Rome and America” next year. To fit with the next theme — the “Year of Games” — he will spend an “entire 3-4 week segment devoted to a comparative exploration of games, leisure, and popular culture,” he wrote in an email.

To be fair, this is already happening on a small scale. For example, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Architecture Mark Alan Hughes and professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures Simon Richter both offer classes related to the “Year of Water.”

In addition, a Benjamin Franklin Scholars course development grant will partially be used to fund a theme year-related course, according to the Provost’s Office. Although this grant is a small-scale pilot, it is a pivotal case study that could pave the way for a wider vision in theme-year courses.

But the key in the short term is that Penn needs to provide monetary support to departments to create the courses.

That is where the Office of Development and Alumni Relations comes in. Although it was successful in securing the theme year website grant, development is all about prioritization. The Office should continue to inform potential donors about the ways that course-related theme year donations will make more of a lasting influence than any name on a building can.

And another key aspect is to establish a planning timetable that will give ample time for theme year courses to develop. If you’re going to create brand-new courses, departments that are planning one or two years in advance need to know early on.

To do this, Provost Vincent Price — Penn’s chief academic officer — has asked that the timetable for selecting theme years be sped up. That way, while final planning for next year’s theme year is playing out in a public fashion, the theme year two years down the line is also being developed internally.

The final step is that these courses need to be tagged in the course register on Penn InTouch as being related to the theme year, which will allow students to understand the special nature of these courses.

One thing is clear — the Provost has already put a lot of resources into the theme year, to great effect. But if we’re able to cross that tipping point in the next few years, the theme year will be a major positive aspect of Price’s legacy.

Charles Gray is a Wharton and College junior from Casper, Wyo. His email address is gray@theDP.com. The Gray Area appears every Tuesday.

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