from VCCA Journal, Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 1990, 10-13
© Copyright 1990 VCCA Journal
The story of Piedmont Virginia Community College's NEH grant begins with a fishing expedition to Washington by the college's then-president, George Vaughan, and then-dean, Robert Templin. Making the rounds of federal funding agencies, they finally arrived at the friendly offices of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which encouraged them to apply for a small planning grant to focus the college's mission in the humanities. Written largely by Dr. Templin, the planning grant was funded for the year 1986-87, and a task force was set up with the job of reviewing the college's course offerings, library, curricula, extra-curricular program, faculty, and faculty development opportunities.
The Work of the Task Force
The task force represents not only the humanities division but Piedmont Virginia Community College as a whole. Five members come from disciplines in the humanities, while one is from science and another is from the business division. The director of student activities also serves as an ex officio member.
During the year of the planning grant, 1986-87, the task force concentrated on defining the desirable role of the humanities in the college curriculum. The group had lengthy, lively, and exciting discussions about whether to require a core course in humanities for all students and what the content of such a course should be. The members did not all share the same starting position, but after many sessions together, followed by college-wide meetings, the group developed a coherent task-force position. The college then introduced, in the fall of 1987, a year-long humanities course, integrating the disciplines of music, art, philosophy, and literature, presented in a historical framework. The course was jointly taught by three members of the task force and thus directly reflected the spirit of our discussions. Although the course is not now required of all students, it has been very successful over the last three years. In effect, we have an innovative pilot program that we can evaluate and consider for wider adoption.
During the planning year, the task force also completed other activities, including evaluation of all of our curricula, humanities course offerings, library holdings in the humanities, student activities and cultural events, and faculty development. From our analyses we were able to propose many changes, some of which were funded by the National Endowment in a three-year grant extending from 1988 through 1991. Funded activities included continued team-teaching of the interdisciplinary course, summer seminars for faculty, and a series of Friday afternoon workshops for faculty in music (1988-89) and film (1989-90).
The work of the task force continues through 1991. We will once again raise the issue of a required humanities course with the entire faculty. We will evaluate the current humanities course, and in conjunction with reviews of other colleges' programs and our faculty's opinion, we will make a final recommendation to the entire college. Raising the core course issue is important even if the result is that we decide not to require such a course. This discussion will keep alive the dialogue about the importance of the humanities at PVCC, a dialogue that is vital in our ongoing efforts to define the college's educational mission.
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Course
The interdisciplinary humanities course is a very ambitious one, ranging from The Odyssey to Death in Venice, and attempting to build an understanding of Western culture from the varying perspectives of art, history, music, philosophy, and literature. During the first year of the course, three instructors--one each from history, music and drama, and English- -taught as a team. There were three sections of the course, and all three of us met with each section. Although one instructor was responsible for presenting the material during a particular class period, all joined in the discussion and brought different perspectives by offering additional comments and by challenging each other in the spirit of scholarly debate and intellectual inquiry. Through this model of academic exploration, we hoped to encourage the students to see that thoughtful disagreement and debate lead to discovery and deeper understanding of subjects and ideas. We also wanted to have the students realize that each discipline approaches subjects with its peculiar set of concerns and methods of inquiry and in so doing extends rather than negates knowledge. In addition, we wanted the students to see that in the midst of polite disagreements and challenge people can still be respectful of others with different views. We did have to be constantly on guard, however, that we did not become so passionately involved with our discussions that the students felt intimidated and were reticent rather than participating actively and claiming the class as their own.
The team approach extended beyond the classroom. We had been meeting regularly over the preceding summer to design the course. These meetings continued. We also read and evaluated the students' papers in a round-table format, taking turns recording composite comments at the end of each paper. In their evaluations of the course, students stated that they enjoyed the exchange among the instructors, found the variety of teaching styles refreshing, and felt confident in the method of grading.
Although exhilarating for the instructors and exciting for the students, such an approach proved exhausting for instructors who taught a variety of courses in addition to the survey of western culture. Therefore, during the following year, each of us took responsibility for one section of the course and rotated among the sections to lecture and guide discussions in our area of expertise. By that time, a philosophy instructor had joined the team and a fourth section was added to the schedule. Each instructor, then, met with his or her assigned section each time it met, was present when another member of the team was a guest lecturer, oversaw the administrative details for the class, and evaluated the papers and examinations written by the students in that class. The NEH grant provided us with released time to carry out this work.
Although we no longer meet for each class and no longer have team grading sessions, we continue to meet frequently as we did during the first year of the course to discuss our work,: students' concerns, course content and design, and teaching joys and frustrations.
Faculty Development Programs
Faculty in all disciplines were given special development opportunities in the humanities under the NEH grant. Why would a nearly constant group of ten to fifteen faculty and staff members stay late once each month on Friday afternoons to watch a video series about music and our culture? Or why would another group of eighteen full- and part-time faculty from areas as diverse as geology and respiratory therapy study the writings of a medieval poet for three weeks during the summer break? Was it a desire to stretch beyond the usual classes and disciplines?
Coupled with the remarkable opportunities of our grant and creative ideas from its coordinator, faculty at PVCC were able to take advantage of these two special programs. This has resulted in strengthened collegial relationships and a greater sense of community, both difficult to cultivate in the day-to-day rush of usual activities.
The first program required few funds. In fact, the showing of the video series, Music of Man, needed only refreshments, our music professor to answer questions, and the participants' enthusiasm to be successful. The sharing of ideas about the history and heritage of music in human life stirred reactions and emotions. Doing this with faculty/staff colleagues was unusual and rewarding. The thinking of the secretary and the history professor were equal here. Our shared experience in the program's music and commentary broke down formal barriers to allow genuine communication through the language of music.
Not inexpensive or possible without special resources, the summer seminar devoted to a study of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy provided an extraordinary forum. The assembled faculty group explored literary, artistic, philosophical, theological, and political ideas--in short, the Western cultural experience, viewed through the eyes of medieval man. Led by a professor of Italian literature from the University of Virginia, the Dante seminar provided an intimate setting to discuss the Comedy. Membership included professors of nursing, computer science, Spanish, English, part-time instructors, a visiting scholar from a teacher's college in Budapest--the diversity defied explanation. Yet something special happened in those three weeks of daily study and discussion--it would never happen in offices on campus. It could never happen in our normal life of teaching. Drawn apart and away to study the text of Dante, the seminar participants learned, disagreed, laughed, shared, and "intervened." Though fatigued at the end, the participants found that their intensity of study and discussion was rewarded with a sense of having taken part in something unique.
With the end of these activities came the return to daily teaching and academic duties. An enrichment of self and a new sense of respect for colleagues came along, too. The reflection of these activities at Piedmont may be intangible to some observers. The spirit of what they brought back to PVCC is here though--a stronger community of instructors, a stronger community of learners.
Conclusion
The opportunities provided by the grant continue. During the 1989-1990 academic year our Friday afternoon programs continued with a series of classic films. Most recently, Letty Macdonald, a math teacher, presented Grand Illusion. This summer the three-week seminar will be on Plato's Republic. Right now the faculty applications are coming in. Soon another discussion of core curriculum will involve the whole faculty. This time we will have concrete data to present on the success of the humanities course. All these activities have placed humanities front and center at PVCC. If you think your college would be interested in such a program, write to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Education Programs, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D. C. 20506. Phone: (202) 786-0438. We at Piedmont would also be happy to assist our fellow VCCA members in any way we can.
Evelyn Edson is Professor of History at Piedmont Virginia Community College and Project Director of the NEH grant.
Jane Kingston is Assistant Professor of Accounting at PVCC.
William D. Owen is Professor of English at PVCC.
Samuel A. Westbrook is Assistant Professor of Respiratory Therapy at PVCC.