U-M-D prof. talks of importance of undergrad education

Updated 1:00 PM May 19, 2003

-->

U-M-D professor talks of importance of undergrad education

By Terry Gallagher
U-M-Dearborn Public Relations

"Our main goal is to help our students be more successful in college by helping them find a home here," U-M-Dearborn Professor Kathryn Anderson-Levitt told the Board of Regents about undergraduate education at the Dearborn campus.

Photo courtesy U-M Dearborn

In her May 15 presentation to the regents, Anderson-Levitt described "some of the long-term successes and some of the new initiatives in undergraduate education at the Dearborn campus." Anderson-Levitt is professor of anthropology and associate dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters at U-M-Dearborn.

She emphasized that undergraduate education has been central to the mission and one of the great strengths of the campus since its founding nearly 45 years ago.

The Honors Program at U-M-Dearborn, which Anderson-Levitt described as one of the campus's long-term success stories, enrolls more than 100 highly motivated students who want an extra level of challenge in their college experience. The program, cited as a model by the North Central Association in the campus's last reaccreditation, offers a planned sequence of courses that form an integrated and coherent curriculum.

"Students in that program take many of the same courses and end up socializing together and forming an academic community," Anderson-Levitt said.

Helping students join "the community of scholars" is the focus of the efforts Anderson-Levitt discussed. "The more there is of that, the more the campus works for our students," she said.

"The faculty members who have been involved in this are eager to form stronger links not only with their students but with each other."
— U-M-D Professor Kathryn Anderson-Levitt

One of the advantages of a campus like Dearborn's is that undergraduates find many opportunities to collaborate on research projects with faculty members, Anderson-Levitt said. Some of those projects were showcased on the Dearborn campus earlier this month in the "Meeting of Minds," an annual celebration of undergraduate scholarship that includes students and faculty members from U-M-Flint and Oakland University.

This fall, U-M-Dearborn will introduce a series of seminars for first-year students that are planned to allow students to work more closely with each other and with faculty members.

"While the goal has been to enhance undergraduate education for our students, one of the by-products has been to make teaching more exciting for faculty members," Anderson-Levitt said. "The faculty members who have been involved in this are eager to form stronger links not only with their students but with each other."

U-M-D professor talks of importance of undergrad education

More stories