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Brown Bag Lunches at WSU-Pullman
During each semester on the Pullman campus, there
will be several brown bag discussions. All are free and open to
any who wish to attend.
February 25 @ 12noon, CUE 305A
Chuck Pezeshki, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
“The Impending Collapse of the
Land-Grant University-- and What We Can Do About It”
The land grant university-- perhaps the
major escalator for socioeconomic class elevation in the United States-- is
under extreme threat by loss of support on the state level, as well as global
economic pressures, such as business process outsourcing, that are rapidly
taking away opportunities for the demographic class serviced by these
institutions. A large share of the problems that these institutions have is
self-inflicted, primarily by an attempt to substitute breadth for depth to
satisfy a panoply of interest groups across the political and economic spectrum.
This has resulted in a curriculum built by accretion that is both incoherent and
idiosyncratic that no longer services the needs of a democratic society.
In this talk, the author will address
the primary weaknesses of the land grant university in its current incarnation,
and offer solutions that will rebuild trust in the institution and its ability
to provide relevant undergraduate education among its participants, its
customers, and its supporters. With a focus on curricular coherence and
development of expert ability in a more narrowly focused area, this approach
advocates developing students that are independent thinkers capable of
assimilating topical knowledge rapidly and performing the duties of an informed
citizenry in an increasingly complex society.
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