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W&M作为一所文科大学：对话已经开始了

题目很有煽动性：威廉玛丽大学作为21世纪的文科大学。

10月29日，四名小组成员和一群高度投入的观众在90分钟的时间里进行了激烈的讨论，尽管他们戴着天鹅绒手套。 结果是对这个问题的深入介绍，威廉玛丽学院将在教务长迈克尔·哈勒兰的带领下，花一年的时间从多个角度进行研究。

The opening session, held at Tidewater A, addressed the fundamental question “Is a liberal arts university possible in the 21st century?” 在接下来的几个月里，学院社区将详细讨论成为一所文理大学意味着什么，这是许多问题中需要解决的第一个问题。

Determining an answer is vital to the College’s 战略计划. It’s why Halleran is pursuing a comprehensive, all-inclusive dialogue. It’s why there is a website devoted to the 谈话, and why all are invited to read, participate and opine.

“William and Mary has an uncommon identity,” Halleran told more than 150 faculty, staff, students and alumni, each of whom seemed to enter the Sadler Center with an opinion. “We are a medium-sized public institution with an intense core of undergraduate liberal-arts education offered in the context of select graduate and professional programs. 很少有学校把自己定义为文理大学…… 大多数宣称自己是文理大学的大学看起来与我们的方式大不相同…… 我们未来的成功将在很大程度上取决于我们如何选择有效地平衡教学，研究，文科和专业课程，本科和研究生教育的这种特殊混合… There are many voices in our community . . . ”

哈勒兰选择了四种不同的教师声音来开始讨论。 他们首先讨论了学院是否能够——或者应该——以这种方式定义自己。 In varying degrees, panelists 乔尔·施瓦兹, 莱萨梅尔 and Herrington布莱斯 argued yes. 基斯Griffioen 激烈地说不。

Schwartz, director of 查尔斯中心 and dean of honors and interdisciplinary studies, began by introducing a practical angle to the discussion. Although “liberal arts” and “university” may be compatible (but not ideal), “even quite wealthy schools like the University of Chicago and Columbia find it hard to keep their attention on both sides at one time. That’s more of a resource question than an intellectual one.” (That would lead one audience participant to later offer that, “We could define ourselves a lot easier if we had some money!” 没有人争论。)

Schwartz unveiled what he called a “very traditional” explanation of liberal arts – helping students prepare to live worthy lives as humans and as citizens, as distinct from preparing them for careers or professions or positions. 然而，那些声称研究只是研究生院和学生的事情的人已经错过了机会。

“To me, it’s a means – one of many – to a liberally educated citizen,” he said. “研究 is something valued at the undergraduate level, and something we can bring out and emphasize that will accomplish very traditional liberal-arts goals. It is something we can focus on that will bring us together in a shared mission.”

Griffioen, a professor of 物理, contended that, “William and Mary is not a liberal arts university, and we should immediately stop describing ourselves this way.”

他将文理大学分类为典型的2000名学生。 他们通过提供商业、教育、美术和神学等学科的硕士学位课程来获得大学地位。 Half of those he pointed to were men’s Christian colleges, or institutions such as the University of Dallas, UNC-Ashville and Concordia University.

“Not really us,” he concluded. “So I look at Stanford and Princeton. 两国都有与我们相当的本科生。 但作为现代大学，它们也有同等数量的研究生和专业学生。 Each emphasizes the liberal arts within the undergraduate curriculum, but at the same time their scholarship and research make them two of the top institutions in the world when it comes to discovery and understanding and leadership in a complex technological society.”

Griffioen认为W&M是独一无二的，以至于给它贴上标签只会限制它。

“We are truly a place where faculty can combine a life of stellar teaching and world-class research for the benefit of all our students, from freshmen to post-doctoral scholars . . . 我们为什么要与这一方或那一方结盟？ 我们喜欢称自己独一无二； if so, then we don’t need to have somebody else’s title.  . . We need to be focused on how each school can reach its full potential as a home for the world’s best teacher-scholars. Here the liberal arts play a role, but they are not the whole story.”

Meyer, associate professor of 历史 and American studies, claimed that William & Mary answered the question of whether a liberal arts university was possible in the 21st century every day.

“Our reputation is for excellence in teaching but also excellence in research,” she said. “Several of our graduate programs are ranked among the top ten universities. In other words, faculty and students are already engaged in learning as well as discovery.”

梅耶解释说，卡内基基金会已经将该学院归类为研究型大学。  通常情况下，佳博体育五分之一的学生要么在读研究生，要么在读专业课程。 三分之一的学位授予在研究生或专业课程中完成的工作。

“So the graduate or professional programs enhance the college’s reputation as a center of learning,” Meyer said. “They help us to attract outstandingly creative faculty. 它们帮助教员吸引了大量的研究经费。 研究生专业课程已经是我们学院的一部分。 The question now is how are we going to do better by them and more fully link the graduate and undergraduate professional programs to one another and to the broad mission of the institution?”

Finally, Bryce, Life of Virginia professor of 业务, recommended that instead of peering out the window at other schools, W&M should look in the mirror, and inside itself.

“My emphasis is on William and Mary as a community,” he said. “What shall the community be? 社区中的玩家如何与成长和服务的目标互动？ 回答和探索这些类型的问题将指导我们的工作方式。 这些问题的答案将使我们的课程和授课方式合理化。

 “I do not think the curriculum is the issue. It’s going to be constant, from here to there, for a very long time. 核心课程与中世纪没有根本的不同。 但我们可以调整它； it’s not the curriculum, it’s how you teach the curriculum. The community defines the area in which learning takes place and growth takes place.”

论坛结束后，Halleran评论了整个校园对这个话题的浓厚兴趣。 While not everyone agrees whether ‘liberal arts university’ is the best name, he said, there appears to be an underlying consensus that William & Mary combines broad learning and research distinctively.

“Now we need to parse this combination with greater specificity,” Halleran said. “And we’ll have the chance to do that during our year-long 谈话—both in the ‘formal’ events and in the many smaller 谈话s that I believe will ramify across the campus.”