February 8, 1999

Dear Friends:

Welcoming back students and faculty who have been away on foreign study is one of the signal delights of starting a spring semester at Earlham. In the midst of a very Indiana January, we have greeted students and faculty from Japan, the U.S.-Mexico border, Kenya, Jerusalem, Germany, and Mexico.

In late January, in company with about a hundred others, I attended a marvelous slide presentation by the Kenya returnees. Skillfully guided by biologist Brent Smith and librarian Nancy Taylor, the students had studied Swahili in Zanzibar, done environmental biology in the game preserves, lived a week among the Masai, and, sadly, seen the embassy bombing rubble in Nairobi. Each student took a share in the presentation, and most apparent of all was how much they had invested in and learned from each other.

Of course we have also launched new groups for the spring semester: to Vienna, London, Northern Ireland, Martinique, Spain, the American Southwest--and more. E-mail helps us stay closer in touch these days with distant members of our community, and many can read the Earlham Word online, but we look forward to more detailed reports when they return.

I am teaching a course at Earlham for the first time this semester. Called "Topics in National Public Policy," it is a version of a course I've taught often in the past, but not for a few years. Over 14 weeks, 24 students and I will meet Tuesday evenings in the Meetinghouse library, examining social security, welfare, affirmative action, education and immigration. Getting ready to teach the course has given me yet another chance to look at Earlham closely, this time through the eyes of a teacher. To get a sense of what's the norm here I've been looking at course syllabi from other faculty No surprise: courses are more self-consciously organized around learning goals than they are at other colleges and universities, and they place higher expectations upon students, both as individuals and in groups. I've been impressed. If you are interested, my syllabus and many others are available on our website (www.earlham.edu; click on Academic Departments and Programs).

That's one electronic marvel; here's another: through a program (WebDB) developed here by Computer Science faculty member Charlie Peck and a group of students, I can look at my class-list as up-to-date as it is in the Registrar's files. And with another mouse-click I can send an e mail message to the whole class. Conversations begun in one class session can continue on-line in the days that follow.

In getting ready for my course, I've received in abundant help from Earlham's librarians: identifying materials in public policy (many of them available electronically), arranging reserve readings, offering to have a session to help students be more surefooted in finding and using library resources. Bibliographic instruction has long been a distinctive excellence of an Earlham education.

One clear view I have of the quality of teaching at Earlham comes in gauging the expectations of the two dozen students now in my class. These expectations have been shaped and raised very high by courses they have already taken. I have met the class three times so far. Already I hear, playing back through the classroom, strands of conversations the students have had with other faculty.

In November we received news from Lilly Endowment that they were awarding Earlham three extraordinary grants. A $1 million grant will allow us to work in partnership with the five school districts in Wayne County to strengthen reading and algebra programs for k-12 students. The other two grants are for improvements in our facilities. A $1 million grant will go towards a $3.2 million project to renovate science facilities in Stanley and Dennis. Earlham has a long tradition of extraordinary programs in science; sustaining this excellence requires regular attention to our facilities.

A $5 million grant lays the foundation for a $12 million project to build a new interdisciplinary studies/social science building. This building will strengthen support for the fresh approaches to learning and teaching that have come to distinguish an Earlham education. These are precisely what I have had such a marvelous opportunity to experience these past few weeks: a global embrace, interdisciplinary connections, hands-on and collaborative learning among faculty and students, use of computer networks and online library and information resources to supplement face-to-face learning. None of our current classroom buildings, dear to us as they are in many respects, are adequate to these purposes. Much more will be possible in this new facility. The whole campus is excited by the prospect.

I know from talking with many alumni how much teachers of past decades are revered: Arthur Little and Jackson Bailey, Helen Hole and Lucky Ward: even to start such a list is to call to mind many, many others. The character and quality of the faculty is the most essential ingredient of an Earlham education. The Digest accompanying this letter brings news of faculty working with students in ways that daily make this such a vibrant learning community. We are in the midst of some key searches for new members of the faculty in art, economics, philosophy, and religion. Each of these searches is important, and we are seeing superb candidates.

We are also in a search for our next Dean of Student Development. Many conversations preceding this search, with faculty and with students, yielded shared clarity that we are looking for someone not to head up a separate realm but rather to nourish a vital partnership among Student Development, teaching faculty and students. Here, too, we have distinctive and high expectations.

A marvelous semester lies ahead. We hope you will visit us soon, electronically or in person.

Best regards,

Douglas Bennett