Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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Maple Leaf: What do you remember vividly from this year? Scot Yoder: It happened at the beginning of each trimester. Students here are not that familiar with philosophy. When they come to class on the first day, they're asked what they expect from a philosophy 'class and we talk about their answers. What sticks with me are the looks on their faces and the kinds of expressions they get when they figure out what we're going to do in philosophy. It's usually something very dif- ferent from what they were expecting. That's the highlight, seeing the light go on and seeing their impressions change as they start to really get into what we're going to do in the course. ML: What do they expect? SY: They expect something very free- wheeling. Zen and the Art Q' Motorqfcle Maintenance is what they think is philosophy. They don't think of it as the nitty-gritty logic, of really tough thinking, and questioning a lot of the assumptions. It's the technical side and the critical and disciplined side that I don't think they an- ticipate. ML: What is the driving force behind the department? SY: There are a couple goals. We certainly have the goal of being a general education program in which every student who comes through Goshen is going to get some idea of biblical criticism, biblical literature, an idea of how to do theology and some ad- vancement in their Christian faith. The other part is that we hope to get some students who want to specialize in the field and who either gain the training to go on to seminary, or who want to go ahead right away and work in the church in some form. For me personally, my training is in philosophy and I want to increase the in- terest in philosophy at this institution. It's been very low-key and it's been down- played. So I feel like I don't want to solve the problems of the department or the world. I just want to make a little dent on making people understand philosophy and be interested in it. Scot Yoder, a.r.vistant pnwssor rj philosophy, completed hzltfrst year at Goshen College.

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ible, Religion and hiloso h P Don Blosser Lawrence Burkholder f I ' Judy Woimanen focuses in on the material for the next test in Christian Community Brad Yoder Scott Denlinger and Judy In gold receive instruction on planning one of their three inductive Bible studies in Biblical Literature. Scot Yoder attempts to clear up student questions in his introduction to philosophy class. WY l F l r

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Biology and I Chemi tr Robert Guth Ken Horst Maple Leaf: What happened this year with the efforts to get the new building for the science department? john Yordy: The efforts to work at renovation or a new building structure are things that have been going on for some years. Frank Bishop started four, five, six years ago with those kinds of concepts. The process is always a long oneg you have to look at needs and where you are currently. So although we are not moving as quickly as we might like, there is movement and we will eventually begin to have our physical facilities more adequately match the pro- gram we're trying to give here. ML: So you don't think that the consolida- tion has been altogether a negative thing? JY: Not in terms of building. I think the consolidation process itself helps all of us to be more intentional in our evaluation of our areas. And the building ideas were ac- tually begun before the consolidation pro- cess. So the consolidation process helps to sharpen what the program really should and can be like. And therefore, it maybe contributes to the building effort in the long run. I think it just takes time to put togeth- er a coherent building plan that brings us from the '50s into the '80s and '90s in terms of facilities. ML: What would you say is the goal of your department? JY: Well, in terms of subject matter we're very intentionally oriented to teach a cer- tain body of material and a certain concep- tual way of approaching our physical world. Those two things have to go togeth- er. That is, there is a certain body of knowledge that needs to be learned, but maybe more important there is a concep- tual way in approaching the physical world. And I would hope that as we con- tribute to the critical thinking of students, we also contribute to their understanding of the role that intuition - and even seren- dipity - has played in the scientific pro- cess. So, I hope the intuitive is also some- thing that our students would appreciate. john Yordy, associate przjesror ay' chemistry, is chair ty' the chemishy department.