Tufts University - Jumbo Yearbook (Medford, MA)

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Exploration Program The Freshman Explorations Program offers advising, learning, and a sense of community within the context of semi¬ nars designed and led by upper-level undergraduates. The team is supported by a faculty person who acts as academ¬ ic advisor to the freshmen and who par¬ ticipates as a member of the class. Thus incoming students receive both immedi¬ ate and sustained contact with a group of peers, upperlevel student teachers, and a faculty advisor. The work of each seminar focuses around a common theme or problem which students and faculty investigate together and for which the freshmen receive course credit. Though Explora¬ tion seminars are structured somewhat less formally than regular classes, stu¬ dents are still expected to do a major written project and to present their findings orally before their peers. Criti¬ cal thinking and research techniques are stressed, as are attendance and class participation. The initial Exploration experiment was launched in fall 1972 with nine seminars. Response was, and continues to be, very favorable. Over fifty Explo¬ rations were offered in Fall 1986. 26

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Russell Miller University Archivist Bruce Reitman Associate Dean of Students David B. Moffatt Vice President a I ' Physical Plant and Services Jeff Summitt Director of Hillel Thomas W. Murnane Rosemarie Van Camp Vice-President ol Development Director of Communications and Public Relations I I Administration i i Jeanne Dillon Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Elizabeth Toupin Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies 25

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Experimental College The Experimental College embodies the commitment of Tufts University to innovative undergraduate education. The college has become a locus for aca¬ demic innovation within which students and faculty work together to shape new courses and programs. Governed by an elected board con¬ sisting of faculty, staff, and students, the Experimental College has been granted a good deal of latitude and flex- ibilty in its service to the university. First and foremost, the Experimental College offers a carefully selected range of courses intended to broaden and en¬ rich the traditional curriculum. It also administers a unique freshman program called Explorations, which combines advising and academics with peer- group support and close contact among entering students, upper-level under¬ graduates, and concerned faculty. In addition, it provides non credit collo- quia, auditing for breadth, dance audit option, communications and media studies, peace and justice studies, and special events that meet the expressed needs of the university community as a whole. The Experimental College does not offer any academic concentrations of its own. However, certain courses will be cross-registered with a specific de¬ partment, while others may, by petition, be accorded concentration or distribu¬ tion credit. 27