Bowling Green State University

Chapman Community at Kohl



Address: Chapman/Harshman
City: Bowling Green
State: OH
Zip or Postal Code: 43403
Country: USA
Program Director (or best person to contact): Bob Midden
Email: midden@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Phone: 419-372-9979
Fax: 419-372-8020
Web Address: http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/clc

Brief Program Summary
The Chapman Community is an interdisciplinary liberal arts program that serves about 200 students, mostly first year, with nine full time faculty from six departments and 13 residence hall staff. All faculty have offices in the residence hall. Students normally take two core courses each semester together, one general education course often paired with composition. Chapman classes are not offered on Wednesdays, when mornings are reserved for community planning and afternoons for community events.

Sources of funding
Students pay a fee of $275 per semester to participate in the program. Other funding comes from the College of Arts & Sciences and from state funds received by the University for increased student retention and success.

Program Reports To:
Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences

Are students charged an additional fee: Yes

The number of persons in each of the following categories are teaching academic credit bearing courses
Fulltime Tenured Faculty: 2
Fulltime Probationary Faculty: 0
Fulltime Instructors: 3
Fulltime Retired Faculty: 0
Fulltime Adjunct Faculty: 0
Fulltime Graduate Students: 2
Fulltime Residence Hall Staff: 1

Parttime Tenured Faculty: 1
Parttime Probationary Faculty: 0
Parttime Instructors: 3
Parttime Retired Faculty: 0
Parttime Adjunct Faculty: 1
Parttime Graduate Students: 2
Parttime Residence Hall Staff: 12

Academic staff involved in the program that weren't included as faculty above
(Academic staff are personnel who are involved in providing academic services to students such as advising.)
Fulltime Academic Staff: 0
Parttime Academic Staff: 0

Non-academic staff involved in the program
(Non-academic staff are personnel who are involved in providing services that do not directly involve academics such as residence hall staff or staff who organize social activities that are not tied to academics.)
Fulltime Non-Academic Staff: 1
Parttime Non-Academic Staff: 0
Number of faculty offices in the residence hall: 14
The approximate percentage of students in each grade level
First Year: 85
Second Year: 12
Third Year: 2
Fourth Year and above: 1
Graduate Students: 0

Total Number of Students: 190

Year the Program Began:1997

Academic Courses Offered In The Community
First Year Composition Required of most students 3 hours each fall and spring terms Interpersonal Communication Elective 3 hours Intro to Psychology Elective 4 hours Intro to Literature Elective 3 hours Intro to Popular Culture and Film Elective 3 hours College Algebra Elective 5 hours Creative Writing Elective 3 hours Journeys into Science Elective 3 hours Intro to Art Elective 3 hours Intro to Theater 3 hours Intro to Film 3 hours and others

Other Academic Offerings


Classrooms in hall
4

Summary of Facilities and Facilities Budget We have a newly renovated residence hall with 18 faculty offices, three regular classrooms, another classroom specially designed for art, a computer lab, a large conference room, a smaller seminar room, a multi-purpose room that is used for games, meetings, entertainment and additional computer stations, a music practice room equipped with pianos and computer station with a large variety of music generation and notation software and electronic keyboards, arboretum along the windows of one wing of the first floor, a variety of gathering places for informal meetings including one with a gas fireplace and one with a built-in aquarium maintained by the marine biology lab, a cafe area served by a small fully-equipped kitchen, reception desk and rooms for office equipment and supplies.

Computer Resources in the Residence Hall
Computer lab with 22 computer stations equipped with a master station and projector for instruction with access to DVD, CD, VHS, streaming digital video coupled with a large digital library. There is a separate facility with 3 additional computer stations to ensure that some computers are available even when the computer lab is in use for instruction.

The Role of Community Partnerships
We urge first year students to participate in one of several recommended partnerships; about half our students participated last fall. Community partnerships include creating art with residents at an large urban homeless shelter, working towards remediation and policy change in an East Toledo community watershed, tutoring children in after school programs in Bowling Green, creating video documentaries to highlight benefits of community collaboration and community building and others.

The Role of Leadership Development
Students have numerous opportunities to participate in all matters of community action: hiring, curriculum, choice of activities and implementation of activities. With $50. of the $275. fee used for activities and 190 students, there is much money to spend on trips, speakers, dinners, museums, etc. We frequently have students leading these events. Our sophomores often serve as mentors and TA's for first year students and classes.

The Role of Research
We encourage faculty to use the students and community for their research. Several of our graduate students have chosen topics such as critical literacy or the pedagogy of testimony for their dissertations, and use their classes and students in the community. Freshman composition classes often involve students in researching issues of community, doing case studies, surveys, and other forms of data collection. A science class is investigation contamination of private water wells in our county by crude oil and is likely to lead to publications in peer-reviewed science journals.

Summary of Assessment Activities
A sociologist at the University whose specialization is assessment has done both qualitative and quantitative research with our community. For the first year, he interviewed most of our students in focus groups and administered several questionnaires. He met often with faculty to give and seek feedback. We also track average student GPA, retention and administer two student questionnaires including the NSSE. We are developing holistic assessments of student achievement linked to University and course learning outcomes in many courses.

Summary of Extracurricular Activities Formally Associated with the Program
We have engaged students in debates, panel discussions, talk shows, trips to films, plays, museums; students have gone camping, canoeing and to ethnic restaurants. They've met and talked with state legislators and community leaders, participated in African dancing and drumming, danced with members of the Ohio Ballet troupe, and created music with an internationally renowned classical, jazz and folk musician, among others.

The Role of Interdisciplinary Studies
Most of our curricula are decidedly integrative. Individual courses are often interdisciplinary and emphasize addressing real problems through integrative approaches. We also are striving to increase the connections between courses involving disparate disciplines such as art and natural science. And we are developing team taught and fully integrated course pairs.

How Diversity Issues are Addressed in the Program and in Courses
We include issues of race, gender, sexual orientation and other diversity factors in many of our courses and these issues are addressed throughout our co-curricular program, especially in most of our community engagement projects. We hold special events dealing with these topics to generate interest and discussion.

How Diversity Issues are Addressed Among Faculty and Students
We recruit a diverse student, faculty and staff, attempting to design recruiting materials and presentations to reflect the goal of having members of the community with a variety of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Tolerance and appreciation of diversity are key parts of our behavior code.

Student Demographics
Our students reflect the university norms, with average ACT scores of about 22. We better the university when it comes to diversity, with about 11% as against 7% students of color. Most of our students are likely first generation, also a reflection of university averages.

Faculty Rewards for Participation in the Program
Release Time: yes
Salary Supplement: yes
Travel Funds:
Other: yes

Description of Other Rewards
Opportunities to engage in innovative pedagogy and to be part of a supportive and stimulating community

Disciplines Represented by the Faculty
English, art, theater, interpersonal communications, creative writing, mathematics, chemistry, psychology, religion, philosophy, higher education administration, college student personnel

Willing to Serve as a Consultant:
Yes

Greatest Challenges for this Learning Community:
Recruiting more participation of tenured and tenure-track faculty. Participation in our learning community is perceived by some as separating them from their department. We need to find better ways to connect to and integrate into the activities and missions of traditional departments

Suggested Bibliography
Alex Duke, Importing Oxbridge O'Banion, The Learning College for the 21st Century Postman, Technopoly Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered Jodi Levine, Learning Communities