What does all this have to do with accepting my invitation? Participation in the group I'm proposing is one
sipnificant way, | believe, that some of us can help Richland meet this challenge. Obviously, not everyone will
be able or will choose to address the challenge in this way (nor would it be desirable, for it will take many
approaches); furthermore, many at Richland are committed to work on ollier high priority issues. The people
who accept my invitation, then, should be those who are able and willing to commit significant time and energy
on an issue to which they assign high personal value.

More specifically, what is it that | expect this group of people to be doing? Toa large extent, | will want the |
roup itseff' to determine a good bit of what they'll do. My present thinking, however, is that we would meet.

once a month starting next September, for at least a two-year period during the long semesters, ina four-hour
session in the late afternoon/early evening, probably off-campus, combined with refreshments/evening, meal
(perhaps with a weekend "retreat" once/semester). There would be two primary activities: about one-fourth to

one-third of each session would be quasi-committee work devoted to reacting to a variety of proposed campus |

activities/approaches to integrated learning; the remainder of each session would be devoted to our own inter-
disciplinary learning. I see this being primarily a reading-study-discussion session.

The participants would be charged with developing their own "curriculum," but I envision its being a format —

in which works of non-fiction dealing with major life issues and theories (drawn from each of the major
disciplines noted in the quotation above) would alternate with works of fiction or biography, the views and
activities of which characters and authors can be compared and contrasted with the theoretical works. Journals
would be kept and occasionally read to encourage participants to interact with the literature on a more
experiential basis and to provide an outlet for their own creative and analytical writing. Participants would
commit to read and study each:selection before each meeting and to participate actively in discussions. There
could be numerous variations on this basic format, with a variety of activities involved and approaches taken.
The group size would need to be large enough to be truly interdisciplinary but small enough to encourage
lively discussion among all participants. It will also be a good opportunity for part-time and full-time staff to get
to know each other better. Depending on the number of people willing and able to commit to a group like this,
there could be more than one group. (But each group will be made up of each discipline, evenly distributed, so
that some individuals from "over-represented" disciplines might not be chosen to participate. Interested
individuals not selected for these groups may wish to form similar, though less comprehensively
interdisciplinary study groups.) Staff development funds will be available for the purchase of reading materials.

Un-Committee Reading List 1985-86

September: — Irenweed, William Kennedy
Falconer, John Cheever
October: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire
Animal Farm, George Orwell
November: — Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud
December: Poetry and Art (Selections of poems by Seamus Haney
and Sylvia Plath, and two short articles on art)

 

January: Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins

February: The Heart of Philosophy, Jacob Needleman
March: Selections from Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
April: A Stroll with William James, Barzun

May: "Myth of Sisyphus" and a short story(ies) from

Exile and Kingdom, Camus

Steve K. Mittelstet, President
Richland College

For further information, contact the author at Richland College, 12800 Abrams Road, Dallas, TX 75243.

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in part by the WK. Kellogg
Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and monthly during the summer.

©) The University of Texas at Austin, 1985
Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X