Courtesy of Connecticut College Office of Communications
On Thursday, November 2, 2023, Connecticut College hosted its fifth annual All-College Symposium. The Symposium represents a culmination of the work of many students in various pathways and centers and an important step for other students as they work on longer projects. Students presented posters and participated in panels sharing the skills and knowledge that they acquired in their pathways or centers, whether their focus was in the entrepreneurial world, media, studies of global and regional conflicts, science, or other areas. As the Connections curriculum is now in its eighth year of existence and the All-College Symposium has taken place for the past five years, The College Voice decided to explore Connections as a whole, wondering if it is successful and how it can improve. We talked to administrators, Pathway Coordinators, and students in various pathways and centers. The primary questions that we asked community members, particularly those in the faculty, were “What do you believe the successes of the Connections program have been so far?” and “How do you think that the Connections program can build and improve?”
Staff/Faculty:
Victor Arcelus, Dean of Students:
“Having spent all day yesterday going to sessions, it was really impressive the way that students are connecting all of the different parts of their education. It is front and center when you see it at the symposium. In the past when students took gen-ed classes, it was just a hodgepodge of classes, they didn’t have any connection to them unless the student themselves actually made a connection… The question for college in the future is whether the college is ever going to have [the Connections program] be THE curriculum. Right now there’s a percentage of students that don’t do a center or a pathway, do we have an intention of changing this?”
Libby Friedman, Assistant Dean of the College for Connections and Coordinator of Intersession:
“The success of the Connections program is best exemplified by the advising team. The team of faculty, staff, student, and career advisors supports the student in shaping and customizing their education, selecting majors, minors, extra-curricular activities, life on campus, study away, and more. They support students in almost every aspect of their college experience and deeply impact the overall success of the student experience. Many students continue to meet with their team, even after they declare majors… As we just experienced from the recent symposium, our seniors were very excited to share their passions with the community. The whole community had the opportunity to experience interdisciplinary learning and exploration in person, and from many perspectives. First-year students are fully immersed in first-year seminars, benefiting from team-advising and taking a wide range of courses. Sophomores are actively joining Pathways and Centers, taking gateway courses, declaring majors, and exploring study-away options. In terms of future development, we will be further developing opportunities and supportive structures during the junior year.”
Erica Smith, Dean of the College:
“I have only been involved with Connections for a little over two years now, but have been completely impressed with everything I have seen and heard. The program as a whole, including the First-Year Seminar, ConnCourses, Modes of Inquiry, Social Difference and Power courses, World Language and Culture courses, the Global/Local experience, Pathways, and Centers really fulfills its promise of providing a deep and interdisciplinary experience that makes Conn College graduates really stand out in their capacity to think and problem-solve in meaningful ways… The program has been really successful, and we want all students to participate in all of its components. We have found that there is a gender gap in Center and Pathway participation. We’d like to learn more about that and close the gap so that more male students participate in those parts of the program. We would welcome any feedback or input in this regard, and will, of course, take our own steps to see how we can increase participation in this way.”
Jeff Strabone, Pathway Coordinator, Media, Rhetoric and Communications Pathway:
“Connections provides students multidisciplinary learning in a content area and in a way that shows up on transcripts and CVs. [The Connections program] is flexible enough to accommodate many student interests. In the Media pathway, we have students committed to journalism, fashion, government, economic, marketing, dance, sports, and a whole lot more. There’s no wrong way to fulfill the pathway. One strength of the Media pathway is the training it provides in public speaking. Even the most nervous, audience-shy students look like polished professionals by the time they give their Symposium talks. I wish more students realized how easy it is to complete a pathway.”
Students:
When reaching out to students in the Connections program, we asked them a different, most specific set of questions, centered around their personal experiences in their pathway or center and how that experience informed their opinion about the program as a whole.
Valentina Baehrle ‘24, Peace and Conflict Pathway:
TCV: How has your pathway/center impacted your experience at Conn (academically, personally)?
VB: “The Peace and Conflict pathway has provided me with a space to really evaluate my personal passions and realize that I can discuss them in an academic environment. I think that this kind of exercise has opened up future possibilities for me to continue applying my personal experiences toward academic research.”
TCV: Would you recommend the pathway/center program to other students?
VB: I would recommend the pathway/center programs to students if and only if they truly want to study holistically. It is so important to cover certain requirements and they will sneak up on you your junior year if you don’t look out for them.
TCV: Knowing what you know now, if you could go back to sophomore year, would you choose to do your pathway/center again?
VB: Knowing what I know now, I’m honestly not sure if I would choose my pathway again. While I met some incredible people and participated in a wonderful symposium experience, the hoops I had to jump through to fulfill my pathway requirements and the expectations to fully integrate every single component of my academic studies was incredibly stressful.
TCV: In your opinion, what are the strengths and weaknesses of pathways/centers?
VB: The pathways/centers are extremely exciting ideas, in theory. In practice, its biggest weakness is that it embraces the openness and diversity of the liberal arts education so much that it bounces back and becomes rigid again. This also extends to the entire Connections program.
TCV: Is there anything you would want to change about your pathway/center?
VB: I would change the level of communication regarding what exactly we need to do every year. No communication junior year and two different professors led there to be complete discrepancies for my class regarding what we were told sophomore year versus what was expected of us senior year.
TCV: Did your experience at the All College Symposium impact your opinion of your pathway/center? In what ways?
VB: I think my experience at the All College Symposium reassured me that I made the right decision to go through with the pathway, simply because it felt very affirming to present in front of an audience and feel that I had finally made it to a culminating point. I will say that it feels partially fraudulent, knowing that so many of us figured out what we were going to present in the semester of.
Keri Krasnoff ‘24: Goodwin-Niering Center
TCV: How has your pathway/center impacted your experience at Conn (academically, personally)?
KK: “GNCE allowed me to explore my two interests in both environmental science and chemistry. The center also provided me the chance to meet students and faculty/staff who are also passionate about the environment and to network.”
TCV: Would you recommend the pathway/center program to other students?
KK: “I would recommend GNCE for those who are interested in environmental work.”
TCV: Knowing what you know now, if you could go back to sophomore year, would you choose to do your pathway/center again?
KK: “Yes I would choose GNCE again.”
TCV: In your opinion, what are the strengths and weaknesses of pathways/centers?
KK: “I think the strength of centers is that they allow you to align your interests by centering a two year project around them. However, the one weakness of centers is that they expect you to propose a project when you apply and stick to it even though a lot of people are still figuring out what they want to do.”
TCV: Is there anything you would want to change about your pathway/center?
KK: “I wouldn’t change a lot, I would probably just want for there to be more networking and service opportunities for the center to offer.”
TCV: Did your experience at the All College Symposium impact your opinion of your pathway/center? In what ways?
KK: “Presenting at the symposium was a rewarding moment for me because it reminded me of when I first came to the center and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. It was also really great to see all of my peers’ projects and learn how different yet important each of our interests are from one another.”
