Century Club Newsletter: January 2010
Dear Century Club Member:
With the introduction of Learning Communities in 2002, Stonehill students obtained new, exciting options for going beyond their majors.
Linking two classes with an integrated seminar or common experience, LCs are team taught and focus on specific themes. Today, students can explore unique academic topics from a generous variety of LCs offered each semester, on a rotating basis.
For example, The Practice of Medicine and You LC brings together "Blood and Medicine" and "Healthcare Foundations." In this LC, students examine how diseases are diagnosed and treated, how health care structures affect public health and how they can be effective advocates within the health care system. LC offerings are continuously evolving and changing. Here are two newly developed learning communities:
Business and Communication in China: Changes and Challenges brings together "Corporate Finance 1" with "Intercultural Communication." This LC examines business and communication in a changing China and takes students on a faculty-led trip to the country.
Theatre for Social Change brings together "Introduction to Sociology" and "Acting I" to explore questions about race, gender, social class, and religion through the dual lenses of sociology and theater. The integrated seminar culminates with a public performance in which students express their perspectives on issues examined.
"LCs emphasize critical thinking and problem solving and often incorporate short-term travel, experiential learning, or community-based learning. They broaden the scope of a liberal education, opening up new horizons of student learning," reports Todd Gernes, Director of General Education, who works closely with faculty as they develop their LCs.
Students like how LCs let them to put theory into practice, says Ryan Hess '10, who took The Impact of News on Financial Markets, which combines "Corporate Finance" and "Macroeconomic Principles":
"We studied the impact of macroeconomic data as well as business and financial news on the financial markets. We used Bloomberg financial software to see the interaction between news and financial markets on a daily basis. It was like a real-life immersion in financial markets."
Learning Communities are just one of the many dynamic elements that are part of a Stonehill education today.
Without the backing of our generous Century Club members, we could not introduce and expand innovations like this.
On behalf of our students and the faculty members who challenge and encourage them, I thank you for your generosity.
Sincerely,
Francis X. Dillon
Vice President for Advancement