NEW ORLEANS -- The Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded another major grant -- $350,000 -- to fund the second year of a unique partnership between Dillard University and the University of Colorado at Boulder that merges the institutions' respective strengths in the humanities, mathematics, literature and information technology.
The continuing goal of the partnership is to enhance the significant roles that critical thinking and liberal arts instruction will play in shaping tomorrow's globalized society through the collaboration of diverse institutions and the use of information technology.
Dillard, a private, historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans, was named a top tier university for the second consecutive year in U.S. News and World Report's 2003 rankings for Southern comprehensive colleges offering bachelor's degrees. CU-Boulder, a predominately white, prominent public research university, recently amassed $229 million in sponsored research, a campus record. Its innovative Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society institute, or ATLAS, integrates the arts, humanities and social sciences with information technology.
Last year, supported by a $548,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation, faculty from both institutions designed and implemented a joint humanities course that focused on myth, epic, festivals and women in literature, art and music. Â鶹ÒùÔº from both campuses participated in the course via online bulletin board discussions and four pilot videoconferencing classroom sessions. Four calculus software modules to supplement classroom learning also were designed, and an extensive evaluation of the partnership was conducted.
"We're very grateful that the Carnegie Corporation has extended this grant," said Dr. Richard Byyny, chancellor at CU-Boulder. "We're equally excited about the fact that this continued collaboration allows us not only to share our strengths, but also to learn more about teaching together. This partnership helps to infuse curriculum with diverse viewpoints and expand the world views of students and faculty alike at both institutions."
The collaboration also resulted in Dillard students participating in Colorado's 10-week Summer Multicultural Access to Research Training, or SMART, program for undergraduate research, and Colorado applied math students spending time on Dillard's campus to gain experience by helping program the calculus modules. Additionally, Dillard faculty members took part in Colorado's two-week Faculty Teaching Excellence program. The relationship between Dillard and CU-Boulder also spawned development of a multiyear strategic plan that seeks to further expand the joint offerings. The initial phase of the strategic plan begins this summer.
Goals for the second year of the collaboration include significantly enhancing the current programs and projects, adding a jointly designed course in multicultural literature to the collaboration, and thoroughly evaluating how both students and faculty rate the effectiveness of these strategies.
"Our relationship with the University of Colorado at Boulder shows that we are more alike as opposed to being vastly different. For many years, our universities have been shining examples of the importance of higher education. Our continuing partnership simply takes our common beliefs and aspirations to new heights," said Dillard's president, Dr. Michael Lomax. "I'm confident that results from our future analysis of the collaboration will dramatically indicate that a functionally diverse society makes a better world."