Project Description With funding from a Hewlett Foundation Education Program "Pluralism and Unity" grant, Wheaton is developing a series of 14 new courses (not previously offered in our curriculum) and five refined courses (offered previously but in need of revision or enhancement) over three years. (These 19 courses surpass by one the College's initial goal of an 18 course Hewlett series.) The intention of these courses is to stimulate curiosity, respect, and understanding of diversity and multiculturalism through coordinated learning activities between the classroom, community, and campus life. This is an opportunity to create new "infused" courses, and also to incorporate more experiential learning into the curriculum. For the purposes of this program "diversity" or "multiculturalism" signify attention to race, ethnicity, gender, class, or any other designation which makes people on campus, and in the larger society, feel marginalized.

Professor Dolita Cathcart (advising a student above), requires all of her students to participate in class projects that engage the entire Wheaton community. "Relevant projects add a dimension to the learning experience," says Cathcart, "that simply cannot be replicated in the classroom. It encourages intellectual growth and critical thinking in the students, and builds new skills."

Program Components: Courses can be in almost any subject, and all include the following components: *traditional classroom learning (e.g., lectures, readings, written assignments) *service-learning--students meeting community needs related to the course content, or bringing the community to campus to share assets and resources *out-of-class reflection (e.g., periodic discussions in residence or dining halls, campus events inviting the participation of the entire Wheaton community) Each faculty member is provided the added support of a staff member from Student Life, the Multicultural Center, or the Filene Center for Work and Learning to provide resources in designing, implementing, and evaluating the Hewlett courses. For example, staff can identify and coordinate community partners or resources, and facilitate out-of-class reflection. We anticipate that courses from any discipline can be transformed through this process, and hope that these courses might be broad enough in nature to attract the enrollment of a diverse group of students. More information about Hewlett courses

"Much that is central to our Hewlett courses will be central to a Wheaton education for many years in the future."

Lessons Learned *Optimal learning for students happens when content experts (faculty) and campus/community experts (staff) collaborate as educators--particularly when we hope the learning has a direct impact on campus life. *When experiential activities and personal/group reflection are integral to a course, students have the opportunity to become teachers to one another and to their peers. As the "designated experts" of the integration of their experiences, they become masters of their own learning and naturally prompt that of their classmates and peers. *Good course models, when defined with flexibility, are applicable across disciplines and courses. *When attempting to draw in new participants to curricular experiments, the best "recruiters" are educators and students who have both experience and success in the experiment. *Experimentation must be supported by a long-term commitment to sustainability--this often requires additional funding. Having a clear plan of support articulated ahead of time ensures greater faculty confidence in the long-term possibility of the experiment.

Mary Lyon Hall (above), one of Wheaton College's oldest and most prominent landmarks, was named in 1910 for Mary Lyon, a pioneer in American education who acted as a consultant to the Wheaton family at the founding of the Wheaton Seminary and established the curriculum.

Growing from Our Roots The elements that make up a Hewlett course (both new and revised) and discussed in the Project Description (above left) have a long history at Wheaton and so connect organically to many of our values and past activities. Wheaton has long been involved in supporting experiential learning. The Filene Center for Work and Learning was founded in 1986. Since then the staff of the Center have worked closely with faculty to help design courses that rely on out-of-class experiences, and to integrate that learning (often through field work) into their courses. The staff of the Center has developed over this time a great deal of knowledge about ways to integrate experiential learning into many different types of courses. They have also developed a wealth of connections to community partners who can provide on-site field placements for our students. This focus and support has generated a large contingent of faculty members who rely on field-based learning projects for their courses. Through a generous grant to the college several years ago the staff at the Filene Center undertook an extensive evaluation project to document and describe any additional learning that seems to emerge when students engage in experiential learning activities. Through this work, members of our campus community, both faculty and Filene Center staff, have come to understand more deeply the benefits of out-of-class learning and the types of activities that tend to produce the best results. Wheaton College's long commitment to experiential learning can be seen in our resources which include: a staff with considerable expertise in this area; a long list of potential community partners; and a faculty who long ago made a commitment to integrate experiential learning into their courses. The existence of this foundation makes Wheaton College a perfect place to begin the Hewlett project that draws on these resources. A second component in all Hewlett courses is the integration of issues of diversity (broadly construed). Integration of the study of marginalized groups into the subject matter of academic courses also has a long history at Wheaton College. In the early 1980s with the support of a FIPSE grant, Wheaton began what we called "The Balanced Curriculum Project." The object of this project was to integrate issues of gender into courses throughout the curriculum. Rather than follow the practice at that time of forming a Women's Studies Department and segregating issues of gender into courses, and teachers of those courses, in that major, the College undertook the more challenging project of attempting to integrate gender wherever it appeared to be relevant. Over a several year period this led the faculty to explore issues of gender in courses in the Arts, the Humanities, the foreign languages, the Social Sciences, and even the natural Sciences. Through the work of the Balanced Curriculum Project the faculty has come to understand the power of integration. The success of this project has generated support within the faculty to broaden our integration efforts beyond issues of gender to the consideration of issues related to race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and other factors that lead to the marginalization of members of groups in society. In more recent years the faculty of Wheaton has moved issues of racial diversity to center stage with a renewed commitment to diversify its ranks. In November 1999 the faculty overwhelmingly passed a resolution to recommit itself to hiring more minority faculty members. Since that time, issues of diversity have enjoyed deep support within this community. The Hewlett courses (see link in the Project Description section) grew even more directly out of a pilot program called "King Connections." Named for Patricia A. King '63, Wheaton's first woman, first alumna, and first African-American chair of our Board of Trustees, she funded, through a grant from the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, several courses with the same components that are now found in the Hewlett Courses. In fact some of the very first revised Hewlett courses had begun as King Connections courses. Thus the College had the opportunity to enjoy a trial run, if you will, prior to implementing the Hewlett grant. This enabled us to know with more certainty how these courses could work, and how valuable they might be to the community. Having grown out of soil that is native to Wheaton College, the Hewlett courses became a springboard to an even greater commitment for the faculty in the future. About a half-year after receiving notice of the Hewlett grant the faculty voted (91-3) to institute a new set of general education requirements. As part of that the faculty voted that, "The education of Wheaton College students shall emphasize the study of race/ethnicity and its intersections with gender, class, sexuality, religion, and technology in the United States and globally..." This is to be done, not by requiring that students take a course designated as including these issues, but by committing the faculty to infusing these issues broadly across the curriculum. In this way all students will encounter these issues many times before graduation. In a very real sense the faculty has reaffirmed its commitment to broad-based integration (now termed infusion) of the issues found in all of our Hewlett courses. Hence, much that is central to our Hewlett courses will be central to a Wheaton education for many years in the future.

Valuing All Communities While situated in a predominantly-white suburb, Wheaton has the benefit of two lively cities within reach. Both Boston and Providence have served as settings for student internships and course projects, and the administrators, faculty, and staff who proposed the Hewlett Community Connection Program naturally assumed Boston and Providence community organizations would be primary partners for the program. The visible and tangible human diversity of urban communities is a tremendous lure when designing service-learning courses with diversity as a central element of course content. Logistical concerns limited the viability of this vision, however. Increasingly full student schedules, rising costs in transportation to and from these cities, and large course enrollments made partnering with urban non-profits difficult, if not impossible. As program administrators contemplated how to ensure the spirit of the program was met (engagement with communities of people unlike oneself), faculty began to propose creative projects meeting the needs of an increasingly wide range of communities. In the very first semester of Hewlett support, a faculty member in the History Department offered a course enrolling over 80 students. It was apparent the work and cost of bringing 80 students out to the community was prohibitive; thus, she devised ways to bring communities and their needs into the campus. Involving community organizations and their leaders as "designated experts," she worked with her students to develop a broad-based project that both prompted campus conversation and met a perceived need of the world beyond Wheaton. The course, "History of the Civil Rights Movement," centered around both the significant events and significant people of the movement. This faculty member and her students embarked on a widespread advocacy effort to declare a national holiday in honor of Rosa Parks. Students discovered on-going gender and racial inequities in society; developed a sense of how our government works and how to influence policy and practice; and engaged their peers in identifying personal connections who might also be influential. Though the Rosa Parks Day initiative never reached the floor of the House or Senate, students did succeed in raising awareness in the Wheaton community and their home communities. Other faculty members recognized that the needs of the Wheaton campus community might provide the right context for community action and engaging with people of different backgrounds, opinions, and experiences. Increasing diversity in both faculty and student populations has prompted an outcry for more campus conversation about the opportunities and challenges of living and learning together. When a faculty member in the English Department proposed a new film course, "Race and Racism in US Cinema," he recognized students' love of "going to the movies" could be a natural draw for engaging large groups of students into dialogue with one another. Students in his course worked as teams to create a five film series using popular, familiar movies to explore topics as varied and controversial as the United States' presence in Iraq, interracial dating, the role of stereotypes in entertainment, and more.

Wheaton students join students and teachers from the Little Singer School (above) to commemorate with a photo their experience with the Navajo youth and their families. From Wheaton's own campus to the Navajo Nation, life in community has been a transformative element of the Hewlett course experience.

Students in Hewlett-sponsored courses have engaged in service-learning as far geographically and culturally as the Navajo Nation, and as near as the residence hall next door. While the course series has included courses with traditional service-learning (e.g., students serving as mentors in local diverse schools), the program and Wheaton's campus have clearly been enriched by a more flexible and creative consideration of the communities.

Program administrators have been gratified by the level of faculty, student, and staff energy for the Hewlett Community Connections Program. In submitting a final summary report to the Hewlett committee, one Hewlett faculty member added: "The real summary is that this course was one of the best and most enjoyable courses I have taught in 36 years at Wheaton."