September 2006  |  Volume 2, Issue 1, Page 4

Alumni Council Begins Work

The Experimental College’s Alumni Council, a new initiative that came to fruition last year, held its first business meeting in late October. Making use of available technology, the meeting consisted of six alums in attendance here on campus and four others via a conference call. The members vary in both age and expertise and, thus, represent the whole of the ExCollege’s history. A few are involved in education while others are journalists, entrepreneurs, business people, lawyers, and creative artists. Despite, or perhaps because of the variety, they easily discussed issues we grapple with every day. Our hope is that each member will add information that we do not readily have and, thereby, add a new dimension to some of our deliberations. It was determined at the meeting that, by using email and attachments, we will be able to engage the council members in dialogues around significant Experimental College activities.

One such activity that everyone agreed made sense is choosing courses. We noted that the Experimental College often receives proposals to teach courses that fall within our council members’ areas of expertise. Therefore, it was suggested that we include them in the review process where appropriate. This would add extra information to what we already receive from Tufts faculty members who routinely review proposals. For example, a course that involved legal issues would be sent to a lawyer, one that focused on teaching writing to a published novelist, business courses to CEOs and so on.

A second area in which we agreed to collaborate is thinking more systematically about marketing and branding issues for the Ex College. A working committee of four council members was created, and they have started to build on work done this past year by the Experimental College Board.

eXpo 2006

In May, for the first time, the Experimental College Board decided to hold an end-of-the-semester exhibition of final projects produced by students in ExCollege courses, called eXpo 2006. The intention was to showcase the variety and quality of the work done in our courses. Over twenty-five student projects were put on display. These ranged from photography, films, student developed computer games, music, and poster presentations.  In addition, a number of instructors demonstrated innovative teaching methods used to help students understand the class material. Students and their friends got a chance to see what was going on in a range of ExCollege classes and to meet the visiting lecturers. Overall, the event was a great success.

The Embryo Wars: Law, Science, Ethics, and Politics

Also this spring, the Experimental College hosted a talk by Attorney Susan L. Crockin (J '76) entitled “The Embryo Wars: Law, Science, Ethics, and Politics.”  Sue is a past Ex College student board member and present member of our Alumni Council. Her practice specializes in adoption and alternative reproductive technology law.  She spoke about current events and legal issues in reproductive technology before an audience of students and faculty members in the Rabb Room in the Lincoln Filene Center. Student’s from many disciplines and interests were involved in the lively and eye opening discussion.

Go to newsletter page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6