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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: May 3, 1996
Contact: Justin Harmon 609/258-5732
President Shapiro Announces 250th Anniversary Fund Awards
Princeton, N.J., May 3 -- President Harold T. Shapiro announced today that he has selected 49 faculty members to receive curriculum development grants from the new 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education.
The fund -- with an endowment goal of $25 million -- was announced on Alumni Day as one of three Presidential Teaching Initiatives identified by President Shapiro as his highest personal priority for fundraising in the first year of the Anniversary Campaign. There was an immediate positive response to these initiatives, and by early spring, sufficient funds had been raised to support them over the next five years. As a result, President Shapiro invited the faculty to submit proposals for consideration in the first round of funding this spring. Acting on recommendations made by Dean of the Faculty Amy Gutmann, Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel, Associate Dean of the College Eva Gossman, and (in the case of proposals from the School of Engineering and Applied Science) SEAS Dean James Wei, President Shapiro chose to fund 42 of the 68 proposals submitted.
"I am delighted at the quality of the proposals submitted by so many members of our faculty," President Shapiro said. "They show ample evidence of imagination; careful thinking about how best to accomplish important educational objectives; creative engagement in exploring the potential of new pedagogies and new technologies; and clear dedication to the highest quality teaching, especially at the introductory level. These are precisely the qualities that we had hoped to sustain and nurture through this important new initiative. My colleagues and I look forward very much to the tangible results of these proposals -- and to the many additional proposals that will come in subsequent funding rounds, beginning next November."
The 250th Anniversary Fund competition attracted many excellent proposals in each of the divisions, Shapiro said. Successful proposals came from 28 departments and programs in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. Among the priorities for innovation in undergraduate education that were targeted in the competition, over half of the 42 funded proposals include the innovative use of new computer-based technologies to enhance or significantly transform teaching in courses across the disciplines. About a quarter of the proposals involve the development or major renovation of courses to satisfy the new distribution requirements, especially in the areas of Epistemology and Cognition, Ethical Thought and Moral Values, Quantitative Reasoning, and Science and Technology. An additional group of successful proposals will enrich the University's course offerings in comparative American cultures and international studies. Many successful proposals in each of these categories also include special efforts to enhance the teaching skills of graduate student preceptors.
All told, three-quarters of the projects supported involve introductory (100- or 200-level) lecture courses. Almost two-thirds of the total funding will be devoted to revising and enhancing on-going courses. The remainder will be invested in the development of new courses.
Letters from the President notifying individual faculty members of the awards will be sent out next week.