Environmental Sciences | History | Theater, Dance and Performance Studies | McNair Scholars Program

Environmental Sciences

Overview: The Environmental Sciences Major is the only cross-college major at Berkeley. Students in either the College of Letters and Science or the College of Natural Resources can choose an emphasis in biological science, physical science, or social science. The Environmental Sciences major requires a two-semester senior thesis course (ES 196a and 196b, each with labs) for all majors, which gives students the opportunity to conduct independent research in settings such as a campus laboratory; a non-profit organization in the region; or a state or regional health, environmental, or planning governmental agency. Approximately 45 majors enroll in the two-semester course each year, and approximately the same number graduate each year.

Relation to the Model: The Environmental Sciences Program has taken specific steps to try to address differences in students’ levels of preparation for the thesis. In the past, students undertaking the thesis worked in small groups with others pursuing similar topics. More recently, students have been grouped together according to similar stages of research progress. Students whose research is well under way receive information needed to publish work in undergraduate journals or peer-reviewed journals or otherwise disseminate results to the public, and students who are struggling with the early stages of research are provided with extra feedback and assistance. This attention to the progress of the learners enables the department to tailor instruction to specific learning needs, rather than to expect uniform performance and outcomes for all students (e.g., thesis published in a peer-reviewed journal).

To better prepare students for the capstone, the major has added a research component (ES 10L) to the Fall offering of its mandatory introductory course (ES 10). The course now provides an interactive, hands-on introduction to data collection and environmental problem solving. ES 10L, now in its third year, incorporates field and laboratory exercises based upon the Strawberry Creek watershed that runs through campus. Each activity requires that students gain specific field and laboratory skills needed for research. A weekend exercise is designed to allow students to integrate research skills in a role-playing exercise as environmental planning consultants. The field exercises are consistently cited in student evaluations as strong points of the course. The program plans to expand the laboratory component to the Spring semester to reach all students enrolling in ES 10.

The major also offers a research methods course (ES 100) in the spring of the junior year, as a mandatory prerequisite for the thesis seminar. The course, now in its fifth year, has also changed focus, from one that presented specific methodological tools and statistics to one that encourages students to become more active thinkers. The course brings in professionals from different fields to show how the process of research works in various disciplines and careers. In lieu of a final exam, students in the course produce a research proposal as a final project.

As an interdisciplinary, cross-college major, a key challenge for Environmental Sciences is its lack of permanent faculty FTE. Faculty who teach ES 10, for example, come from such departments as Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geology; Integrative Biology; and Landscape Architecture. The staffing challenge is particularly difficult in courses that are exclusively for majors (e.g., ES 100 and ES 196), which are not cross-listed and do not also serve students in the faculty members’ home departments. The program relies on lecturers to staff the two-semester thesis sequence. To increase student interaction with ladder faculty as part of the capstone project, the program is working to help students find ladder faculty mentors from across the campus to supervise the laboratory component of the thesis course (ES 196L). The faculty instructor for ES 100 is considering how to restructure the junior-year course so that students will complete the course having identified and contacted a faculty research mentor and having completed a research proposal that will correspond to their thesis project. An additional challenge is to involve more faculty from the social sciences (e.g., resource economics, urban and rural planning, environmental policy, environmental law) in mentoring students in the program.

Evidence of Effectiveness: The learning objectives for the thesis are detailed on the ES 196 website, along with information about how to progress through the various stages of the research project. All students completing the thesis are expected to be able to (1) identify a testable question or problem, (2) design a protocol for gathering relevant information, (3) generate or locate the information specified in the protocol, (4) analyze the information and derive an objective conclusion, and (5) present results in a written thesis and as an oral report. Attainment of these objectives is determined by the faculty who teach the courses. In addition, all students present their findings in a public symposium at the end of the year, and their work is released in a CD, distributed to the students at graduation and available on the course website.

In 2003, Environmental Sciences was awarded the UC Berkeley campus Educational Initiatives Award. This award is presented annually by the Academic Senate's Committee on Teaching to a department, unit, or group of faculty for an outstanding undergraduate education program or initiative that can serve as a workable model for others on campus. Among other distinctions, the major was recognized for its efforts to prepare students for successful capstone experiences. Supplementary evidence of Environmental Sciences’ success in preparing students to conduct research successfully throughout the trajectory of their development is attached.

History

Overview: History is one of the largest campus departments that require a senior thesis project for all degree candidates. The department graduates approximately 250 students per year. The thesis course (History 101) is taken in the student’s field of concentration and preceded by a required proseminar (History 103). The department expects that most students will take the 103 in their fields of concentration, and it is working towards more linkages between the 103 and the 101 courses. More recently, the department has instituted a new elective lower-division course (History R1), which is designed to expose intended majors to basic undergraduate research competencies in the discipline and help them develop a broad appreciation of the field. As part of the redesign of the curriculum currently under way, the department is eliminating the separate honors thesis course (History 195). Under the new curriculum, honors will be awarded to a subset of students completing the mandatory capstone who have demonstrated exceptional performance.

Relation to the Model: In the lower division, intended History majors are exposed to the discipline through the experimental History R1: The Practice of History. The objectives of this new course are to help students understand (1) what constitutes a piece of primary source evidence; (2) where evidence can be located and how it is validated; (3) how evidence is placed into context, what questions can be asked of it, and what interpretations are possible as a result of such interrogation; and (4) how master historians have used evidence and written history in the past. In addition, the course is designed to help students develop formal citation skills and understand established protocols for academic honesty. The course includes guided individual research essays (sample assignment) involving one of the campus library collections (e.g., the Bancroft Library, the East Asian Library, the Emma Goldman Papers). In Spring 2001, the first semester in which the course was offered, a total of 48 students enrolled in all sections. In Spring 2003, that number had grown to 149. It is still too soon to tell what percentage of students enrolling in the course will eventually complete degree requirements in History and whether the course will eventually become an established gateway into the major.

The History 103 series is designed to develop historiographical or methodological skills necessary to complete the required senior thesis. The course is required for the major, and enrollment in all sections of the course averages 250 students annually. Recent undergraduate seminars have introduced students to qualitative interviewing and the use of oral sources to augment understanding of the past, reading of popular culture, and interpretation of material culture in relation to visual art and literary documents. Courses designated 103R give extra attention to research methods and techniques. One such course, “American Lives, American History: Oral History and the Understanding of Social Change,” is taught by the faculty director of the Regional Oral History Office in collaboration with professional oral historians and researchers. This section offers a model for how campus mentoring resources beyond ladder faculty can be effectively leveraged. The interviews that students conduct as part of the course become part of the permanent Bancroft Library collections.

After taking the mandatory preparatory seminar, students enroll in History 101, the required thesis course, where they work on closely related topics and develop 30-50 page papers based on original research. Most 101 sections are organized around themes, times, and places, similar to the 103. An innovative section, called “Writers’ Group,” is open to students who wish to pursue independent research not represented in course offerings. The department also administers a research fund that enables students to get small grants to conduct field and archival research as part of their projects.

Staffing remains one of the key challenges of providing a capstone experience to all majors. The new History R1 course is taught entirely by ladder faculty, as are almost all sections of History 39, the sophomore seminar. As a tradeoff to maximizing student-faculty contact in key lower-division courses, the department relies heavily on Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) to staff the capstone sequence, with only 47% of 103s and 23% of 101s taught by ladder faculty. Proposed changes to the departmental curriculum, including a reduction from two required 103s to one required 103 for majors, are designed in part to lead to a more effective utilization of ladder faculty and GSIs. Although the department will continue to rely on GSIs to staff its thesis sequence, under the new curricular requirements it will be able to reserve those slots for advanced GSIs who already have an established teaching record.

Evidence of Effectiveness: To assure consistency across the multiple sections of History 103 and 101, the instructors meet twice a year with the History undergraduate curriculum committee. During these meetings, the committee assesses how well the sections are meeting the department’s overall learning objectives for its students. Students’ research projects are disseminated in a variety of ways. All papers are stored in the departmental library, and an index system allows students to access papers related to their own topics. Students are also encouraged to make an oral presentation at a departmental end-of-term colloquium, attended by faculty and students. Phi Alpha Theta, the Undergraduate History Honors Society, also publishes a student-run journal called Clio’s Scroll, which enables students to share their research projects with a broader audience.

Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies

Overview: The Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies Department offers to all its majors an optional capstone experience, which can take a variety of forms: (1) students can take a two-term course in which they prepare a written senior thesis based on original research in the history, literature, and/or theory of theater and/or dance; (2) students can propose a year-long thesis project in which they write a thesis in the Fall and then direct a play or choreograph a dance work in the Spring based on the thesis; (3) individual students can apply to direct/choreograph a non-thesis production, which is mentored by a faculty member, designed (sets, costumes, and lights) and stage-managed by students (who may also use this as a capstone experience), and given departmental staff and budgetary support; and (4) students in the lighting, scenic, and costume design fields are often given the opportunity to design for professionally directed theater and dance productions in the department's mainstage season. The department does not have an M.F.A. program, and undergraduates participate in capstone experiences that would usually be reserved for graduate students at other universities. Acting, stagecraft, and production opportunities are not restricted to majors, as they are in many drama departments, so the department plays a major service role to nonmajors. More than 40 students per year are cast in departmental theater productions, more than 30 students perform in dance concerts, 60 students crew in theater, 10 crew in dance. Productions are close collaborations involving students with ladder faculty, instructors who are professionals in their fields, and professional technical staff, who all contribute to the work of mentoring.

Relation to the Model: The department emphasizes opportunities to develop both research and production competencies leading to a capstone experience. It has recently redesigned its major to strengthen the emphasis on literature, history, and performance theory in addition to production. The department now requires two courses in performance studies at the lower-division level and four courses at the upper-division for its majors, which prepare students who choose the traditional research thesis option. Each year the department sponsors two or three undergraduate theses on the written-thesis-only model. In addition, a small number of students choose the combined research thesis/production option. For example, in Fall 2001 an undergraduate wrote her thesis on Edward Bond, then in Spring 2002 she directed a play by Bond as one of the department's student productions.

The department has developed a sequence of courses for its production students. Theater 60: Stagecraft provides a lower-division introduction to set, costume, and lighting design and stage management. It involves a laboratory component, where students work backstage in technical areas on departmental productions. Production students in the upper division can then specialize in either the preparatory directing sequence (162, 163, 164) leading to a directing capstone (196) or the preparatory two-course track in scenic, costume, or lighting design (173A&B, 174A&B, 175A&B) leading to a supervised capstone in lighting (176) or scenic and costume design (179). The directing capstone is limited to departmental majors; however, the design and stage management capstone is open to nonmajors, attracting students from such majors as Physics and Architecture. To participate in productions as designers, students must have taken two courses in the appropriate area (directing, lighting, set or costume design), so they come into the production process with a minimum of a year's training in the area.

Dance students, including nonmajors, are each required to take one semester of choreography, and their work is shown each Fall semester in the choreography workshop (146A). Advanced students take 146B, and their work is given a small-scale production in the Spring semester; in addition, choreography students may apply for the 196 option to have a separate production of their work, or for the thesis option. Students can also participate in the Bay Area Repertory Dance Company (149).

The department's commitment to providing advanced research/creative experiences for nonmajors sometimes comes at the expense of majors, and is of some concern to the faculty. All of the department’s research faculty have been hired in the last three years, and the department anticipates these new hires will result in more opportunities for traditional senior theses, as well as more theses that are accompanied by a directing project. Another area for continued development is the ongoing commitment to representing diversity onstage and in the classroom. The most recent hires specialize in Asian cinema and performance, African American theater, Asian theater, and race theory and performance. Several of these faculty members are also experienced directors, and while the casting of department productions and the choice of repertory already reflect the campus's diverse student population, the department anticipates that new faculty teaching in both research and production fields will contribute directly to this goal.

Evidence of Effectiveness: The production process involves close interaction between ladder faculty, instructors, and professional staff in the department to evaluate students. Every year, faculty and technical staff assess all students participating in departmental programs. In annual departmental meetings to select the upcoming season's productions, faculty and staff evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of students coming through the program. Plays are selected in part to fulfill curricular goals (e.g., to provide the opportunity to teach a classical or period acting style; to work with comedy of manners; to engage questions of race and performance in an African American classic), and in part to develop the skills of the students currently in the program. The department holds open auditions for all productions. Assignment to a production as designer or stage manager is made by the department's production manager, in consultation with the appropriate faculty supervisor. For example, each year 18 students take the costume design sequence. Of those, four to six will design costumes for a departmental production before they graduate.

The department has a strong placement record for students who are accepted into top M.F.A. programs. The department also offers a regular course on auditioning for professional acting work and for graduate programs in acting, directing, and design. Every year eight to ten Berkeley graduates go on to programs like Juilliard, Tisch School of Performing Arts, American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, and Trinity Repertory Theater. Students who have focused on stagecraft have a record of moving into professional positions immediately after graduating.

McNair Scholars Program

Overview: The McNair Scholars Program prepares a minimum of 20 new students annually for graduate study at the doctoral level through an intensive undergraduate research experience, typically taking place in the junior year (a subsection of those students requiring more preparation to complete their work continue for a second year in the program). The program’s specific aim is to increase the numbers of students that enroll in doctoral education who are low-income and first-generation students. (At least two-thirds of McNair Scholars are first-generation college attendees from low-income families, and up to one-third are underrepresented minorities who are not low-income, first-generation students.) The program teaches students a set of skills that are critical to success in advanced doctoral work and equips students with those skills through an intensive undergraduate research experience. This national program is funded through the United States Department of Education. Under the federal grant, the program develops a partnership agreement with explicit measurable objectives, including numbers of students who will have a research experience, graduate with a B.A., and go on to doctoral programs.

Relation to the Model: McNair Scholars participate in a structured program for academic credit (Education 198) that helps them prepare for undertaking capstone experiences. Students receive individual advising and attend a weekly two-hour seminar during the spring semester that provides structure for the development of the research project and learning outcomes. The learning community provided by the program helps facilitate students’ social integration into the larger institution. Students receive additional support for applying to graduate school, including application fee waivers. Mentoring is provided by the Scholar’s faculty research mentor, GSIs, and program staff. Faculty mentors have primary responsibility for evaluating and grading the intellectual content of the work. An area of challenge in the program is the coordination of these different mentors.

The McNair Scholars Program demystifies the research process for groups underrepresented in advanced doctoral study. It also offers an interesting model for a learning community where multiple mentors work together to support students: faculty provide specialized intellectual guidance on the research project; GSIs provide broader disciplinary guidance; and program staff teach less specialized, broadly applicable skills related to navigating the research environment. Together, this community of mentors helps maximize students’ development along all three dimensions of engagement identified as part of our model research trajectory. Finding ways to export this model to departments that want to be more responsive to diversity in the learning environment is an important challenge and potential future direction for development.

Evidence of Effectiveness: Stated learning objectives for the program include (1) learning how to approach a faculty mentor, (2) understanding what constitutes a research question, (3) identifying key literature in a given field, and (4) understanding ethical issues related to research. Learning objectives for individual projects vary and are determined and evaluated by the faculty research mentors. The program maintains extensive quantitative and qualitative summative data on how well objectives in the partnership agreement are being met. Beyond that, evidence of student learning outcomes includes (1) student work presented to external audiences such as the legislature and the Regents, (2) student work presented at the annual McNair Symposium, and (3) student work published in the annual peer-reviewed Berkeley McNair Journal. A review of students’ research topics, especially in the humanities and social sciences, provides evidence of how the presence of diversity transforms the pursuit of knowledge in the disciplines. McNair Scholars gain experience undertaking a sustained and original research experience, typically in the junior year, with many going on to complete a departmental senior capstone project. Reports for 2000-01 and 1999-2001 provide additional effectiveness data.

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