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Preserving Educational Standards

The University of New Mexico is a “moderately selective” institution. It essentially accepts all New Mexico high school graduates with a cumulative GPA of 2.25. The ACT cutoff score is 18 (SAT combined score: 860). The mid-50% ACT range is 19-25.4 This is the range into which 50% of freshman ACT scores fall. (That is to say, the scores of 25% of entering freshmen fall below this range; those of 25% of entering freshmen fall above it.) This presents considerable challenges to faculty teaching

undergraduates with a wide variation in levels of college preparedness. Faculty often feel they are faced with a dilemma in deciding how to “pitch” their courses: should they attempt to bring all students along, at perhaps the cost of covering less material or decreasing the level of difficulty; or should they persist in covering what they feel is dictated by the topic of the course, at perhaps the cost of leaving behind those students who “shouldn’t be in college in the first place.” The UNM Philosophy Department refuses to accept this as a real dilemma. It rejects the suggestion that educational

standards have to be compromised in order to serve the needs of all students. Its faculty continually seek ways to present complex and difficult philosophical concepts through the reading and analysis of original sources that can be mastered by all students willing to

4 _{Compared to 21-26 for the University of Arizona and 23-28 for the University of}

learn, while at the same time providing as many supports as possible for students who need help, especially in its core courses.

At the same time, the Department has recently come to recognize that students would benefit from an improved sequencing of philosophy courses, both at the

undergraduate and graduate levels, and therefore has undertaken an extensive revision of its offerings listed in the UNM Catalogue. It began its review of Catalogue courses in fall of 2007, completing it finally at its fall retreat in August, 2008. The changes will be submitted to the Office of the Registrar in November, 2008, with the hope that they will be approved by the appropriate University committees by the end of Spring term, 2009. We envision these revisions serving five purposes.

(1) They will provide a more rational sequencing and grouping of our undergraduate offerings, which will enable students (and advisors) to understand more easily which philosophy course is appropriate for a student at a certain stage.

(2) They will introduce more appropriate prerequisites for our undergraduate courses, thereby ensuring that undergraduates have the right preparation for a given course. (3) They will “decouple” 300-level courses from 500-level courses, thereby reducing the pedagogical challenges of 300-level courses by ensuring that the students taking them have approximately the same level of preparation.

(4) At the advanced undergraduate level 400-level courses will still be coupled with 500- level (graduate) courses, or else they will be starred (i.e., they may be taken for graduate credit with the instructor’s permission). However, in accordance with a new policy of the Faculty Senate Graduate committee, 400-500 level courses will include only

undergraduates who are classified as seniors. This will make these courses more effective as graduate courses. Meanwhile, it will be departmental policy to allow graduate students to take 400* courses only when essential to their programs of study.

(5) A sequence of seminars at the 600 level exclusively for Ph.D. students specializing in Indian philosophy has been introduced. (This in effect formalizes the tutorials in Sanskrit texts that have been conducted by Profs. Hayes and Taber the past five years. See below.)

A draft of the proposed catalogue changes is to be found in Appendix II.5.

The “Student Success” Program

In Fall 2005 the Philosophy Department was awarded a “Success TA-ship” to enhance student learning in University core courses. It was up to the Department’s discretion to devise an effective way of employing the Success TA. After experimenting with supplemental instruction sessions for Phil. 101 outside regular class times, which were poorly attended, the Department decided to introduce discussion sections held every other week during regular class periods in one supersection of 101 each semester. The purpose of the discussion sections was not just to allow students opportunity for freer

discussion of the material covered in the lectures, but also to review for exams and provide assistance in preparing upcoming paper assignments. The students have

responded very favorably to this format, and the Department will continue to employ it in at least one supersection per term, with the consent of the instructor. An increase of a ½ TA-ship in Fall 2007 has made it possible now to split the class into two sections on “discussion Fridays.” The full-time Success TA has been an entering Ph.D. student assigned to this position for the full year (instead of moving into a stand-alone section of Phil. 156 Spring semester, as other first-year TA’s do). The half-time TA, who assists the full-time TA, has been an M.A. student.

In Fall 2008 the Department will attempt to measure the success of its “Success Program” by comparing student outcomes in its success supersection with those of other sections of 101. Student outcomes for Phil. 101 emphasize the development of writing and reading comprehension skills.

Advanced Instruction in Sanskrit

In 2002 the Department made a decision to replace Prof. Sturm (in advance of his retirement) with Richard Hayes, a noted specialist in South Asian Buddhist thought from McGill University (see Sec. I.5) This would allow the Department to develop a focus in Indian philosophy at the graduate level, under the joint direction of Profs. Hayes, Taber, and Bussanich, with the potential to train students to read Sanskrit philosophical texts. Since Fall 2005 the Department has attracted several excellent graduate students (Laura Guerrero, Ethan Mills, John Hartnett [M.A.], Stephen Harris, and Jeremy Martin) with at least two years’ previous study of Sanskrit. In addition to completing their regular Philosophy requirements students specializing in Indian philosophy participate in a tutorial each semester in which they are introduced to the literature of a particular school of Indian philosophy and read representative texts. These tutorials are, with the

implementation of the Catalogue changes discussed above, to be formalized as a

sequence of rotating Ph.D. seminars designed to give Indian philosophy students in-depth knowledge of some of the most important thinkers and systems of classical Indian philosophy as well as to develop proficiency in reading Sanskrit philosophical literature. As students move toward their dissertations they enroll in independent study (Phil. 651) with individual faculty, advancing further in their knowledge of Sanskrit as they read the texts that will be the focus of their dissertations. It is the firm conviction of not only the Indian philosophy faculty but all faculty in the Department that students working in the history of philosophy should be able to access historical materials in their original languages.