Courses scrutinized before approval

While some students spend months poring over the Student Course Guide to craft their ideal schedule, administrators may spend even more time crafting the ideal guide.

"It's a fairly rigorous process because it must meet the standards of Princeton's undergraduate education," Deputy Registrar Robert Bromfield said.

The Committee on the Course of Study decides which classes proposed by professors will enter the curriculum. The Committee is composed of nine faculty members, elected by their fellow faculty, and is chaired by Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel.

"We're looking at issues of course organization, whether the workload of the course is appropriate and that it is appropriate for the target audience," said Peter Quimby, assistant dean of the College and secretary of the Committee on the Course of Study.

Class size represents an important factor in defining this "target audience," and usually appears in course proposals, Bromfield said. Of the 1,102 courses being offered this semester, 1,048 include some limit on class size.

"These range from writing seminars with a limit of 12 to others [with limits] as high as 60 or more," Bromfield said.

More than 50 courses include no size limit, such as the introductory course PSY 101. These classes are often requirements for a concentration, Bromfield said.

Jennifer Edelstein '09, currently enrolled in PSY 101, said "the quality of the class depends on the strength of the lecture when it is so large."

These larger courses are often broken into smaller laboratories or precepts that attempt to facilitate closer interaction with the material. "The labs combine the material we hear about in lecture with practical skills," Edelstein said. "They help with familiarizing these concepts."

When classes fail to meet an expected level of enrollment the courses committee usually designates them as reading courses.

"This option would be referred to if a course meant for 10 students were reduced to say, three, so that these students can still benefit from it," Bromfield said.

CBLI

Since 1997, the University has also offered classes to work with the community in a program titled the Community Based Learning Initiative (CBLI).

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"The focus is on providing students with opportunities for independent research within the community, projects that may benefit the community," said Quimby, who also supervises the CBLI.

Trisha Thorme, the assistant director of CBLI, said students in 25 classes pursue projects ranging from simple term papers to elaborate theses that are tailored to affect the community. "We connect the needs of a community organization with the research that students are doing, community-driven research," Thorme said.

The program includes more than 400 students, collaborates with freshman seminars and the writing program and organizes research in both science and humanities departments.

"Imagine a course on educational policy where students are writing papers on issues like the No Child Left Behind Act and put in contact with educational facilities and public school boards in the area where they can observe its impact," Quimby said.