that the world at large needs more and better scientific minds to address the urgent problems we face, and he adds, “All of academic life benefits from a healthy balance among the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and arts.” One-third of Skidmore students now major in a science, a 50% jump over the decade, and much of the growth has been in interdisciplinary fields. The environmental studies and neuroscience programs together boast more than 100 majors, even though these interdisciplinary programs are barely a decade old.
The Lubin Family Professorship for Women in Science continues to bring in top-flight young scholars, and the new Williamson Chair in Neuroscience bolsters that disci- pline. Articulation agreements with engineering schools and a recent compact with NYU’s nursing school is facilitating a range of graduate training for science students. The number of Skidmore students applying to med schools and other graduate health pro- grams has tripled, and their acceptance rates remain far higher than the national average.
As research becomes a centerpiece of science teaching, Skidmore’s 90 science faculty are winning more grant funding for their research— up from $2 million in 2005 to $9 million today. Faculty- mentored summer research, which entails a 40-hour-a-week immersion in lab, studio, library, or other academic work with a faculty partner, has grown from an average of 20 stu- dents to nearly 100 in recent years.
A state-of-the-art science center With interest in science on fire at Skidmore, the College’s science facilities are “bursting at the seams,” says chemistry professor Kim Frederick. Harder Hall, Dana Science Center, the Tisch Learning Center, and Williamson Sports Center labs were all built for older, smaller-scale work. Meanwhile, “Skidmore’s interdisciplinarity is deep and meaningful to students. They don’t just study science and another discipline; they bring their different passions to- gether and collaborate in really fascinating ways,” says
“A LIBERAL EDUCATION,” BY PHIL GLOTZBACH’S DEFINITION, “IS AN INVESTMENT IN THE FULL SCOPE OF ONE’S LIFE.”
Karen Kellogg, environmental scientist and associate dean of the faculty for infrastructure, sustainability, and civic en- gagement. After more than a decade of faculty discussion and task forces, she and Frederick are helping translate the resulting vision for the sciences into the plans for an inno- vative, interdisciplinary science building, now being vetted by architects, faculty, administrators, and trustees. “We want strong core sciences, but we want to make sure they’re very permeable,” Kellogg says—after all, adds Frederick, “The easy problems in science have already been solved. The hard ones, the exciting ones, are at the intersections.” The science center will offer independent project spaces, with many rooms flexibly designed to be reshaped or shared. Rather than departmental wings or floors, the lay- out puts people and equipment into user groups, where, for example, all the animal labs or a particular suite of instru- ments can be housed in proximity to the faculty who use them.
The Skidmore community is abuzz over the new facility. In Kellogg’s words, “This is a building for the whole campus. It will enrich all teaching and research by fueling both formal cooperation in
labs and casual conversations in hallways and lounges.” Imagining a business student seeking help building a prod- uct in a science lab, and the collaboration and ingenuity such work can foster, Frederick predicts, “This is going to unleash creativity in ways we cannot even imagine.”
World-savvy graduates
“A liberal education,” by Phil Glotzbach’s definition, “is an investment in the full scope of one’s life.”
And today the full scope is increasingly global. Programs like SEE-Beyond and internships support scores of Skidmore students in apprenticeships, workshops, and international service that complement and enrich their academic pro- grams. The international affairs program has grown from a minor to a major. International connections have also been sharpened by the Committee on Intercultural and Global Understanding, which has awarded presidential discre-
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Town-hall meetings
Campaign ends with $216.5M
Arthur Zankel Music Center opens WINTER 2013 SCOPE 19
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