IV. Senior Program

All students are required to complete the Senior Program in their concentrations as a means of demonstrating an appropriate level of mastery of the content and methods of a discipline. Each department and program of concentration has designed a senior program that serves as an integrating and culminating experience for the concentration. Building on their courses and showing their increasing ability to work independently in terms of both motivation and subject matter, seniors are required to produce a significant synthesis of knowledge by means of one of the following: a research project leading to a written, aural or visual creation; a seminar for concentrators, including a major presentation and research paper by each student; or comprehensive examinations ideally involving both written and aural components.

Students make progress toward meeting these goals by studying broadly across diverse areas of inquiry, guided by their advisors, and investigating a particular area of study more thoroughly by completing a concentration of their choosing. A faculty advisor assigned to each student provides information, advice and dialogue about choice of courses as the student strives to meet these goals. For many faculty members and students, this relationship will be as important as any they form. As the primary intellectual guide, the faculty determines the fundamental structure and the basic requirements of the curriculum in light of the liberal arts tradition and its appropriate adaptation to the contemporary world.

In sum, our mission is to provide an educational experience that emphasizes academic excellence and the development of students as human beings, as we prepare them to make choices and accept the responsibilities of citizenship in a democratic world of intellect and diversity.