University of Richmond students trade Friday nights off for voluntary studies, greater intellectual experiences
By Samantha Cutler
April 24, 2009
Friday night activities on college campuses rarely include students dining with a professor to discuss malnutrition and the worldwide issues of health care.
But University of Richmond's new Sophomore Scholars-in-Residence program will encourage just that — offering for credit an informal gathering of students seeking more intellectual stimulation and less blowing off steam.
Rick Mayes, political science professor and SSIR's director, lived in a Richmond dormitory with his family for six years. He observed undergraduates — particularly freshmen — who were put off by parties and drinking and expecting more from college life. Mayes convinced some to get together with him for Friday night dinners, where they discuss issues from his course on global health and human rights.
They all ended up on a medical service-learning trip to remote Peruvian villages over spring break.
"Traveling together, eating together and learning together with students of similar interests forged many close friendships and a strong sense of communal learning," says Mayes, who hopes that students taking SSIR will develop lifelong friendships with each other and deep connections with faculty members through a method of learning that is social, experiential and interactive.
SSIR will give Richmond students the unique experience of living as a unit in one residence hall while taking a specially designed course in the fall semester, then performing team research and presenting results at the university's Undergraduate Research Symposium near the end of the spring.
More than 120 freshmen have applied to take one of the initial four SSIR courses, over one-sixth of the entire class.
Mayes thinks SSIR could address the burnout and cynicism students sometimes develop from uninspired academic work.
"Many students are sick and tired of jumping through academic hoops that have no real connection to the world or to developing a personal calling," maintains Mayes. "Something special happens in the field that you cannot recreate in a classroom. Students want to go back and do more. When you study disease, illness and poverty, it has to come through your senses. In class, you can't smell it or feel it. When you visit, you can. It is a powerful sensory experience."
The 2009-10 courses will deal with civil rights, urban crisis and civic engagement, the impact of the arts, and global health. Each will include field work in such places as Peru, New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, where theoretical lessons will be applied to the tangible.
"Books and lectures should encourage students to get out into the real world and experience things for themselves," says Mayes. "And first-hand experiences should energize students to return to the classroom to compare their findings with experts in the field."