Current Status Report - September 2011
Text in red denotes new activity since previous status report.

Phase II - Continue to Strengthen Undergraduate Education

Enhancing undergraduate education has been a key priority of the Plan for Academic Enrichment since the plan’s inception.  Significant progress has been made in virtually all areas of the undergraduate experience, from course offerings to advising, financial aid, and co-curricular programs. The fall 2008 report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education provided a roadmap for continued improvement in the three main areas of liberal learning, advising, and teaching. By the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, all fifteen of the Task Force’s major recommendations will have been implemented.

The net addition of approximately 100 new faculty through the Plan has had a significant impact on the quality of undergraduate education by allowing us to introduce a first-year seminar program, increase the number of courses more generally, and provide more opportunities for student-faculty interaction. Moreover, the increase in the number of faculty, combined with the addition of new multidisciplinary programs, has led to greater student involvement in research.

Channeling PAE resources into financial aid has allowed Brown to be “need blind” in its admission decisions, to offer financial assistance to more international students, and to assure all students that they can afford to come to Brown regardless of their family’s financial circumstances. This aid has helped improve both the quality and quantity of the undergraduate applicant pool in recent years and puts Brown in the enviable position of selecting and enrolling an increasingly talented, diverse, and accomplished student body.

The new Phase II objectives below strengthen and expand the goals for undergraduate education established in 2004. These new objectives also provide a level of specificity and relevance based on the extensive review processes undertaken during 2007–08. The current status report is designed to capture activities related to Phase II since our last status report in October 2010.