Every year 50 or 60 students ask materials science professor John Bravman to write them a letter of recommendation. That's fine, he says, as long as he knows the student well. But often it's someone he barely remembers from a 100-person lecture class. And chances are that student hasn't had a chance to develop a close relationship with any other faculty members, either. "For a student to go through Stanford and leave under those circumstances is bad," Bravman says.
Fewer students will face this problem if an experimental living-learning dormitory succeeds. The pilot program -- dubbed the Freshman/Sophomore College and located in two of the four houses in Sterling Quad -- will open next fall to 180 freshmen and sophomores. Bravman will serve as dean of the college, live in a nearby house, host regular dinners for students and faculty, and coordinate other programs.
The college focuses on underclassmen because many are still figuring out what to study. Firsthand contact with faculty can guide students as they decide on research projects and majors, says Ramón Saldívar, vice provost for undergraduate education and professor of English. "We don't talk [enough] in a personal way about the excitement that motivated our scholarship," he says.
The Freshman/Sophomore College will build on other recent initiatives designed to strengthen undergraduate education, including expanded freshman and sophomore seminars and the popular Sophomore College, a two-week period of intensive study in September, prior to the start of the fall quarter.
Administrators say they don't intend for a living-learning experience to be the model for all Stanford students. But if the Sterling Quad program goes well, look for it to be duplicated elsewhere on campus.
