COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC CATALOGUE 1980-1981 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC CATALOGUE 1980-1981 This catalogue is a product of the combin- ed efforts of numerous students, staff, and faculty members. Merging many per- spectives, we have worked for an honest presentation of this college. No written or graphic work can hope to fully portray the richness of life at College of the Atlantic; this catalogue can only be offered as a point of access. Interested readers are invited to come visit and formulate their own views. ollege of the Atlantic (COA) is an accredited, four-year college awarding the C Bachelor of Arts in Human Ecology. COA is small (170 and growing), independent and located in Maine on a beautiful coastal campus within walking distance of Acadia National Park. The college's curriculum revolves around the study of the relationships between people and their natural and social environments. In 1969 a number of people from different walks of life came together to explore ways of bringing increased intellectual diversity, environmental awareness and economic stability to Mt. Desert Island. In response to an increasing ecological and social consciousness, and to student dissatisfaction with large universities, they decided to start a small college with a curriculum in Human Ecology. The first thirty students arrived in the fall of 1972. Working with the staff and faculty as equals, they set out to develop a new kind of institution and to define a new academic degree. The curriculum quickly evolved to embrace such seemingly diverse studies as carpentry and metaphysics, but was held together by the focus on humans and their environments. The COA curriculum is rooted in concrete problems, not only those of global and local environments but also those of individuals living in a changing and complex society. Courses and workshops approach these subjects, sometime formally, sometimes informally and personally. At the same time, the COA community is a place where problems are encounter- ed and solved in ways that transcend the classroom experience. COA is, itself, an exper- iment in the ecology of human relationships and in the meaning of cooperative living. Students are encouraged to participate in the governance of the college, to interact with the island community, and to live in an ecologically sound manner. Because COA is committed to opening communication among people in differing fields, there are no "departments" to form barriers between disciplines. Team-taught courses attempt to achieve common points of understanding by placing philosophers, anthropol- logists, and biologists in the same classroom. In shaping the college's focus, the sciences have to be humanized and the humanities brought into a practical relevance for our time. An education in human ecology works toward a world view that combines the clarity of the sciences with the compassion of arts and literature. The natural resources of the earth are finite; the human potential has not yet reached its limits. Our goal is to search for viable, balanced alternatives based on a broader under- standing of the earth and the human predicament. This is the creative challenge con- fronting the human ecologist: to re-direct ourselves with understanding and imagina- tion toward an improved quality of life without sacrificing individual integrity or our life- supporting environment. 2 Edward G. Kaelber came to COA to serve as its first president, and this year the college celebrated his tenth year of leadership. He received a B.A. from Harvard and after a year at Harvard Business School moved to upstate New York to start a lumber business. After nine years in New York, Ed's interests turned to the field of education, and he found a job back at Harvard as Assistant and then Associate Dean of the Faculty of the School of Education. At the end of his eleven years at Har- vard he spent a year and one half in Africa as the director of a Nigerian secondary school which he and others from Cambridge had organized in 1962. Arriving back in the States he heard about the plans of some people on Mount Desert Island to start a small college. This venture caught his fancy as he did theirs. While in Maine he has served as a member of the Maine State Board of Education and has been a board member of the Center for Human Genetics in Bar Harbor, The Bigelow Labo- ratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay Harbor, and the Bancroft School in New Jersey. ACADEMIC PROGRAM An education in human ecology brings together disciplines and perspectives which have tra- ditionally been separate. Our academic program is designed to develop an understanding of the human condition in terms of social, biological, and physical interrelationships. We em- phasize acquiring the skills to solve complex practical and philosophical problems with con- fidence and imagination. The organization of the curriculum into three related resource areas is primarily an aid for students and the college in academic planning. Although model programs are available as guides, students are encouraged to design programs suited to their own interests that include work in all three resource areas. Many different forms of study are available at COA. Small and informal courses are the foundation of the curriculum. Student-initiated workshops, independent studies, in ternships, and final projects also provide important learning experiences. COA's small size necessarily limits the breadth of its curriculum. Students who want courses of study not available here are encouraged to make use of our exchange pro- grams with the University of Maine at Orono, Marlboro College, and Huxley College of En- vironmental Studies or to apply as visiting students to colleges appropriate to their inter- ests. This resource-sharing allows us to supplement our curriculum without diluting our pri- mary focus. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS Degree requirements at COA mark the areas of an internship of at least one term in a job related to knowledge and skill defined by our educational focus the student's academic interests or occupational and philosophy as fundamental competencies. goals Although students design programs suited to their a senior project which is a major piece of indepen- interests and styles, they must demonstrate success- dent work reflecting the student's primary field ful completion of the following: of concentration accumulation of 33 COA credits at least one activity in each of the college's three RESIDENCY resource areas Residency, an optional semester program, accom- participation in a problem-focused group study, modates those students who wish to design and usually a workshop or seminar execute their own unique and holistic educational a college building experience such as service on a programs. It allows for flexibility in combining aca- committee, advising, or workshop administration demic courses with other activities into a unified term a Human Ecology Essay relating the student's plan which is evaluated as a whole rather than development as a human ecologist and demonstra- as a collection of distinct and disconnected parts. ting competency in basic writing skills While in residency the student assumes full responsi- bility for planning, setting objectives, clarifying goals, monitoring progress, and evaluating this major and extended program of study. Students admitted to the residency program are generally advanced stu- dents who have demonstrated high levels of self- motivation, discipline, and the ability to work inde- pendently. 4