COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC 1978 CATALOGUE 1979 College of the Atlantic Catalogue for 1978-79 This catalogue is a product of the combined efforts of numerous students, staff, and faculty. Merging many perspectives, 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. INTRODUCTION College of the Atlantic is an accredited, coeducational, four year college awarding the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Human Ecology. COA is small (120 students and growing), independent, and located in a beautiful natural setting on the coast of Maine. The twenty acre shoreline campus lies within walking distance of Acadia National Park. The college's inte- grated curriculum revolves around the study of Human Ecology, which we understand to be the relationships between people and their natural and social environments. College of the Atlantic was conceived in the late 1960s by a group of Mount Desert Island residents. The first students arrived in the fall of 1972. COA immediately became a place where students, staff, and teach- ers worked together as equals to develop a new kind of institution, and to define a new academic discipline, Human Ecology. Its definition grew quickly to embrace studies as diverse as animal behavior and meta- physics, held in touch by their common focus on the problems of human beings and their environments. The curriculum has always begun in concrete problems, not only those of the global and local physical environment, but also the problems of the individual person living in a changing and complex society. Our courses and workshops approach these conditions as subjects for study, some- times formally, sometimes informally and personally. At the same time, the COA community of 150 energetic and committed people is a place where the problems of Human Ecology are encountered and solved in a way that goes beyond the classroom experience. Students are encouraged to direct their own lives in an ecologically sound manner, to participate in the governance of their college, and to develop a real communication with the island community where they live. 3 Introduction In the beginning, the "environmental crisis" appeared to be a situation created by technological change which could be solved by the application of more technology. But during our first year it grew clear that the tradi- tional scientific approach alone could not comprehend its own effects on human and natural relationships. In shaping the perspective of Human Ecology, the sciences had to be humanized and the humanities had to be brought into practical relevance for our time. An education in Human Ecology works towards a world view that combines the clarity of science and the compassion of art and literature. In our first six years we have come to see that action was the natural result of study, that students had to realize their knowledge in the actual environment. The rapid growth of Environmental Design has made a place for people to design their own surroundings with both a sense of beauty and a concern for the limits of natural resources. In the sciences, students work in the field winter and summer; their work takes them out on the ocean and at times to far corners of the continent. In the arts, the new artist-in-residence program ensures that creativity has an equal place with scholarship. Because COA is small there are no "departments" to form conven- tional barriers between the disciplines. We have worked to open com- munication between students and faculty in different fields, trying to achieve common languages and points of understanding. Because Human Ecology transcends specialization, interdisciplinary study becomes a re- ality. Team-taught courses such as Evolution constantly bring philosophers and scientists into the same classroom. 4 Introduction OA is a community which continually seeks to understand itself. It is wn experiment in the ecology of human interrelationships, and in the ning of community. All members of the college can participate in its ernance and growth. The study of Human Ecology has grown and spered as a specific reason for being; and we continue to insist that pretical knowledge must be informed by a real sense of the practical lications which give it meaning. he natural resources of the earth are finite, and some of the problems Human Ecology will always be necessarily ones of preservation. But ause we recognize our interdependence with the world and seek to ore to it a measure of sanity and balance, the principal concern of man Ecology has become a creative one: the challenge to remake selves through understanding. 5 ACADEMIC PROGRAM An education in Human Ecology attempts to bring together disciplines and perspectives which have traditionally 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 confidence and imagination. The organization of the curriculum into four interrelated resource areas is primarily an aid for students and the college in academic planning. Model programs are available as guides for any student wishing to em- phasize a particular curriculum area. These programs incorporate courses in all academic areas and do not represent strict disciplinary divisions. Most students design individualized programs that include work in all four resource areas. Many different kinds of study are available at COA. While courses provide the foundation of the curriculum, student-initiated workshops, independent studies, internships, and final projects also provide impor- tant learning experiences. Classes are small and informal, ten students on an average. COA's small size necessarily limits the breadth of its curriculum. Stu- dents who want courses of study not available here are encouraged to make use of our exchange programs with Marlboro College and Huxley College of Environmental Studies, or to apply as visiting students to a college appropriate to their interests. This kind of resource-sharing allows us to supplement our curriculum without diluting our primary focus.