SD College of the Atlantic 1975-1976 Much as we would like to, we can no longer prepare students for life in "tomorrow's world". We can barely conceive of tomorrow's world. With the increasing pace of social and technological change, we can hope only to prepare students to recognize the nature of change and to acquire the skills and attitudes which will enable them to deal coura- geously and responsibly with the problems associated with change. An examination of ecological problems - the interrelationship of man and environment - has been chosen as the core of the curriculum not only because of the urgency of these problems (which makes them "relevant" in the narrow sense), but because their very complexities pro- vide the means for developing habits of thought, action and feeling necessary for coping with a changing world. Problems in human ecology require perspectives difficult to acquire within the confines of traditional academic and professional specialization. Parts need to be continually related to wholes. Analysis and synthesis be- come alternating emphases in a single continuing learning experience. The aim of this kind of education is not the acquisition of a particular body of knowledge by itself, but - as Alfred North Whitehead expressed it - "the acquisition of the art of utilization of knowledge." 1 Profile A brief view: The college, in its fourth year of classes, was char- tered in 1969, and opened in 1972. The selected student body has approximately 90 men and women with 75 on campus. The faculty has 8 full-time, 7 half-time and 5 part- time members. The library numbers 9,000 new volumes plus over 100 periodicals. Classrooms, laboratories, workshops and offices occupy a 20-acre shoreline estate, bordering Acadia National Park. The innovative curriculum stresses problem- oriented, interdisciplinary programs and courses. Students, faculty, and administration share in col- lege government. A College of Human Ecology stresses the ideas of community, personal responsibility, and social respon- siveness in the pursuit of academic goals and hu- manistic ideals. Programs are offered in: Social and Environmental Design and Planning, Human Perspectives, and En- vironmental Sciences. The college is a candidate for accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and Col- leges. The college's mailing address is: College of the Atlantic Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 Telephone: 207/288-5015 2 3 Introduction a broad range of issues, The other is the world of We invite you to share most of which are shared social institutions and arti- this view of College of with the world-wide en- facts he builds for himself, the Atlantic in its fourth vironmental movement. using his tools and en- year of operation, a view The opening statement in gines, his science and his of a slice of time in what "Only One Earth", a report dreams to fashion an we expect will be a con- commissioned by the environment obedient to tinuing process of change Secretary-General of the human purpose and and development. United Nation's Confer- direction. The college offers a lib- ence on the Human En- eral education which is vironment, and CO- Through the study of broadly based but is authored by Barbara Human Ecology, the inter- focussed on a central Ward and former college relationship and interde- theme, the study of Hu- trustee and Nobel Prize pendence of man and his man Ecology. The innova- winner Rene Dubos, sum- environment, we aim to tive curriculum is com- marizes these most prepare students to deal posed of both theoretical clearly. with these problems. Our studies and consideration curriculum (the total of relevant problems. Our "Man inhabits two range of courses, events aims are idealistic and worlds. One is the natural and activities organized contemplative but we world of plants and ani- by the college) is fo- consider the practical mals, of soils and airs and cussed on this task. This concerns of the world waters which preceded brochure is designed to around us. him by billions of years introduce you to our We are concerned with and of which he is a part. efforts. 4 Location ists on the island's natural Mount Desert Island is a resources, economy, and uniquely beautiful combi- collective psyche offers nation of forests, lakes, opportunity for study mountains, and ocean, (both theoretical and about 250 miles "down- practical) in economics, east" from Boston. Con- law, political decision- nected to the mainland making, psychology, biol- by a small bridge, the is- ogy and gesthetics. land has approximately 80 miles of coastline and an area of 150 square miles. Portions of the is- land remain undevel- oped; approximately one-third is permanently protected by Acadia Na- tional Park. During the period from October to June, the is- land is uncrowded and quiet. The year-round population of about 8,000 is largely concen- trated in four towns. In the summer, the residential population doubles, and more than two million visitors flock to Bar Harbor to visit the park. The is- land's economy is domi- nated in the summer by the tourist trade and in the winter by boat-build- ing, fishing, lobstering, and the nation's largest cen- ter for the study of mam- malian genetics, the Jackson Laboratory. With its glacial lakes, climax forests, scars of the 1947 fire, mountains, and the ever-changing interface between land and sea, the island is an outdoor laboratory of vast scope and re- sources. The impact of more than 2 million tour- 5