by Ross Cooper

I’m pretty familiar with you as the head of our division, and I know that you’re involved with the students with your teaching.  What else are you involved with on campus?  What does your day look like?

“Those two things pretty much encompass everything.  I do teach.  I’m a member of the Chemistry faculty and have been since 1983.  I’ve been teaching non-stop since I became Dean.  I teach General Chemistry every Fall.  Sometimes in the past, I have taught in the Spring, but it’s a little easier on my schedule to teach in the Fall.  And then this year for the first time, I am co-teaching a freshman writing intensive seminar to thirteen freshmen.  Part of the Program in Writing Communication, one of the requirements is every new student has to take a first-year writing intensive seminar.  It’s a requirement for graduation.  They can’t -not- take it.  And there are lots of opportunities.  There are eighty sections offered, and we’re offering one of them this semester.”

What inspired your involvement in the writing intensive seminar?

“When I became Dean, one of my highest priorities was to have a freshmen seminar program.  I felt like our students needed to have that intense academic experience in their very first year.  They needed to learn how to take ownership of their own learning, which you do in a seminar program, because you know that you have to make a contribution in class, you need to add to the body of knowledge in class, you need to learn from other people in the class.  You’re not just a passive recipient of knowledge, and seminars do that by their structure.

“A lot of us felt like that experience needed to happen as early as possible in a student’s career, preferably their first year here.  At the same time, the faculty were interested in creating a communications program–writing, oral and visual–to strengthen our student’s ability to communicate in all forms, both during their time at Rice and then of course as a skill that they would take after they graduate.

“During courses of discussion, these two ideas fused together.  The students are all taking a writing intensive course that is a seminar, but they are topically based seminars.  So it could be whatever the professor wants to talk about.  The faculty really led the way, but since I was part of the imagining of what we might do, I’ve been interested since then in trying my hand at it.  Since I imagined this program existing, now that it does exit, I wanted to find out if we’d actually pulled it off by being a part of it.  We’d been thinking about it for a while, and finally decided this was the year to go ahead and do so.

“My team teacher, my co-teacher, is my wife, Paula.  What’s interesting is we have a chemist and a journalist/lawyer/high school teacher fused together along with a graduate student in religious studies teaching this course collectively together.  What is it that draws us all together?  It is critical thinking, that we’re teaching a course in critical thinking.  We think that that’s one of those fundamental things that every student could benefit from and we’re focusing this specific course on this topic.”

What’s it like to work with your wife?

“Fantastic.  She and I had the wonderful experience of being college masters together for twelve years.  And that’s a very cooperative, joint-working relationship.  We tag-team, we back each other up, we brainstorm, we bounce ideas off each other.  We commiserate in bad times and celebrate in good times.  It’s a phenomenal, invigorating experience to get to do that with the person you’re closest to in your life.  We knew that we wanted to do this together.  And it has paid off in wonderful ways, hopefully for our students, but certainly for us, because it has provided that same kind of invigoration.  We spend our weekends and our dinners talking about ideas for things that we can do in class and lesson plans that we would like to introduce, and questions we would like our students to explore, and assignments we would like to give to our students.  So that’s been fantastic.  The different perspectives we can bring to this is also really important.

“Paula was a high school teacher for five years, and the main course she taught in high school was a critical thinking seminar.  So in part what we have done is to take the fundamental elements of what she was teaching there and really try to pare it down, because a high school course lasts a whole year.  A high school year is thirty six weeks.  A college semester is fourteen, so we really had to contract the information down and pick and choose the topics that we were going to hit on here.”

How did you and your wife meet?

“We actually met for the first time in high school.  We fell in love in college.  We were both at the University of Texas together.  She graduated a year before I did, and we got married right after I graduated, so we’ve been married thirty seven years now.”

Congratulations.

“Yeah!  Thanks.”

I’ve heard a lot about your grandson already, and I also heard mention of a granddaughter?

“Granddaughter just born [February 20]!  Our grandson is now three.  He’s Parker Emmett.  Our granddaughter is Corinne Jane.”

Are they all here in Houston?

“No, they live in Tacoma, Washington, so they’re a long way away, which is frustrating.  On the day that Corinne was going to be born, I would have loved to just drop everything and get out there, but it takes almost a day to get to Tacoma.  If they had been in Austin or San Antonio, I would have just gotten in a car and left, but going to Tacoma takes a day to get out there and a day to get back.”

I’m assuming you do phone calls, Skype video and things like that?

“We do a lot of FaceTime with our iPhones.  It’s very convenient.  We e-mail back and forth, we use photo stream to share pictures with each other, so we stay in really close communication, but there’s nothing like being there in person, so it’s very frustrating to not be there all the time.  We’re a very, very close family, but being physically distant is challenging.”

I wanted to ask you a bit about Houston, because it seems like you’ve been a resident here for a long time.

“Thirty-two years, yeah.”

What are some of your favorite things to do around the city and what things do you think separate it from places you’ve been?

“First and foremost I’ll say that what we really love about the city is that it’s been a great place to raise our children.  The weather most of the year is such that you can be outdoors.  We played softball with both of our girls, we go to the swimming pool, we take long bike rides, we spend a lot of time outdoors together.  I always felt like that was one of the great strengths of the city is that it’s a wonderful open environment where you can be outdoors with your kids doing physical activities and we did a lot of that.

“That’s changed, obviously, with the kids not here so we don’t get to do quite so many of those things, but Paula and I make a very deliberate effort to get out on our bicycles every weekend and go for pretty long bike rides.  We like to ride along Hermann Park, along Brays Bayou.  Our favorite place in Houston now is the new Buffalo Bayou Park.  It extends from the north side of downtown west to Shepherd.  We were out there a couple weeks ago there was a Fun Run going on.  It was like a rock-and-roll fun run or something.  They had live bands all up and down Allen Parkway.  We’re riding our bikes along and there are all these live performance bands.  It was fantastic, just fantastic.  I think Houston really does have a vibrant outdoor scene.  That is probably our favorite thing.”

What about cuisine?  Any favorite restaurants you’d recommend?

“You name it!  Our home restaurant, the one that we go to for comfort, good food, memories and so forth is a place called Spanish Village.  It’s like walking into Cheers.  Everybody knows your name when you walk in.  The owner there, John Medina, is a fabulous person who watches out for his customers.  I walk in and he says, “Welcome home.”  The food is terrific.  The margaritas are without question the best in the world.  And it’s just a very comfortable environment, a very authentic kind of place.  I think the family has owned the business for sixty-five years now or something like that.  It’s pretty close to campus, over on Almeda near Southmore.

“For Asian food, our favorite is Kam’s, which is on Montrose just north of the freeway.  Again, very close to campus so it’s easy for people to get to.  Great lunch specials.  Always, always high-quality food.

“Number one favorite–I’m surprised I didn’t start with this–is Gatlin’s barbecue.  Greg Gatlin is a Rice alum, from class of ’02.  He opened this restaurant I guess five years ago, and he’s now incredibly famous.  USA Today did an article on Houston within the last two or three days, and Greg and his restaurant are featured in this article about Houston.  There’s a photograph in Intercontinental Airport of like seven of the best chefs in Houston, and Greg is one of them.  It’s unbelievably good.  Gatlin’s is fantastic.”

Someone had mentioned to me that you’d taken up playing guitar/practicing guitar?  How’s that going?

“Actually, I’ve been playing guitar since I’d been a freshman in college.  I’m not good. *laughs*  I’m limited in what I can do.  I mostly play folk songs.  My favorite songwriter is Townes van Zandt.  Townes was out of Austin.  Principally, we used to listen to him play all the time when my wife and I were students at Texas.  And almost all the first songs I learned how to play were Townes van Zandt songs.  I play some Lyle Lovett.  I play some Bob Dylan, a little bit of Bruce Springsteen–the stuff that I can manage.”

Any possibility of you breaking out the guitar at the next DoU event?

“There are platforms and occasions.  I have performed publicly on campus at talent show nights.  When we were at Wiess, they used to have a Coffeehouse night every semester, and I would perform or my wife and I would perform together.  One time my daughter and I performed together.  One time Dr. Bill and I performed together.  Actually probably more than once with Dr. Bill.  Recently, there was a talent show with Brown.  They asked me to play, and I played there.  Like I said, I’m not good, but I really enjoy it.  It’s a lot of fun, and I think people enjoy just having the experience of me singing something.

Students on campus and student initiatives on campus: do you have your eyes on anyone or any particular thing that’s happening right now?  Things that you’re looking out for?

“Yeah!  The things that I’m most excited about are mostly initiatives that are taking place collaboratively between the students and people in my division.  There’s a lot of activity out there of student initiatives through the colleges or through the Center for Civic Leadership.  Almost everybody in my organization is involved in programming for students.

“The interesting thing about what we do in our division is we provide experiences which reinforce and complement the work that they’re doing in their classes.  We provide an experiential component as well as a classroom component that complements the rest of their program.  I think what’s really exciting is that the students’ Rice Education of the Future initiative and the President’s Initiative for Students are pushing us, pushing the university, in the direction of more experiential learning as a major, maybe even dominant, component of what Rice students will do when they come here.

“The president’s been speaking about this:  that twenty or thirty years ago, people came to college to take classes.  We now have asked our students the question, “What is the reason why you come here?” and although classes are still very high on the list, there are all these other experiences that they would like to gain, whether it is getting involved in design work, or helping to create policy, or engaging the community, doing laboratory research, doing creative works in design.  Any of these kinds of activities are things that our students are telling us are the greatest impact on their lives, and what’s fun is that points directly at all of us in this division, because that’s what we do.  Those are the experiences that we provide to our students.

“So it’s interesting to see that, I think in many regards, the people in our division have been thrust into leadership roles in devising, creating, and implementing programs to significantly enhance our students’ experiences here.  So it’s a really exciting time, I think, to be in this division.  The Center for Civic Leadership–it sounds a little redundant–but they took a real leadership role in this by structuring themselves to be able to offer this new Certificate in Civic Leadership.  It might be a little bit of a stretch, but I think it’s accurate to say it’s the first academic credential at Rice which has a combined curricular/co-curricular set of requirements.  It’s experiential and classroom and the two very carefully woven together.  That’s huge.  This represents a real innovation in what we provide to our students here.  Our students have been a driving force in this because they have let us know that these are the kinds of things that they think are important to them, and we agree.”

Hey, the blog is back! The start of the new year seemed the right time for a fresh start. And fresh starts is the theme of this post.

I often hear good ideas for new programs or facilities at Rice posed as negative questions: “Why doesn’t Rice have (fill in your favorite wish)?” Most of these wishes are great ideas, but creating new programs or facilities is not easy. In addition to financial constraints, staff constraints, and time constraints, it is not easy to find a consensus on what we should do or how we should do it.

The start of this semester breaks that mold. Today, Rice’s new Program in Writing and Communication kicks off with the first days of the First Year Writing Intensive Seminar (FWIS) classes, a massive new program and curriculum to address the needs of all new students.  I’ve not seen a curricular innovation this exciting in all of my three decades at Rice.  In addition, the beautiful Center for Written, Visual and Oral Communication will open in Fondren Library to provide consultation, feedback and advice to any and all students who request it. These two new programs represent the collective good ideas of faculty, staff, administration and students coming together. Many, many people have helped to make this happen, but I would like to single out for praise three people in particular: Dr. Matt Taylor, Associate Dean and Associate Vice Provost, who is the Interim Director of the new program; Professor Terry Doody, who is the faculty director of the program; and Professor Helena Michie, who chaired the faculty’s working group to propose a new program and who now chairs the Faculty Advisory Board for the program. Their work has been amazing. Stop these people on the street and give them a thank you!

One of the coming changes at Rice will be felt in my own General Chemistry class. A number of faculty have, in the past year, been experimenting with new teaching approaches based on the concept of “active learning.” These include “problem based learning” used in Bioeneginnering, amongst others, as well as the new “Student Centered Active Learning at Rice (SCALAR)” approach which has been used in Biosciences and Sociology, amongst others. Tomorrow, my colleagues and I will extend the experiment into Chem 121, although will continuing the experiment in Chem 123. Our goal is to make it not just possible but expected that every student in the class will actively participate every day.  I’m excited about the experiment, hopeful that our students will be both patient and energetic, and eager to learn.  If we and other faculty are successful in developing these new approaches, it may transform the experiences of being a Rice student.

There are a few more big ideas about to come to reality, but those will wait for another blog post.

See you around campus!

I had a great time this evening attending the Scholar Athlete Reception, at which the students with the highest GPAs in each sport were recognized along with all students in all sports with high GPAs.  Each of these accomplished students spoke appreciatively about their time at Rice and graciously recognized their favorite professors and mentors. One student told of how typical it is of Rice that her coach always congratulated her on her excellent grades. And another student similarly told of how her professors would take the time to ask how her competitions were going.  These students truly exemplify how Rice students so often exceed even our highest aspirations for them.

Professor Rob Griffin, Master of Hanszen College and Faculty Athletic Representative, spoke movingly about how his children have been embraced and supported by some of the athletes recognized during the ceremony. He said that his hope for his children is not just that they become excellent students and excellent athletes but that they become Rice student athletes. It is a great aspiration! The event was a great chance to remember how fortunate I am (and we all are) to be at Rice in the company of outstanding students and dedicated faculty teachers.

On Monday, I had my last two meetings at lunch and in the evening with the 2011-2012 SA and college presidents.  I will very much miss working with each and every one of them, individually and as a group.  Their accomplishments this year have made what I predict will be a lasting impact on Rice student life and academics.

More generally, their work is a reminder of how important effective student leadership is to our university community.  Many of the aspects of Rice that students, faculty and staff appreciate most and take for granted are only possible because of the hard work of student leaders.  These students are willing to give their time and energy, to have and to share a vision of how things might be improved at Rice, and to display the courage to face the criticism of those who do not share that vision.

So, the next time you see one of these student presidents be sure to thank them for what they have contributed to Rice and to you.  And for those of you who will remain students at Rice next year, consider the ways in which you can serve in a leadership role to help move Rice into the future or the ways in which you can support those who do.

One of my favorite parts of my life at Rice is working with high school chemistry teachers. For several years now, my colleague Carolyn Nichol and I have offered a graduate course for these teachers in what is called “content pedagogy,” meaning that we talk about successful strategies for teaching Chemistry. This is something I’ve studied and experimented with since 1985.

What I enjoy most is the enthusiasm of the teachers for the material. All of them love Chemistry and love teaching but have experienced the frustration of their students not understanding Chemistry concepts.  So they are looking for new ideas and better ways.  The dedication of these teachers is amazing: all of them commit to a 3 hour class each week on a Thursday evening after a long day of teaching, and some of them drive more than an hour each way from their schools to Rice. The contrast is stark between the reality of these teachers and the fictitious political attack on teachers as the problem with American education. These teachers deserve our support, encouragement, resources, and gratitude.

One of my interesting tasks for this week is reading several books recommended to me by the committee for this Fall’s Common Reading. The committee, chaired by Matt Taylor and Shelah Crear and composed of students and faculty, has identified several excellent books from which I must choose carefully. The challenge is to find a book that is of sufficient general interest to warrant having every new student read it and of sufficient academic merit to be the first assigned reading for these new students. To provide the foundation for a campus wide discussion, I asked the committee to recommend books which disrupt our ways of thinking.

Reading the books this year made me reflect on last year’s selection, “The Honor Code” by Anthony Appiah. I was personally very pleased with that choice, as I thought that Appiah’s book met all of these criteria. In particular, Appiah’s thesis that honor can be used to spark moral revolution was a challenge that I believed the campus needs to consider as we think and learn about the problems of our world. I loved Appiah’s profound reflection on the histories of dishonorable behavior, asking “what were they thinking?” I hoped that all of us would be challenged to look at our world, both locally and globally, and ask what our current practices might be that future generations will look back at us and ask what were we thinking?

Of course, a book can’t disrupt our thinking if it isn’t read. Although I heard reports of excellent discussions of the book during O-week, attendance at Appiah’s lecture was disappointing and I wondered how many students had read the book fully. Was the book too academic? Too challenging? Too ponderous? Too boring? Or was it as good a selection as I had hoped?

This year, the committee has sent me several excellent options, a couple of which I have found so interesting as to be difficult to put down. I’m curious about the thoughts of others about what would make a good Common Reading text.

On Friday, I had two fun meetings with leaders of two of Rice’s most revered traditions. In the afternoon, I met with the Beer-Bike coordinators, Teddy Grodek and Phillip Tarpley, to hear their plans for this year’s big day. I’m impressed by their understanding of the complexities of the event and by their vision of the future of Beer-Bike. In the evening, I had the pleasure of joining our student director of O-week, Katherine McConachie, and the newly selected O-week coordinators at Lyle’s for the start of their workshop. They are a wonderful group, energetic and creative.

In both cases, I was reminded of a significant challenge our student leaders face. Innovation is exciting and change brings constant improvement, but traditions are strong and everyone resists change in tradition. College campuses are particularly resistant to change. I think it is vitally important that we support our students who are willing to see possibilities for improvement, whether in greater safety, more inclusive participation, or more fun. Some changes occur by accident, others by necessity. But the best changes come from a vision of what might be and a willingness to face the inevitable resistance. I applaud their ingenuity and their courage.

As a personal note, Paula and I are writing this blog at 40,000 ft while flying to Tacoma to meet our new grandson, Parker, for the first time! I’ll post a picture on the Dean Hutch facebook page when we get there.

I spent most of the day on Saturday, a clear, blue sky 65 degree January day, on campus attending athletic events: first, Rice’s first ever Quidditch tournament with guest teams from Baylor, LSU and Texas A&M; second, men’s club lacrosse versus UTSA; third, women’s club ultimate versus Texas; and finally, men’s basketball versus Tulane. On other fields, I saw intramural soccer and intramural ultimate. It was one of those days when I am reminded how great it is to be in Houston in January and how privileged we all are to be at Rice. Paula and I took a bike ride through campus on Sunday, visiting with students and enjoying the peace of the day.

What is the point of these observations? Simply this: Rice is a great place to learn, to work and to live, and it is all the greater when the time is spent in the company of each other. Get outside and enjoy the weather and the beauty of the campus!

This is my first effort at a blog post, so I hope you will be patient as I learn how to use new media.

I was fortunate to participate in a discussion last Friday on the future of teaching at Rice. The meeting “Rice 2032” was organized and hosted jointly by the Faculty Senate and President Leebron. We discussed the ways in which teaching at Rice may evolve as technology continues to develop and continues to change the ways in which we interact with each other and with information. I was asked to speak during the opening presentations and then joined a conversation with other members of the Rice community.

Since we cannot possibly predict even in rough terms what technology will provide in twenty years, my view is that we must focus on the educational principles we know have always been true and will still be true. Technology, whatever form it may take, must support the implementation of these principles.  There are two principles on which I focused in my presentation.

First, the most effective form of instruction is a mentored apprenticeship, in which students learn by constructing knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert. Although a one-on-one relationship between teacher and student is of course the best, we can mimic the mentored apprenticeship with “active learning” approaches. These include classroom discussion, problem based learning, design classes, and the new “SCALE-UP” approach being piloted in several classes this year.

Second, Rice students are the greatest educational resources available for each other. “Peer-based” instruction and learning provides the best environment for students to learn and to teach.

In combination, the two approaches of active learning and peer-based instruction offer the most promising vision of how teaching will evolve at Rice. Technology cannot and should not attempt to replace these, but it can liberate us to think about how we build our programs, our classrooms and our curricula now and for decades to come.

Rice 2032 was a great conversation about teaching and learning at Rice. I hope that everyone on campus will join this continuing conversation as it develops.