University Committee on Vision and Values
End of the Year Report to the President 2001

Executive Summary

As the committee began its work in September 2000, it was charged with integrating "values education, critical thinking, character development and civic responsibility throughout the entire academic and co-curricular experience" to ensure that graduates "leave . . . campus having grown intellectually and spiritually, committed to life-long learning, with the felt responsibility for giving, serving, and succeeding within the framework of principled and ethical interaction with others."

To meet this ambitious charge, the committee proposes creating "The Bowling Green Experience"–a set of initiatives that integrate critical thinking about values into the curriculum and co-curricular experiences, afford students rich opportunities for values enactment, build relationships and spaces that facilitate serious discussion of ethical issues, and foster civic engagement. If fully developed, the Bowling Green Experience will provide a powerful unifying theme for education at BGSU, create a unique institutional identity, promote students’ personal and intellectual growth, and develop reflective, civic-minded citizens who are prepared to lead.

The Bowling Green Experience would begin with a week-long, intensive orientation for freshmen the week before classes begin in August. Orientation groups of 25 students led by a faculty member, a student affairs staff member, and a junior or senior would engage in discussions of the core values, the role of values in a university education, and a common reading addressing an important ethical issue. In addition, these groups would engage in community service projects and share and participate in informal, outdoor activities designed to build strong relationships among faculty, staff, and students. This intensive orientation would culminate with a freshman convocation that concluded with students signing a pledge to become familiar with and abide by the University’s academic honesty policies and to consider the social and ethical consequences of their actions as a BGSU student and a citizen. The freshman pledge would be followed by a senior pledge, taken at graduation.

As classes begin, all freshmen would enroll in a general education course focusing on critical thinking about values. These courses would be developed by a variety of departments but share a common set of learning outcomes related to critical thinking about values and application of values. They should be limited to 25 students and be taught by the faculty member who led the students’ orientation group. In addition to introducing students to critical thinking about values, these classes would connect students with a faculty member, help them explore the relationships among their classes, and better understand the nature of general education. To reinforce the work begun in the general education values course, the General Studies Writing courses would address values through readings and writing assignments.

Promoting faculty participation is critical. To do so, course development grants should be made available to faculty who design values education courses and money placed in faculty development accounts for those faculty who lead orientation groups.

In addition to these curricular innovations, we propose a series of Freshman Expectations designed to further connect students with the university. These include enrolling in a first-year experience course or program, participating in a service learning project, joining and participating in a student organization, becoming affiliated with a learning community, introducing themselves to a faculty mentor in the department of their major or prospective major, and completing a "voice project" by getting to know an individual who is different from her/him. Students who fulfill all these expectations might be given a partial tuition rebate that would pay for itself through higher retention.

Carrying the theme of values and civic engagement beyond the first year experience is critical if we are to shape ethically aware graduates. To do this the committee recommends a variety of initiatives. The University should institute Values Week. During this period, the entire campus would focus on an important ethical issue through lectures, discussions in living groups and student organizations, and classes. We should also create a Junior Bridge Experience–a one week program (in January before classes begin, over spring break, or after classes end in May) in which faculty would lead students in an activity with an outdoor and a service component. In addition, students should prepare a developmental (electronic) portfolio featuring reflection on personal values and goals, civic engagement, and leadership, complete a senior capstone experience that incorporates a values component, and have the opportunity to pursue independent research through a UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program).

Coordination of the Bowling Green Experience, should be provided by a vice provost who would provide administrative coordination, ensure cooperation of units in Academic Affairs, and serve as a liaison with Student Affairs. Leadership for the program should be provided by the director of a Center for Values who would report to the vice provost and coordinate the freshman orientation experience, the general education values course, workshops for faculty and staff on values education, Values Week, service learning opportunities, and the Junior Bridge Experience.

In order to begin implementation of its proposals, the Committee recommends that the President appoint a smaller Committee on Values and the Bowling Green Experience. The committee would begin meetings with key administrators in Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Finance and Administration to obtain suggestions that will help refine the plan and build support. Of particular importance is working closely with the Vice President for Finance to discuss the budgetary requirements and implications. The committee would also coordinate forums and focus groups in which UCVV’s proposals could be shared with faculty and staff, create pilots for the general education values course, the intensive orientation, and the Junior Bridge Experience, launch Values Week, and begin the Freshman Expectations Program. These activities would prepare the way for full-scale implementation of the Bowling Green Experience as early as August 2003.