Upperclassmen are receiving more attention this year as Karen Krahulik, an associate dean who formerly oversaw academic dishonesty, now serves as associate dean for upperclass studies. The role has never before existed in the Office of the Dean of the College.
According to Krahulik, the position was created in May as a result of the "fresh eyes" brought to the office by Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. Krahulik said Bergeron observed a lack of centralized resources for juniors, seniors and the departments and faculty who work with them. The idea behind Krahulik's role was "to bring all related issues from junior and senior year under the rubric of one position," Krahulik said.
Many of the areas Krahulik now oversees were previously scattered throughout the Dean of the College's Office, which made resources less accessible to upperclassmen. She now runs the independent concentration program, aiding students with proposals, assisting with advising and making sure students are meeting requirements. She also works in a similar way with students in dual-degree or five-year programs.
Krahulik's responsibilities include working with Department Undergraduate Groups to help them secure substantial funding and spend it appropriately. She aids concentration advisers, but said her job is to "enhance" what they already do, not alter their jobs. Krahulik is also now the point person for bringing information to curriculum review groups, which simplifies a formerly convoluted process that involved various offices.
Krahulik and Bergeron are working on improving the senior capstone project, and encouraging more students to complete one. Bergeron sees these projects as important because they are "an acknowledgement of what you have created with the open curriculum," Bergeron said. She said the "curriculum values independent thinking and independent work," and added that administrators need to "think about how that kind of work could shape senior year."
Over the summer, a letter was sent to all rising seniors urging them to consider doing a capstone project. Krahulik said she felt the letter was a starting point in discovering "how we can communicate with students about available options." Both deans said students were unaware of the variety of projects available to them. The letter was a way of "articulating that this is a possibility," Krahulik added.
Capstone projects encourage students to think about options other than the traditional honors thesis, Bergeron said. A capstone can be anything so long as there is an "intellectual or dialogical component."
In order to define the capstone project, Krahulik's office must first determine "what people are already doing," she said. Her goal is to help students and faculty "get clarity on what kinds of final projects do qualify," she added. She wants to encourage students to "be creative" and think about "what pertains to (their) academic interests," she said.
Krahulik wants to make it feasible for students to do a capstone project, since junior year can be a pivotal decision-making time. In the future, the letter encouraging capstone projects will also be sent to incoming juniors as Krahulik begins to think about "how to best time initiatives in order to inspire" students, she said.
By the time senior Jay Levin '08 received such a letter, it was too late to begin a capstone project. "I had already made up my mind that I wasn't doing a thesis or anything," he said.
Krahulik said that as with any new position, this year is a "work in progress" and she is seeking feedback, particularly from upperclassmen.
