DESCRIPTION
A Junior Symposium is the equivalent of three linked courses from multiple disciplines. It explores various themes or subjects from several perspectives in greater depth and breadth than is possible in traditional single courses. Each Junior Symposium is team-planned. Its students are guided in focusing on linkages among fields of study. A Symposium creates a small learning community of students and faculty and permits students to experience the synthesis of disciplines.
TIMING
After completing Heritage III and before completing their senior theses, students will enroll in one of the Junior Symposia.
COURSES
Each team-planned Symposium consists of three four-credit courses (which may include J-Term offerings) or their equivalent. The courses may already exist, may be newly created, or may be interdisciplinary. But when taught in a Symposium, they should be coordinated with the others in such ways as their structure, testing, and the preparation of projects. Typically the Symposium will be taught during one academic year. In addition, the Symposium may be composed of any number of courses equaling twelve
credits.
PROPOSAL OF SYMPOSIA
Each faculty-designed Symposium will be proposed by the faculty members who wish to teach it. These proposals must be approved first by the Junior Symposium and Senior Thesis Oversight Committee and then by the Curriculum Planning Committee and the General Faculty. The Oversight Committee will evaluate proposals on the basis of the courses' diversity of perspective and the plan for their integration.
DISTRIBUTION
Each Symposium should include courses from at least two divisions. At least two courses in each Symposium should be at the 200-level or higher. No more than one course in the Symposium may count toward a student's major. A religion course that is part of a Symposium may be used to satisfy the second religion course requirement. Courses in a Symposium may be used to fulfill distribution requirements.
ADMINISTRATION
Junior Symposia will be administered by a standing sub-committee of the Curriculum Planning Committee whose functions will include the following:
a) Evaluation of and response to Symposium proposals. Faculty proposals passed by the subcommittee will be passed on to the CPC and the full faculty. The subcommittee may give final approval to students' self-designed Symposia proposals.
b) Resolution of potential logistical problems: e.g. scheduling,
failed courses, transfer students.
ENROLLMENT LIMITS
Initially 50 of the enrollment limit in each Junior Symposium course should be reserved for Junior Symposium students. After pre-registration these limits should be removed to allow for maximum flexibility and enrollments.
TRANSFER STUDENTS
Students transferring in with fewer than 70 credits will be required to take all three courses in a Junior Symposium. Students transferring 70 to 92 credits will be required to take at least two courses in a Junior Symposium. Students transferring more than 92 credits will be dealt with by the Junior Symposium & Senior Thesis Oversight Committee on an basis. Only one transfer course may be included in any self-designed Junior Symposium. The transferred course must be approved by Carthage faculty in an equivalent department to the one in which the course was originally taken.
COMPLETION FORMS
All students must complete and submit to the registrar a Junior Symposium Completion Form.
FREQUENCY OF COURSE OFFERINGS
Students should be aware that courses in a particular Junior Symposium may not be offered in subsequent years.
HONORS SYMPOSIA
The terms of the Honors Contract for Symposia may be fulfilled in either of two ways:
a) The student maintains a cumulative portfolio throughout all three courses, demonstrating explicitly, persuasively, and imaginatively a clear understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependence of the course materials and/or methodologies.
b) By the completion of the third Symposium course, the student generates a substantial project, demonstrating a clear and sophisticated interdisciplinary understanding of the topic or theme informing the Symposium. The student, in consultation with the Symposium instructors and the director of honors, designs and completes an original plan for linking and integrating the work of all three courses more distinctively and rigorously than the minimum requirements. Whichever option is selected, the primary responsibility for constructing and fulfilling the terms of the Honors contract rests with the student. Ordinarily, students should declare their intention to pursue Honors credit and design their contract at the beginning of the first Symposium course. In exceptional circumstances a student may petition the director of honors and the relevant instructors to designate and design an Honors contract at the beginning of the second course.
SELF-DESIGNED JUNIOR SYMPOSIA
A student may submit a proposal for a self-designed Junior Symposium. Any Junior Symposium that does not include three courses of a faculty-designed Junior Symposium will be classified as self-designed. Self-designed Junior Symposia should aspire to the relevant guidelines for Symposia above, with the following additional stipulations:
a) At least six weeks before beginning the second course in a self-designed Symposium, the student should return an official self-designed Junior Symposium form to the registrar's office. The proposal will then be considered by the Junior Symposium/Senior Thesis Oversight Committee.
b) An application for a self-designed Junior Symposium must include a specific description of an integrative final project. Once completed, this project must be submitted to all three faculty instructors for evaluation by the end of the term in which the coursework is completed.
