The theme that has been adopted for this year, at the urging of geology instructor Mike Phillips, is the general elections. Some of my students seemed genuinely interested in the project. I didn't just give them candidates like Bush and Gore. I also gave them third party candidates. In addition to instructors integrating the elections into their course work, the Student Government Association is urging students to register to vote, and the college is trying to get various candidates to visit the campus to talk to students.
Voting is an important part of being a United States citizen.
Due to the newness of the program, and since the program is not mandatory, Phillips said it would be hard to estimate how many instructors would participate. He said a theme for next year will be discussed earlier, giving instructors more time to integrate it into their course work. Dr. Harriet Custer, vice president of academic affairs, said the program's ultimate goals are to create a dialogue among students, instructors and administrators, to show students that one issue can span across many disciplines, and to relate their courses into their lives.