Team teaching and multi-disciplinary instruction and scholarship will be utilized more. The subject matter before us is increasing in complexity. Only through a blending of the expertise of our disciplines will we truly be in a position to present an understanding of many of the complex subjects before us. The philosopher David Hume has suggested, for example, that scientists will only be able to make the sublime jumps in thought needed to see answers to some of the complex questions before them if they are trained not only in the way scientists approach their study but also in the way humanists think. Science is not technology, it is not gadgetry, it is not some mysterious cult, it is not a great mechanical monster.
Science is an adventure of the human spirit.
It is essentially an artistic enterprise, stimulated largely by curiosity,served largely by disciplined imagination, and based largely on faith in the reasonableness, order, and beauty of the universe of which man is a part. A multidisciplinary team approach to our teaching and scholarship will provide an excitement, insight, feeling, and beauty to our teaching that the disciplines alone cannot fulfill. Both faculty and staff will be there to tutor and mentor, to provide advice and advising, and will be recognized and rewarded for that role. Using a view espoused by my mentor President Hoke Smith, who is with us as a delegate, we will provide a learning environment that encourages students to draw on the resources of the campus in order to facilitate their success. And, we will make those resources accessible and desirable.