The Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry will offer only three seminars in the upcomming academic year for the first time since its creation in 2000.
This reduction can be attributed to a change in funding, Joe Trimmer, director of the center, said.
"The budget only allows three rather than four," he said. "This year, it was different because we were in-between budgets."
Despite the cut of a seminar, the three planned for next year should be quality, he said.
2006-07 AT THE VBC
The fall semester seminar is "Habitat in 3-D: Learning the Ecosystem Game," and it will be taught by Martha Hunt, assistant professor of landscape architecture. Hunt's seminar will produce a video game aimed toward elementary school students, Trimmer said.
"She's using gaming software strategies to create an educational game about the environment and ecosystems," he said.
The Spring Semester seminars will be "Voice and Vision: Poverty from the Inside Out," led by Eva Zygmunt-Filwalk, assistant professor of elementary education, and "One Small Project: Seeking Relevance in the Lives of Leftover People," instructed by Wes Janz, associate professor of architecture.
Janz said he and his seminar students will look at the people, spaces and materials usually overlooked globally and locally. He hopes his seminar will widen his students' world views, he said.
"It's an opportunity to become aware of different issues around the world," Janz said. "With the crushing population, it's a great opportunity for students to realize their responsibilities in the world."
WHAT IS THE VBC?
Students who participate in the Virginia Ball Center receive 15 credit hours and don't take any other courses during the the semester.
The center offers the participating students a unique opportunity to work outside of their majors, Trimmer said.
"Each seminar has to be interdisciplinary in two ways," Trimmer said. "The subject is interdisciplinary, and the students involved are from different disciplines."
Trimmer said students who participate in the seminars learn more because they're working toward a bigger goal than a simple grade. Each seminar produces a final product and presents it in a public setting, which is a rewarding endpoint, he said.
Janz said students' primary benefit from the seminar is the challenge of thinking outside their disciplines.
"The opportunity in the interdisciplinary setting is to have your discipline challenged and to challenge others as well," he said.
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