Word: fostering
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...Committee on Degrees in Special Concentrations has been “making Harvard” for a handful of students since its founding in 1971. According to Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education Deborah Foster, a Folklore and Mythology professor who also heads the special concentration program, a special concentration is ideal for students whose “academic interests don’t fall squarely within one discipline.” In the 1980s, the discipline served many students interested in Latin American studies. More recently, in the wake of Clinton-era cumbersome health care proposals, a swath of students...
...This is really the most satisfying place to be,” Foster says of her roughly seven-year tenure as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Special Concentrations. “Inherently, the students who come into my office have to have a special kind of motivation to pursue things at Harvard that they haven’t already been shown...
...times each year and each time rejects a substantial number of students. Rejected applicants often fail to distinguish a unique program of study or to convince the committee they are not just trying to devise a plan that excuses them from tedious introductory coursework in another field. According to Foster, there is no cap to the number of students who will get approval for a special concentration—the most crucial component behind the decision is the presence of a “truly original idea” in the proposal...
...always try to figure out with the student if what they think they want to do can be found in any other department,” Foster says, motioning to a stack of new applications on her clean desk. “I might suggest something they hadn’t even thought of, maybe a joint concentration or an inter-departmental program that would give them a greater degree of flexibility. The crucial thing though is always to hunt for that idea. A special concentration is just not for the student who doesn’t know what they...
...sometimes full departments, granting degrees to hundreds of students— at other universities. Simons says there are music therapy programs at several institutions across the country. And Pejkovic spends roughly 26 hours of each week bent over models and blueprints in an MIT studio. But Foster argues that there is still something unique and valuable in pursuing such areas of study at Harvard...