Word: hdrb
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Dates: during 2008-2008
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...Faculty Council’s unanimous approval of a concentration in human developmental and regenerative biology (HDRB) is an exciting development, especially at a time when stem cell research promises to revolutionize medicine and dramatically improve the quality of human life. The prospect of this new concentration, however, also raises important questions about the College’s guiding pedagogical principles that the Faculty would be remiss to ignore. As the Faculty decides whether to approve HDRB as a field of concentration—as, to be sure, we hope it will do—it should remain mindful...
...HDRB is without question a crucial area of study, and we welcome the commitment of Harvard’s scientific community to provide undergraduates with an opportunity to work in this field—just as we welcome any initiative that expands educational opportunities available to Harvard students. That said, the adoption of HDRB as an independent field of concentration must be done for the right reasons. At a liberal arts institution, importance alone is not sufficient to meet this threshold. There are several distinct fields of study which do not and should not qualify as independent concentrations, despite their...
Given the centrality and breadth that characterize HDRB, we do not doubt that it should qualify for concentration status. As human knowledge continues to expand and splinter, however, it will become increasingly important for the Faculty to hold fast to its liberal arts principles. Undergraduates at Harvard should specialize in a distinct and central field of study in the tradition of the liberal arts; they are not graduate students, postdocs, or researchers, and their experience should not be treated as such. Even as the face of science transforms, the core pedagogical values that have guided the College for well over...
Anderson hopes the concentration will launch next fall so that current freshmen will be able to declare a concentration in HDRB...
...addition to the vote on the HDRB concentration, yesterday’s Council agenda addressed University President Drew G. Faust’s recent letter to the Harvard community about the state of its finances...