Word: kothavala
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With all the demands on science money-phase II, the opening and upkeep of the Center, and the renovation of old teaching labs into research labs, Kothavala notes a definite need to set priorities, and phase II is likely to be near the bottom of the list. Particularly expensive will be the reconversion of present teaching labs in the old science buildings into usable research space, once that lab space becomes available as students move to the new Center...
...Kothavala believes that it will be each department's responsibility to see that undergraduate concentrators are not separated from their professors; this can be done by holding only mostly freshman and sophomore courses in the now Center, courses which cater to nonconcentrators as well as serious science types...
This sort of arrangement would provide nicely for Kothavala's conceptions of what undergraduate science education should be. Rather than assigning to the University the task of creating more scientists, Kothavala thinks a broader goal is in order, one which provides a usable scientific background to students who don't want to be scientists...
...Kothavala points to the facts that numbers of undergraduates concentrating in the sciences (except for biochemistry) have been dropping steadily since 1962 but that at the same time the number of people in science courses is increasing or holding constant. A science center oriented towards undergraduate non-science careerists then would make sense...
...Kothavala tendered his resignation last fall, before the present controversy built up, when he realized that the position of director would be primarily an administrative and budgetary function, not one which would allow for educational innovation. The question of how to use the Center was left to Dean Dunlop, who appointed a Faculty task force to consider the objections to the original plan and recommend a new program for how to use the building...