| Jackson welcomed to general education post 
Photo by Jeff Watts
From left, Mardirosian, Jackson, and Jamie Wyatt, General Education Program Only seven years ago, Patrick Jackson came to AU to teach at the School of International Service. He started making an impact on students across campus by getting involved immediately with the General Education Program and later with the University College. Now he will be formulating the academic experience of all students at AU as the new director of the General Education Program. Welcomed to the post last week at a reception in his honor, Patrick says that his plans include no major overhaul in the program, which, he says, “works quite well—frankly, we get emulated.” He would like, however, to have a series of forums in the fall to focus on “how to do it better, and how to communicate about what we’re doing.” Long interested in interdisciplinary undergraduate education, he plans to focus attention on the pedagogical aspects of general education, and look at what distinguishes general education courses from other courses in material, presentation, and approach. In what he describes as his “first official act,” he also announced last week that the program’s awards for excellence would be known as the Haig Mardirosian General Education Awards. Mardirosian, now dean of academic affairs, was instrumental in developing AU’s General Education Program. —SA |
