1971-1972 Coordinated Studies Programs

The College launched twelve coordinated studies programs in Fall 1971. These were first-year programs in a dual sense: the first year of the college, and with students recruited directly from high school. The College dedicated two faculty members to contracted studies. A significant number of students were admitted with transfer credits; they were distributed in both modes of study and Human Behavior was added specifically to meet the needs of transfer students.

 

Coordinated Studies and Contracted Studies at Evergreen looked significantly different in years two, three, and four when the planners adapted the model, including by embedding modules (a word used rather than “course”) within programs. Today we would all this a 12/4 credit option. Especially in the arts and sciences, coordinated studies adapted to plan for coordinated sequential learning over 2-4 years (that is to say, prerequisites and upper division work).

 

 

  1. Individual in America (152 students, 7 faculty) Willi Unsoeld, Bill Aldridge, Peggy Dickinson, Earle McNeil, Carol Olexa, Pete Sinclair, LeRoi Smith

 

Student interest in Individual in America was so high that a similar program, Individual, Citizen and State, was created to absorb demand. These programs were close cousins of the “great books” learning communities that Cadwallader had created at San Jose State, and that Tussman tried to create at U.C. Berkeley.

 

  1. Man and Art (59 students, 3 faculty) Jose Arguelles, Donald Chan, Cruz Esquivel

 

The mural created in Man and Art is preserved in a central staircase of the Daniel J. Evans Library Building, and to this day offers visitors an example of what kinds of visual art students are capable of producing in coordinated studies, bringing theory into practice and creating work of enduring value to the community.

 

  1. Political Ecology (105 students, 5 faculty) Ed Kormondy, Richard Anderson, David Milne, Oscar Soule, Fred Tabbutt

 

  1. Individual, Citizen and State (106 students, 5 faculty) Dave Hitchens, Betty Estes, David Marr, Paul Marsh, Kirk Thompson

 

  1. Human Development (124 students, 6 faculty) Richard Jones, Nancy Allen, Eric Larson, Chuck Pailthorp, Robert Sluss, Nancy Taylor

 

  1. Causality, Freedom, and Chance (107 students, 5 faculty) Will Humphreys, Linda Kahan, Willie Parson, Gregory Portnoff, Fred Young

 

  1. Communications and Intelligence (76 students, 4 faculty) Robert Barnard, Gordon Beck, Charles Davies, Ralph Sogge

 

  1. Space, Time and Form (97 students, 5 faculty) Byron Youtz, Lee Anderson, Beryl Crowe, Sid White (Donald Heard, also scheduled to teach in the program, died before classes began)

 

  1. Contemporary American Minorities (61 students, 3 faculty) Rudy Martin, Medard Delgado, Darrell Phare

 

The Contemporary American Minorities program demonstrated that great books programs need not be Eurocentric, and can bring theory into practice with transformative community impact. Toward the end of 1971-1972 a community meeting declared that CAM should not be continued in the second year of the college because foregrounding the experiences of people of color and critiquing racism should happen in every program at the college. Faculty and students associated with CAM called for required cultural competence training for all faculty at Evergreen.

 

  1. Human Behavior (114 students, 5 faculty) Llyn Patterson/De Danaan, Richard Alexander, Richard Brian, Theodore Gerstl, Steve Herman

 

  1. Evergreen Environment (30 students, 2 faculty) Al Wiedemann, Peter Taylor

This offering was designated a Group Contract rather than Coordinated Study, a distinction used at the time. This distinction fell into disuse in the early years of the twenty-first century.

 

  1. Environmental Design (78 students, 4 faculty) Larry Eickstaedt, Carolyn Dobbs, Phillip Harding, Charles Nisbet)

 

The students in Environmental Design brought theory into practice with community-connected research that endures to the present day. Among other projects, students designed the site for the Organic Farm, created the Cooper Point Association for community-based land use advocacy, and created a city park design that was approved by the Lacey City Council. According to an interview with Larry Eickstaedt in 1987, Cadwallader objected to Environmental Design as “coordinated studies.” It fell too far from his “great books” approach to liberal education.

 

  1. Contracted Studies (51 students, 2 faculty) Peter Robinson, Jack Webb