Mirror - Vol. 27, No. 13 - December 13, 2001

              BEST&WORST
OF FAIRFIELD 2001
CHECK OUT THE 12 PAGE SPECTACULAR.,
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FAIRFIELD.
Fairfield
December 13,2001 MIRROR University
Volume 27, Number 13
l^£ritiquing evaluations
University reviewing alternatives to paperwork
^
BY LISA ZACCAGNINO
Ifs that time of year again.
Scantron sheets and a number two
pencil are allthatstudentsneedtopraise
the inventiveness ofa rnarketingprofes-sororventtheirfrustration
overthe amount
ofwork in a religion class.
However, a faculty committee is look-ing
at changes thatmight eliminate the paper-work
ofteacher evaluations.The Committee on
Faculty and Development and Evaluation is cur-rentlyinvestigatingpossible
alternativemethods of
administering the evaluation.The Chair of the
FDEC, economics professor Dina Franceschi,
said one method being explored is having
teacher evaluations online.
Accordingto Franceschi, online
evaluationswouldprovide virtu-ally
immediate access to re-sults
for faculty and stu-dents
aswell as an eas-ily
changeable for-
*:"%,. mat as courses
[jg^ evolve.The
forms
would
also reinforce the anonymity ofthe evaluations, since
instructorswouldn'trecognize handwriting.
Franceschi said that an additional benefitwould
be the abilityto addcourse specific questions for each
professor.
"With an online system,we couldbe more flex-ible
with the content of the forms.There would be
consistency to allow for comparisons but also allow
for course specific questions," she said.
Online evaluations arenotanewconceptandhave
been raising concerns at colleges and universities for
the past fewyears. Professorratings onwebsites have
become a forum forjaded students to vent their per-sonal
feelings andfrustrations with their teachers.
The Webmaster of the FUSA website,Thomas
lohn Cunnigham, '03, said links to online discussion
forumswillbe on the website, providing students an
informalwayto discuss a variety ofissues, including
those within the classroom.
The Chronicle ofHigherEducation questioned
whetherstudent evaluations encourage "grade infla-tion
and trivialization of courses." Franceschi dis-agrees.
"That is one ofthe reasons we hold the evalua-tions
until grades are sentoutWewantto encourage
candidandhonestresponsesfromstudents," she said
SEE "EVALUATION" ON P. 4
The major/minor breakdown
BY LAURA WALSH
lacquie Dlig has no clue what she wants to
do in life. Fortunately for her, neither do the
239 other members of the freshman class who
are also liberal arts undeclared majors. Dlig does,
however, enjoy her psychology class andis con-sidering
that as a potential major.
"I'm undeclared because I don't want to
make a decision too quickly/'said Dlig, sighing.
"I want to get acquaintedwith aD the different
subjects first and the core aUowsmeto do that"
Withregistration forspring semesterjustre-cently
coming to a close, many students, espe-ciaDy
freshmen, are decidingwhich major and/
or minor is best suited for their interests and
goals.
In the College ofArts and Sciences, the lib-eral
arts undeclared major is the most popular
with a total of449 students. Communication is
the second largest with 270 students. English,
the thirdmostpopular, is distinguished not only
as a major, but also as a minor. According to
Susan Bickel of the Registrar's Office, the En-glish
department has one of the highest num-bers
for majors and minors.
Johanna Garvey, the chair ofthe English de-partment,
accounts this popularinterest to an ex-cellent
faculty,which reaDy helps to accommo-date
the numberofstudents. "Eachfull-time fac-ulty
member offers a range of courses, cycling
them on a regular basis, so that there are always
manyoptions withinboth literature andwriting."
In addition, she beUeves that the flexibility of
the major and minor is an enticing feature, al-lowing
students to take courses that really ap-peal
to them.
Greg Reardon, '04, is very satisfiedwith his
choice as an English major, particularlybecause
itaUows himto readplenty ofgreatliterature and
has helpedto improve his writing skiDs.
"The English departmenthere atFairfieldis
one of the best around," said Reardon. "Every
class I have hadhere has truly taughtmetowrite
betterandhasalso givenmea greaterunderstand-ingand
appreciation ofthe writtenword"
Although a far less popular choice among
students, the religious studies concentrationdraws
a dedicated crowd with a total of nine students.
Motivation and pure interest is what drives stu-dents
to studyreligion, according to MartinLang
ofthe religious studies department Through his
own teaching experience, Lang has found that
althoughmanystudents are reluctant to declare
religion asamajororminor,manytakemore than
the required two courses at Fairfield.
"A lot of students do not realize that a reli-gious
studies majororminoris really the equiva-lent
of say an English or History concentration,"
saidLang. 'Tthinkthatstudentsarepressuredto
find a majorthat has a lot of career opportunities.
Parents probablywouldnotbe happyiftheir chil-dren
chose to study religion."
Perhaps this helps to explainwhymarketing
is the third biggest declared majorat Fairfield, as
well as the most popular major in the School of
Business with 221 students.
Arjun Chaudhuri, the department head of
Marketing attributes such a high demand to the
myriad ofjob opportunities that are associated
SEE "MAJOR BREAKDOWN" ON P. 4
College of Arts and Scienes Total Students in major
American Studies 16
Communication 270
Economics 61
English 237
History 61
Individually Designed Major 1
International Studies 48
Modern Languages & Literature 23
Philosophy 8
Politics 121
Psychology 147
Religious Studies 9
Sociology and Anthropology 48
Visual and Performing Arts 67
Liberal Arts Undeclared 449
Total Bachelor of Arts 1,566
Bachelor of Science
Biology 215
Chemistry 31
Computer Science 50
Economics 12
Math and Computer Science 62
Neuroscience 18
Physics 11
Psychology 51
Total Bachelor of Science 450
School of Business
Accounting 127
Finance 196
Information Systems 49
International Students 52
Management 105
Marketing 221
Business Undeclared 366
Total Business 1,116
School of Nursing 140
School of Engineering 62