First Year
First-year women apply to the Baldwin Scholars program in the fall, with the class announced before Thanksgiving. The program begins in the spring with a team-building retreat and a seminar for academic credit that is open only to the scholars. The course meets in the Baldwin Scholars office and is team-taught by distinguished faculty with diverse interests, such as women's studies and geology.
The spring 2009 seminar
Sociology 90.01S: "Perceptions of Self, Society, and the Natural World."
The course encourages students to assess how perceptions are conditioned by the times we live in, by our families, by religious beliefs and other factors. How does a female college student in the 21st century see the world differently than a Native American born in the 18th century, and why? The course destabilizes the notion that self, society and the natural world are fixed and unchanging. Through observation and research, students learn to assess the environment and determine how they might participate creatively as leaders. The course includes three units: one on the natural world, one on society and one on the self. Each unit is taught by a female faculty member and includes a hands-on project. Students learn different ways of engaging the world intellectually and increased self-awareness and self-knowledge.