Choerades: tra utopia ed eterotopia. L'isola di S.Pietro come palcoscenico.

Lo studio è rivolto alla creazione di uno spazio eterotopico. Nell’atto di riconsacrare un’isola attraverso l’acquisizione di strutture polisemiche che al valore d’uso uniscono un forte valore di scambio simbolico, pensate per dar vita a comunità provvisorie. Il progetto apre anche alla possibilità d’una dea “rifondazione” del lavoro teatrale attraverso l’allestimento di uno spazio che dà accesso alla trasformazione artistica e personale, luogo separato, esterno all’esperienza quotidiana, catalizzatore di energie. Attori principali di questo spazio sono due teatri, gemelli, simmetrici, complementari. Pensati ibridando la struttura aperta degli antichi teatri greci e l’uso umano e culturale dei “ghat” indiani affacciati sull’acqua. Uno rivolto a nord/ovest, Elettra. Uno, simmetrico, rivolto a sud/est, Artemide. Il progetto figura di accampamenti, vero cantone di lavoro. Immagine della “nave” e della “tenda desertica nomade” che sono metafore seminali del progetto. Il simbolismo è all’apice, e raggiunge altre note di intensità nella struttura di uno Jazzo, che ricorda l’operazione di fondazione di ogni città antica. Ogni aspetto, confezionato dal ruolo di un architettura guardata come maieutica del genius loci.

AAC&U's Integrative Liberal Learning and the CAS Standards: Advising for a 21st Century Liberal Education

The Association of American Colleges and Universities presented and promoted integrative liberal learning as a collaborative goal that all institutions of higher education must strive to achieve. The similarities between the goals of integrative liberal learning and the Standards for Academic Advising by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education are discussed with emphasis placed on the critical role that academic advising plays in support of an integrative liberal learning education, and in turn, future success for all students.

Liberal Nationalism: A Historical and Critical Analysis of Conceptions

At the end of the 20th century we live in a pluralist world in which national and ethnic identities play an appreciable role, sometimes provoking serious conflicts. Nationalist values seem to pose a serious challenge to liberal ones, particularly in the post-communist countries. Malinova asked whether liberalism must necessarily be contrasted with nationalism. Although nationalist issues has never been a major concern for liberal thinkers, in many countries they have had to take such issues into consideration and a form of 'liberalism nationalism' has its place in the history of political ideas. Some of the thinkers who tried to develop such an idea were liberals in the strict sense of the word and others were not, but all of them tried to elaborate a concept of nationalism that respected the rights of individuals and precluded discrimination on ethnic grounds. Malinova studied the history of the conceptualisation of nations and nationalism in the writings, of J.S. Mill, J.E.E. Acton, G. Mazzini, V. Soloviev, B. Chicherin, P. Struve, P. Miljoukov and T.G. Masaryk. Although it cannot be said that these theories form a coherent tradition, certain common elements of the different approaches can be identified. Malinova analysed the way that liberal nationalists interpreted the phenomenon of the nation and its rights in different historical contexts, reviewed the structure of their arguments and tried to evaluate this theoretical experience from the perspective of the contemporary debate on the problems of liberal nationalism and multiculturalism and recent debates on 'the national idea' in Russia.

Designing a Liberal Arts Curriculum that Develops the Capacity for Effective Practice

A new agenda has been coalescing for residential liberal arts education in the United States. At its core are various forms of experiential learning that had long been relegated to the margins of institutions in which pure intellectual achievement was largely separated from, and prized above, practical application of knowledge. Recent years have brought growing student interest in opportunities to engage in experiential learning, including community service, internships, student-faculty research partnerships, study abroad, or co-operative education. All types of colleges and universities have been investing in these programs and in curricular modifications intended to begin integrating them into a coherent educational program. With support from several major associations, foundations, and research collaborations, this twenty-first century reframing of the aims of education has included a persistent call for better evaluative data to gauge the extent to which college students are actually meeting learning goals that faculty are being encouraged to specify more fully.

Liberal Education, Effective Practice, and Diversity

This session will be based on three presentations that focus on the relationship between liberal education, effective practice and diversity from different perspectives. George Kuh will present data indicating that the educational benefits of "high impact" learning experiences (such as experiential education and undergraduate research), which are significant for all students, are often greater for students from underserved and minority backgrounds than for their majority counterparts. Armando Bengochea will discuss the ways in which an emphasis on effective practice can enhance the educational experiences of students of color within a liberal arts curriculum. Steve Stemler will report on research showing that including practice-oriented criteria in assessments of student achievements and capabilities can assist colleges and universities in identifying and educating minority students with high potential to succeed both in college and beyond college.