A Look into Vassar Science | Students, professors scrutinize the sciences at Vassar

Stephanie Damon-Moore Assistant Life Editor

Erica Hersh Guest Writer

This article is Part I of a Three-Part series on science at Vassar. Part II will discuss the science facilities that are currently in planning stages. Part III will explore the history of science at Vassar and reflect on future plans. Look for these installments in the coming issues of The Miscellany News.

According to recent studies, the quality of science education in America has decreased. The United States (U.S.) has dropped from first to seventh on the list of how much of their GDP countries spend on science, and, according to Time Magazine, the U.S. is 25th in the world in its percentage of students with science degrees. These rankings place America well behind countries such as Finland, Singapore, and Russia. While many articles associate the lag with primary schools, President Catherine Bond Hill said that “the state of science nationwide leads us to reflect on the state of science at Vassar.”

“It seems really important to be offering an education to students that incorporates the sciences,” Hill said.

Is Vassar preparing students to compete in a world of dwindling job opportunities and cutting-edge technology? Is the College equipping non-science majors with the skills they need to survive in a world that is increasingly dependent on science and technology?

Most professors agree that there are two clear trends that have increased the scientific acumen of Vassar students over the years: increased research opportunities for students and a multidisciplinary approach to science learning.

According to Professor of Biology John Long, Vassar’s small size allows for intimate research opportunities that give it a major advantage over big universities, where research is geared toward graduate students. Here, research opportunities allow students to have what Dr. Long described as a “mini grad school experience,” which in turn helps prepare them for their future careers.

This benefit is not lost on students. “At the end of my first semester last year…I started a project with Professor of Chemistry Zachary Donhauser,” said Scott Pascal ’10, a biochemistry major. “I thought at first that I would just be working in his lab, but he has really pushed me to be more independent in the work and I feel like I am actually doing research and not just ‘working’ in his lab.”

Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to science are also integral to the College’s philosophy of science education. Vassar was the first school to offer an undergraduate degree in cognitive science, and has offered an environmental studies major since 2000. This multidisciplinary approach extends beyond the classroom as well, with programs such as a robotics lab available for independent studies and research.

But some professors are worried that Vassar might not be doing all it can to promote the pursuit of science on campus. According to Chair of the Biology Department Robert Fritz, “The course budgets have been stagnant…In biology, we’re actually facing a situation where some of our faculty currently don’t have the budget to do all of the advanced molecular biology or biochemistry or genetics that they could be doing.”

Other professors echoed this sentiment. “There were little funds for new science equipment until last year, when the science chairs made a case to the College for more money,” said Long.

Many departments also expressed disappointment that the buildings they use are far from adequate for their needs. At the College’s Writing Center, there is only one tutor who majors in the sciences, and she will graduate in May.

With the current curriculum, students need not take a science class if they do not want to. According to the 2007-2008 Vassar course catalogue, the rationale behind the quantitative requirement is that “Numeracy, like literacy, is important in a liberal education,” and so Vassar requires students to take at least one course “that shall develop or extend the student’s quantitative or numerical skills.”

Students can take a math class instead of science, or take classes that involve very little of either.

Since the College is serious about ensuring that its students have basic knowledge of a foreign language, with a two-semester requirement, and in light of our increasingly scientific global community, some feel that the quantitative requirement should perhaps match that of the foreign lanuage requirement. By revamping the quantitative requirement, Vassar would increase the scientific literacy of all its graduates, rather than just that of the science majors.

The College is aware of these problems, and is taking steps to rectify them, most notably by building new science facilities. The science facilities will support the multidisciplinary programs that are already in place, and improve connections between these programs and the sciences comprise them.

More details on the facility will follow in the second installment of this three part series on the sciences at Vassar.

“The more we can model what goes on outside of Vassar in terms of science, the more prepared our students will be,” said Marianne Begemann, Professor of Chemistry, current Associate Dean of the Faculty and head of the Science Facility Planning Committee. “And certainly our peers are building facilities like this.” Begemann believes that both science students and non-science students will benefit greatly from the new facility.

“What creates scientific literacy is the communication between scientists and nonscientists to understand the importance of science in the larger world…I would hope that’s what our science facility could do for us. That will require not only space, but thinking curricularly as well,” said Begemann.

Besides providing important space for equipment and laboratories, the new facility may attract students to take classes they might not have otherwise taken, or even known about. This added visibility is apparently necessary, since students who are not science majors are often not conscious of the science programs at Vassar.

For example, John Rothman, ’10, a political science major, said he was “very surprised that there are science kids at a liberal arts college, and that our science program is quite substantial.”

Indeed, while the sciences may not be visible to many Vassar students, the Class of 2007 boasted 69 science majors, with most concentrating in either neuroscience and behavior or physics and astronomy.

Overall, the consensus about the state of science at Vassar is positive. Most view the new science facility, as well as increased funding for science programs and equipment, as a step in the right direction, that will increase the scientific literacy of non-science majors and the scientific competitiveness of science majors.

Students are continuing on to top graduate and medical schools and getting jobs at top science companies. Professor of Astronomy Debra Elmegreen’s view that “Things are going well in science” seems to be echoed among students and professors alike.