The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/65892
A AND IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH, she has one more trick up her sleeve—a ƂQDO YLGHR IHDWXULQJ D VLOYHU WRQJXHG WX[- edoed poet [it's her brother Gordy] who will demonstrate quite literally how a facil- ity with language can inspire others toward D VSHFLƂF JRDO ,WŒV D FODVVLF FDVH RI WKH PH- dium being the message. Boudreau clicks her mouse, the video comes to life, and the poet begins: Let's lift up a glass to the incoming class – the freshmen of WPI You're young and astute, ambitious to boot And your mother's so proud she could cry Students begin to sit up. This is different. $ IHZ YHUVHV ODWHU HYHU\RQH LV WUDQVƂ[HG E\ the poet on the screen: Yet, what's this distraction that hampers your actions? This pesky humanity crap? Seminars, practicums, what moron thought of them? Give him a punitive slap! So, what is this humanities, um, require- ment? Though the story goes back much 42 Spring 2012 further, you could say it started four decades DJR WR EH VSHFLƂF 7KDWŒV ZKHQ WKH faculty voted to adopt the WPI Plan, which set forth the goal that students should gain not only "an understanding of a sector of science and technology, but also a mature understanding of himself." To put it plainly, all WPI students would be required to mi- nor in the humanities. "The original vision of usefulness and be- ing part of a human community was always here," says Boudreau, "so it wasn't a radical departure from that, but it was radical for an engineering school to adopt a very spe- FLƂF KXPDQLWLHV IRFXV ŕ The requirement meant that WPI stu- dents sample a breadth of courses outside their major and delve into one area of inter- est with an inquiry seminar or practicum. Fostering the students' ability to think criti- cally about the world and the technology they create and manage was a key goal of the WPI Plan. The hope was that WPI stu- dents would carry this humanistic sensibil- ity far beyond their college years. According to Professor Lance Schachterle, it has worked. 6FKDFKWHUOH ZDV DPRQJ WKH ƂUVW ZDYH RI humanities faculty to be hired the year the Plan was implemented. A few years into the job, he created the course Science and Sci- entists in Modern Literature, which he still teaches. He starts off each semester with a cautionary tale for future innovators: Mary