Mayhew Report: Appendix G

Westminster -William Woods Coordinate, February 1968

Throughout many years in the past there have undoubtedly been numerous instances of cooperation between our two colleges: Certainly social activities, some planned and others extemporaneous, have been a natural and important part of this long-term cooperation. There have been frequent instances when exchanges of instructional services have been effected to meet emergency needs at one or the other of the two colleges. Arrangements have also been made over many years for occasional students to schedule a desired course in science or fine arts available on the opposite campus but not offered on the home campus.

About 1960, arrangements were made by the two college presidents to designate a Westminster faculty member to serve as a part time coordinator to provide direction and guidance for increased cooperation between the two institutions. His teaching load was reduced so that he could devote about half of his time to coordination efforts. The position of coordinator was established as a two year appointment, with each college alternating in providing a staff member to fill the post. In the spring of 1961, four Westminster students were enrolled in William Woods courses in art and music; one William Woods student was enrolled in a Westminster course in Russian language.

Since that time, cooperative efforts have had considerable expansion and have made their way into a great many areas of life on the campuses of the two colleges. This expansion, coupled with the need to designate someone to administer a Federal grant awarded in 1967 to Westminster and William Woods Colleges as a consortium of developing institutions, led to the creation of a new joint administrative position this year -vice president for coordination.

Since 1961, increasing numbers of students have taken advantage of course offerings on both campuses. There are now about two hundred students whose schedules require them to attend classes at both colleges, and two-way bust transportation has been arranged for them to get to their classes on time. This exchange of students has provided mutual benefits. In addition to providing opportunities for students of both colleges to enroll in desired courses not available on their home campus, the exchange has assisted William Woods in its gradual development of a full four-year baccalaureate program. At the same time, the resultant increased enrollment in Westminster advanced courses brought about a more favorable teacher-student ratio on some of the upper classes on the Westminster campus.

During this relatively brief periods of years in which planned effort has been devoted to improving cooperation and coordination between the two campuses, a great many mutually beneficial arrangements have been established. The two colleges have joined hands in conducting an annual joint fund-raising campaign in the Fulton areas and have effected the organization of an association of interested Fultonians which stimulates local support for both colleges and also provides annual scholarships for local high school graduates to attend William Woods or Westminster. Within the past month, the first joint meeting of alumni-alumnae clubs was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and it is likely that similar groups will follow suite in other areas of the country.

In the past few years, we have moved gradually in the direction of joint employment of particular personnel. We now have a single director of libraries who is responsible for the operation of the library facilities of both colleges: A combined card catalogue file is available in each library so that faculty and students may quickly locate books held by either college. A daily shuttle-bus service operates between the campuses so that books and reference materials may be transferred between the two libraries on the same day they are requested. Our college dining-halls and snack bars are operated by a professional food service firm under a joint contract, which has provided improved food services. We also have a director of publicity who serves both institutions in getting out a variety of college reports and news releases. This year both institutions found themselves in need of the services of an admissions counselor to cover the west coast area of the country. A young many who lives in California was recently employed to serve both colleges in making contacts with selected west coast high schools.

Some of our professors have teaching assignments on both campuses and thereby share their talents and at the same time become better acquainted with students and faculty of both institutions. Even more encouraging is the fact that some counterpart departments now hold joint meetings to discuss improvement of curricula, course offerings, scheduling of classes, exchange of teaching services, and the inviting of consultants and visiting lecturers to the two campuses. During the current school year joint meetings have been held by the departments of history, sociology, English, foreign languages, and psychology. Some of our faculty have crossed the lines of special subject areas and are working together on the development of a program of Latin American studies, which is to include language study, economics, history, and political science of Latin American areas. Another group of psychologists and counselors are studying the possibilities of developing a joint counseling and testing center to provide more adequate counseling and testing center for the students of both institutions.

Our college calendars have been coordinated so that starting dates, vacation periods, and the end of the school year are now the same on both campuses. We publish a combined schedule of course offerings each semester, a joint final examination schedule, and a combined calendar of all cultural and athletic events scheduled on both campuses including concerts, lectures, films, plays, speakers, and sports events.

There has also been a developed a fine William Woods-Westminster Theater which has been doing some excellent work in play-production. Last year the Broadway production “Guys and Dolls” was presented in the Westminster Auditorium to college and town audiences that were treated to an enjoyable evening of entertainment. The cast, dancing chorus, and a pit orchestra were comprised of students and faculty of both colleges, plus a group of interested and talented townspeople. A considerable variety of other small productions are presented during the year and plans are now underway for a full-scale production of “South Pacific” to be presented early in May.

Since the beginning of the current school year we have been engaged in a number of additional joint ventures, some of which are likely to exert considerable influence on the two colleges. These efforts have been made possible by a joint grant of federal funds to William Woods and Westminster through Title III of the Higher Education Act. The grant has enabled us to bring to our colleges this year three young people with the masters’ degrees who are having their first experience as instructors at a liberal arts college. They teach courses on both campuses under national Teaching fellowships which are provided as part of the Federal grant. The grant has also made it possible for a joint concerts and lectures committee to expand our usual arts and lecture series by providing a program of eight or nine additional speakers and performers who interpret for college and town audiences the cultures of a variety of non-Western countries.

Grant funds have enabled our faculties to invite to our campuses special consultants who spend a few days with particular departments and suggest ways and means of improving their curricular offerings. We also have two consultants making studies of~ our administrative organization and procedures for the purpose of determining how these might be improved either singly or jointly. The grant has also made it possible for our faculty to invite outstanding people from anywhere the country to spend a few days or weeks with us to Speak to classes in political science, biology, modern literature --or any other class on either campus.