History of the Program
In 1984—in the middle of a broad institutional revision of curriculum—twelve faculty members of the University of Northern Colorado met to consider a bold new initiative in Liberal Arts Education. As an alternative to standard, discipline-based classes using lectures and secondary texts, these faculty conceived of a set of six new interdisciplinary courses focused on classic writings of Europe and Asia. These classes would be taught exclusively in an intensive discussion format. These courses were not designed to replace existing introductory classes in history or philosophy or other areas, but to provide students with a stimulating option that would link the perspectives, approaches, and materials of different academic fields. Readings range from Plato’s Symposium, to St. Augustine’s Confessions, to Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, from the Tao te Ching, to the Bhagavad Gita, to Zen Flesh, Zen Bones—texts to be usually read in their entirety.
In the spring of 1984, this new program—entitled the “Life of the Mind Project”—was awarded a two year grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities for course development and presentation. The small initial group of faculty, twelve members from six departments, launched the first six courses during the period 1984-1986. The courses were immediately successful; not only did each meet its enrollment cap at registration, but the student evaluations in every course at the end of the term were glowing.
One course is MIND 181: Great Traditions of Asia, which dealt with texts from the rich cultural heritage of India, China, and Japan. Great Traditions of Asia was originally team-taught by Tomas Santos of Literature, Ronald Edgerton of History, and Michael Coronel of Visual Arts. The interdisciplinary team of teachers used a combination of full group and small group discussions, carefully-selected slide and film shows, and cultural demonstrations (i.e., Chinese calligraphy) to open the minds of a class of 55 students to the fascination and complexity of the Asian heritage. As in all of the Mind courses, the texts were the core.
The original set of six courses soon grew with the success of the program. The Life of the Mind Program has continued to grow, from six courses to thirteen, and from twelve faculty members in six departments to thirty six faculty in sixteen different program areas. In 1992, the Life of the Mind Program (in connection with the Honors Program) won the recognition of the Colorado Council on Higher Education award as a “program of excellence.”