Student Name: Leah Sadoian

Co-Curricular Program Summary

1. What was the title of the Program you attended:
At the Intersection of Art and Science A Conversation with Joyce Carol
Oates and Charlie Gross (Caltech, Wednesday, April 29th, 6:00pm)
2. What department(s) sponsored the program:
The Division of Biological Engineering and the Division of the Humanities and
Social Sciences at Caltech.
3. Please provide a full and detailed description of the event (think who, what, where, why,
when and how)
The event was a public lecture about the intersection between the humanities and
the sciences, featuring a married couple, Joyce Carol Oates and Charlie Gross. Both are
extremely prominent in their respective fields, Joyce in literature and Charlie in
neuroscience. The event took place in Baxter Lecture Hall on Caltechs campus, at
6:00pm on a Wednesday night. The event was about an hour and half, consisting of
questions posed by the moderator to both Joyce and Charlie, about their individual
accomplishments and relationship with one another. The audience was also able to ask
questions towards the end of the event. After the event there was a meet and greet for
attendees to purchase books by both Joyce and Charlie, as well as get them signed. I
really enjoyed seeing how many people continued talking about the conversation as they
left the building.
The entire lecture hall was filled with attendees ranging from community
members, students, and faculty members. As the event began, there was standing room
only. There were student staff members directing attendees to the lecture hall and
available seats, also running the book signing afterwards. It was professional,
philosophical, and highly academic. I enjoyed attending this event and seeing another
side of co-curricular programming, using it as a comparison piece to the concert I
attended at Chapman for my first event.
4. How did attending and evaluating this program enhance your learning of program design,
student learning and the co-curriculum? How did attending and evaluating this student
program enhance your professional ability to implement effective programs? What did you
learn from this that will impact your Designing Student Programming assignment (for this
class)?
This program was designed for students at Caltech and the surrounding
community. Unlike the concert I went to at Chapman, which was highly social and
community oriented, this event was philosophical, intellectual, and designed for
academic students. It was very different, and even though most of the material I could
comprehend clearly, I was able to follow along with some of the topics discussed.
Looking around the lecture hall, everyone seemed to be really enjoying the panel
discussion, engaged with what was happening and paying close attention. I learned
through this program that in order to create an effective co-curricular program, it is

important to know institutional characteristics and what students on campus would be

interested in. This event would probably not fit so well at APU or Westmont (although
there might be some student interest), but was a perfect fit for Caltech.
5. How was the central role of student learning as it relates to the mission of higher education
evident in the program?
This event was definitely academic driven. Caltech is a highly prestigious
university, and their co-curricular programming reflected that. This was an opportunity
to connect different disciplines, showing relationship between different academic areas
of the college. This was a program that made students think, process, and reflect on their
personal experience. I think the central role of student learning was extremely evident in
this program through the intellectual material presented. Although not a social-centric
program, I did see a lot of students attending together or socializing together before and
after the event.
6. How could this program be improved?
I noticed a lot of students left the program mid-way, and assumed it was perhaps
there was a class conflict or they needed to study. It seemed that the timing of the event
was to draw more community engagement than campus engagement, and the breakdown
of audience members definitely supported that. There was also not enough seating, so a
larger venue would have been nice. Also, I was not a big fan of the moderator, but the
conversation moved along at a decent pace. The person who introduced the event noted
that it had gone over the allotted time, and also had started late. But overall, this was a
really great event that showcased another side of co-curricular programming.
7. Based on your readings up to this point in the course, what are a couple of specific things
(good or not good) that are in keeping with what you are learning about? Please be sure to
cite the literature you reference.
It was great to see an event that utilized a lot of faculty. Since this was a very
academically-driven program, it made sense that faculty helped put on and attended the
program. Not only does this help increase faculty interaction in the co-curricular, but it
also gives faculty members material to draw upon in their curriculum. I can only imagine
the material that professors in the neuroscience department will use in their upcoming
lectures from the topics that Charlie Gross discussed.
Not only was this a great program for students, but it was also a great program for
faculty. Kezar (2001) writes that Learning [is] by far the most important reason for
engaging in collaboration, followed by leadership and collegiality (pg. 43). This was a
learning opportunity for everyone who attended, not only students. Because there was a
similar incentive, motivation to collaborate was higher. Hirsh and Burack (2001) write
People do not usually collaborate unless they share common concerns and believe that
they will be able to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively as a result (pg. 57). As I
begin designing co-curricular programming, it seems necessary to look at programming
from a faculty perspective, seeing details that would help make collaboration smoother
and more productive for all parties involved.

*Please attach the rubric you used to score the program you attended.