by Candy Chou
On November 17
th, the second MPCC-UIC Presidential Lecture Series was held in UIC. President Pamela Jolcoeur of Concordia College, President Dan Bruss of Bethany Lutheran College, and Executive Vice President Professor Edmund Kwok of United International College gave speeches on "Liberal Arts Education and Talents for the New Century". Many UIC students and staff attended this lecture with other MPCC（Minnesota Private College Council） guests. Dr. David Laird, President and Chief Executive Officer of MPCC, introduced the speakers and the lecture began with President Pamela Jolcoeur.
President Pamela Jolcoeur first cited some ideas from Thomas L. Friedaman's books, The World is Flat and Hot Flat and Crowded to describe the challenges we faced. She said that everyone in the world had access to communicate, connect, and collaborate with anyone in the world. Global challenges needed global collaboration. It was important and necessary for MPCC and UIC to collaborate, and liberal education in US would compare with Whole Person Education here in UIC. In this "hot, flat and crowded world", what was the best way to educate the generations that would have to tackle the problems? The most important skills given by many surveys were team work skills, critical thinking and communication. These were what liberal education would bring to the students. She emphasized the 5 goals of liberal education as follows:
Instill a love for learning;
Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities;
Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intercultural perspectives, and their connections;
Cultivate an examined cultural, ethical, physical, and spiritual self-understanding; and encourage responsible participation in the world.
In her opinion, teaching and learning no longer required expensive libraries but required new methods. Teachers had to be more imaginative and creative in their teaching.
President Dan Bruss's speech focused on innovation. By answering "What will be needed to excel?" and "What are the needs for the future?" He told many stories of the students who joined the Summer Program or Exchange Program between UIC and Bethany. The students experienced and participated in many activities or adventures which they had never encountered before. They learnt how to communicate when they experienced cultural shock, how to work with others in a team, and how to adapt themselves to overcome fear. In his lecture, he talked about how important innovative thinking and problem solving was in one's life and career. The goal of liberal education was to encourage students to participate in new challenges and new experiences.
In the third lecture, Professor Edmund Kwok gave some background on Chinese education and on the short history of UIC. Professor Kwok said, "China needs a new kind of liberal education to help the students and even their parents see through the values of lives and problems beyond themselves."
After the lectures, some teachers and students shared their opinions with the speakers in a brief discussion.
photographer: Jason JIA
四维通讯社
