University of Redlands
The
University of Redlands is a private liberal arts and sciences university located in
Redlands, California. The university was founded in
1907 and was associated with the
American Baptist Church. The land for the university was donated by church member Karl C. Wells. The university maintained its religious orientation and required chapel attendance of all students until 1972. The university is now an independent institution but maintains an informal relationship with the church.
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Administration building. |
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Frontal view of Administration building. |
Students at the university study in one of three schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, or the School of Business.
The College of Arts and Sciences serves approximately 2,180 students (as of 2003) and has 144 full-time faculty members.
The School of Education serves 449 students (as of 2003), with 17 full-time professors and 30 adjunct professors.
The School of Business has 1,489 full-time students and 20 part-time students (2003), taught by 23 full-time and 187 adjunct professors. School of Business classes are held at the main
Redlands campus as well as satellite locations in
Orange County,
Menifee,
Los Angeles County,
Riverside,
Rancho Cucamonga/Ontario and
San Diego County.The university's campus sits on 160 acres (0.6 km²) near downtown
Redlands.
Today, some two-hundred Redlands students live and learn together in the Johnston complex, which includes two residence halls and a number of faculty offices. Students can design their own majors in consultation with faculty, and they write contracts for their courses and receive narrative evaluations in lieu of traditional grades.
The University of Redlands School of Music is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music, and its requirements for entrance and graduation comply with the standards of this accrediting organization.
Any University student may participate in musical activities through enrollment (usually by audition) in the University Choir, Chapel Singers, Madrigals, Wind Ensemble, Studio Jazz Band, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Opera Workshop, and a variety of chamber music ensembles. Students are invited to register for private, group, or class lessons, available on all instruments and for voice.
The University has recently added two new buildings: Lewis Hall (named after US Congressman
Jerry Lewis (politician)) and Appleton hall (named after the former university president). Lewis hall opened in fall of 2005, and is home to the environmental studies department, as well as the Redlands Institute (an environmental reasearch institute). Appleton Hall will open in spring 2006 and will be home to the physics, math, and computer science departments, which were previously in Duke and Hentschke halls.
In 1969, a group of faculty members created an alternative learning environment at the University called Johnston College, funded by a grant from Jimmie Johnston, a former
IBM employee. Johnston College operated as an autonomous unit on the University of Redlands campus for approximately 10 years until 1979. At that time, Johnston College was integrated into the University of Redlands as the Johnston Center for Individualized Studies, and was operated under that name until the mid-1990's, when it was renamed The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies.
Johnston is characterized by two main components: education and community. Through Johnston students design their own majors. Students write a graduation contract and even design the title of their emphasis (the technical term used within Johnston to describe one's "major") which defines their intentions of study through a written narrative and a list of courses they intend to take in order to fulfill those intentions. Said contract is then reviewed by a committee consisting of the student's academic advisor, two faculty members, and two students who each have a contract on file in the Johnston office. The committee then asks the student about the narrative they have written and give the student suggestions for alternate courses they could take or other paths they could explore in order to fulfill their intentions. If there is something essential that the student has neglected to mention or add to their narrative and/or course list, the committee can make stipulations that the student is then required to complete before they can graduate. Through this process students take ownership of their own education.
In addition to contracting their own unique brand of education, Johnston students also have the opportunity to contract the work that they do in their classes. The purpose of the course contract is to enable the student to take further ownership of their education by guiding their own personal work done in the course in a direction that will better suit their emphasis. An example of what a student might do in their contract is decide to read a different book or set of books than the ones assigned. The student may decide to do an alternate type of work for the course, ie: write a paper instead of taking a midterm, quiz, or final. As a part of contracting one's courses one receives a written evaluation instead of a grade for their course work. The advantage of a written evaluation is that it explains in greater depth the quality of one's work in a course that cannot be drawn from a simple number. The student also evaluates their own work as well as their professor.
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University of Redlands web site
