Steve Nowicki Takes Questions on Living and Learning at College Feb. 16
In a live "Office Hours" interview Thursday, Duke's dean of undergraduate education talks about the university's new student housing system
Lessons in college can come as often from friends and mentors outside of class as from instructors and books inside of class. As Duke's dean of undergraduate education, Steve Nowicki is responsible for coordinating the curricular and extracurricular aspects of undergraduate life. One major project Nowicki is overseeing is the revision of the university's student residential system. In a live "Office Hours" webcast conversation Thursday, Feb. 16, he will take questions from viewers about how relationships and learning are connected in college.
"Students come to Duke knowing so much more than students knew when they went to college in my day," Nowicki said in a public conversation about Duke's approach to education. "What we need to do is to help them understand how to work with this information."
To pose a question for Nowicki, email live@duke.edu, Tweet with the hastag #dukelive or post to the Duke University Facebook page. Watch the webcast live at noon on the Duke University Ustream channel.
In explaining the university's new "Duke Houses" residential system in a letter to parents of current students, he said: "We believe that students' experience outside the classroom is a vital part of their education -- an opportunity to build lifelong friendships and gain experience in leadership, self-government and personal responsibility in a safe and nurturing environment."
Nowicki discusses undergraduate education at a Duke Idea forum.
Nowicki has been a biology professor at Duke since 1989, studying how songbirds communicate. Before taking his current position at the university, he won a teaching award, served as dean of natural sciences, played in the student pep band during basketball games and chaired the committee that revised the undergraduate curriculum.
Joining the conversation will be Pete Schork, president of Duke Student Government, which recently completed a survey of student views on changes in the housing system.
"We're continuing to get inconsistent feedback about student knowledge of the house model," Schork told The Chronicle recently. "We are working with the administration to continue to augment understanding of the model, and we've been heartened by the ability of administrators to be available for comment."
