Inquiry Program

In 1972 Charles Adams proposed the Inquiry Program, and it was accepted by the Faculty Senate Academic Matters Committee as an accredited special program. The Inquiry Program was developed as a replacement for Project 10, using some parts of that program, while abandoning the residential college model then located in Pierpont and Moore. When Charles Adams was appointed as director of Project 10 in the Summer of 1970, one of his goals was to phase out Project 10; the development and acceptance of the Inquiry Program were central to that goal.

Inquiry Program included three advances in alternative undergraduate education, the tutor concept, semester learning contracts, and the portfolio examination. For the Inquiry Program, selected classes were identified as "Modes of Inquiry" classes, introductions to the approaches inherent in a field of study.

Inquiry Program included three advances in alternative undergraduate education, the tutor concept, semester learning contracts, and the portfolio examination. For the Inquiry Program, selected classes were identified as "Modes of Inquiry" classes, introductions to the approaches inherent in a field of study.

Each student in the Inquiry Program was assigned a tutor to guide his or her lower division study. Tutors were assigned after determining a student’s academic interest and were drawn from a variety of university departments. In some cases, a student’s tutor was a faculty member who was in residence in Pierpont. The close proximity of students and faculty created an atmosphere for academic work unmatched anywhere else on campus.

Each semester students developed learning contracts with their tutors. The contracts stated their learning goals, activities, and evaluation methods for the semester. Mid term and end of semester evaluations kept students and tutors aligned around these goals. Students exercised great creativity in selecting activities for these learning contracts, frequently stepping beyond university courses to include volunteer activities, independent study, community work, and art projects. Legend has it that one student, interested in the criminal justice system, managed to get herself jailed for a semester as part of her learning contract.

Students developed portfolios of their work and submitted it to a three person review panel, frequently made up of university faculty. Portfolio examinations occurred by mutual agreement of students and tutors usually after four semesters, as a rite of passage into the upper division of the university. If, upon review, the panel found the work represented the equivalent of a lower division education, the panel was could add credits to the students academic record to bring them up to 60 credits, the equivalent of two years of conventional undergraduate study, and further, to waive any core requirements.