News
New Graduate-Level Course Open to Community
By Eleni Himaras
Barry Bluestone, Dean of the School of Social Science, Urban Affairs and Public Policy, sees the new School becoming Northeastern’s strongest bridge to the community at large. In staying true to this mission, he is offering up a free education to anyone who wants it.
The 21st Century City: Urban Opportunities and Challenges in a Global Context, the first class offered solely under the auspices of the new School, is open to graduate students seeking college credit and any community member who wishes to audit or simply sit in for one or two seminars that seem particularly interesting to them.
"We are trying to reinvent the university; creating a university which really is a close collaboration with the city and the Commonwealth," Bluestone said. "What better way to do that than to open it up, to show that we are in fact very serious?"
The class meets for two hours each Monday night, and thus far, the 12 registered graduate students have been the minority. Bluestone said the roster has seen everyone from state government officials, to city government officials to people from the private sector and foundations along with undergraduate and graduate students simply sitting in. This wealth of expertise, he said, creates a richer experience for all involved.
Bluestone teaches the class along with Paul Grogan, the President of The Boston Foundation. They have also lined up more than a dozen experts and local professionals to guest lecture on various nights.
"This class is very useful to identify the trends in urban development in Boston," said Jim Rooney of The Boston Foundation, who has been auditing the class. "[I’ve been coming] in part to inform my own work to make the region more competitive...It's fascinating to compare what's happening in Boston to other cities."
In addition to the innovative format of the class that requires students to pay only if they are seeking college credit, Bluestone has also made part of the required reading free in order to keep the class material as current as possible. All students are privy to a draft of his latest textbook, "The Urban Experience: Economics, Society, and Public Policy", due out later this year, co-written with Mary Stevenson and Russell Williams.
"I did some of the reading, which was really interesting," said Jackney Prioly, an employee of Mayor Menino who came to a recent class after her coworker told her about an earlier session he had attended. "I don’t think I’ve heard of any other classes like this."
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently made all of its course material available online, including several videos of various lectures, but does not welcome self-learners into their classrooms. Holy Cross has also reached out to the local community by offering free tuition to students from Worcester with a combined family income of $50,000 or less, but Bluestone’s class is the only one in the area that encourages community members to come to class and actively participate.
Since this is such a new idea, Bluestone says the end of the semester will be the time to evaluate how successful it has been and whether he will implement the format in more classes for the School.
"We certainly want to make sure this is benefitting our students but I have just gotten such a marvelous response," he said.
For more information on the class including a full syllabus with the topics for each week, click here.
Source: Original Article from the School of Social Science, Urban Affairs, and Public Policy
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