A ‘Cornerstone’ and ‘Hidden Gem’: Purdue Liberal Arts Integration receives national recognition

It started in 2017, before which many Purdue graduates went their entire academic career having never set foot in a literature or history class, Dr. Melinda Zook recalls. Now, they all do.

“I think we have changed the culture of Purdue in some ways,” she said. “I know that sounds very, perhaps that sounds arrogant. I don’t mean it to be.”

Dr. Zook is the director of Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts, an introductory course program teaching students across campus critical skills, through the study of the transformative texts, once known as “Great Books,” or the classics.

The learning isn’t confined to the classroom. Neither is the impact. The program is designed to capture each student, and as Dr. Zook says it, ‘turn the light on.’

The students read the greats: Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, and more. Built into the program is mentorship with the over 100 faculty members that make this possible.

But students also engage with art, taking field trips to see the newly opened on-campus Degas collection, seeing performances like the upcoming theater department performance of Mary Shelley’ Frankenstein, or attending Cornerstone’s film festival, which Dr. Zook said may need to feature the Wachowski sister’s classic, The Matrix, this semester.

“They’re very busy students. You know, the engineers are under a lot of stress. They’re working hard,” Dr. Zook said. “If you don’t make a theatrical performance part of what they’re going to do, they’re not going to do it.”

But it’s those experiences that create the program’s success. On one class excursion, to see “A Doll’s House,’ Dr. Zook remembers a student who realized then his dream: to produce works such as what he just witnessed.

“They’ve been turned on, by something challenging, by something beautiful, by something that will stay with them always,” she said. And those moments, she added, are the most rewarding, and the reason teachers teach.

Cornerstone is the largest program of its kind in the US — with 5,000 students engaging with the transformative texts this semester alone.

The goal of the program is to create a culture of well-rounded students, prepared to think deeply, and write and speak exceptionally.

“That’s what we’re trying to do. Make sure they understand that all of this wisdom is still with us and still informs us. We can’t know the future, but we certainly can know something about the past,” she said. “And that will help us.”

And they’re doing just that.  The program has been recognized as a Hidden Gem Program by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

“It means a lot to me. I hope it means a lot to our faculty. The students won’t understand, but they’ll get the benefit of us knowing that we’re doing the right thing by them,” Dr. Zook said of the honor, adding that without the hard work of the faculty and the support of her dean, this success would not be possible.

One example of that success Dr. Zook remembers fondly comes in the form of a former student and office hours frequent-flier, Paul.

“At one point he says to me, ‘I am developing my brand.’ And I was really taken aback by that,” she recalled. “And I said, ‘Paul, you’re so much more than a brand. I think you need to cultivate… it’s your humanity, it’s your inner life.’”

She says he didn’t understand in that moment what she meant – but a semester of Hamlet, Cormac McCarthy and more later – he came back.

“He said to me, ‘Yeah, I know exactly what you mean now.’”

The study of literature, history and philosophy, Dr. Zook said, isn’t just necessary to students of liberal arts. The abilities honed in Cornerstone, she argues, are what creates success beyond graduation, for students of all disciplines.

“The goal, I think, has always been for cornerstone to work and lean into STEM,” she explained. “But also to provide those students with skills that will allow them to not just get their first job, but to move up and get their second job and their third job. And that takes flexibility, adaptability, and an understanding of the world. And themselves.”

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This article was published by Star City News on September 24, 2024.