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By Zachary Thomas
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 23, 1996
Combine a liberal arts college with a state-run university.It is a largely untried concept.
Yet yesterday's opening of the Arizona International Campus of the University of Arizona marks the beginning of a new era in a state that previously had an unfilled gap between state research universities and community colleges.
AIC faculty and administrative staff are optimistic about the school's mission, which "places the highest priority on distinctive and practical liberal arts undergraduate education ... in an increasingly technological and global society."
"We offer Arizonans something they don't have," said Edwin Clausen, director of academic programs and a humanities professor at AIC. "We are trying to construct a practical liberal arts university that is public."
The curriculum, specifically designed around AIC's mission statement, includes two years of core studies spanning the arts, sciences, and humanities, after which students will enter two years of more specialized or specific career studies, according to an AIC pamphlet.
Instead of being organized into conventional colleges and departments, AIC will eventually be designed around academic houses, learning communities of between 100 to 250 students where first- and second-year students receive their core curriculum education, the pamphlet stated.
AIC Life Sciences Professor Charles R. Paulson stressed the innovative nature of the campus as propelling it ahead of conventional universities.
"I think the world is changing so fast that traditional university education cannot keep up," he said.
"We are most similar to the private liberal arts colleges, but the difference is, we are here for Arizona students, and the price is right."
As part of this difference, planners included an innovative career internship program in the curriculum, where upper-division students can receive between 6 and 15 course credits by participating in internships and mentorships in their area of interest, said Celestino Fern'ndez, AIC's executive vice president and provost.
He said these internships, coupled with mandatory community service, play into AIC's mission to prepare students for life by giving them actual experience outside the college setting.
"Life isn't just work," Fern'ndez said. "It's an integration of mind, body and spirit."
Yet innovation does not stop at the curriculum alone. Because the campus is designed as a teaching institution, the ability of faculty to remain on the cutting edge may be more of a challenge than at a research university.
To prevent stagnant knowledge, Fern'ndez said the university plans to implement a trimester system - where faculty will spend two trimesters teaching and one keeping abreast in their fields.
Despite positive vibes from faculty and staff, AIC has attracted fire from the Arizona Board of Regents and national campus planners due to its location at the UA Science and Technology Park, 9000 S. Rita Road. Far removed from Tucson proper, the liberal arts campus, the mission statement of which stresses community, is surrounded by buildings occupied by IBM Corp., Hughes Missiles System Co. and Microsoft Inc. It is also three miles from the nearest housing development.
Fern'ndez downplayed the site criticisms and called it "an instant campus environment." He said there are pre-existing tennis courts, a softball field, lockers, showers and an auditorium that doubles as a cafeteria.
"We'll grow into this building," he said. "We have not added or removed a wall yet."
AIC also attracts attention due to its abnormally low number of students - only 45. While initial projected enrollment figures in the July 1994 report of the new campus' Community Advisory Committee put the number well over 1,000, the student response since then was far less than expected.
"This is not for everybody the first year," Paulson said. "These are students who feel they don't have to go with the crowd."
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