Think About It Program challenges University’s top students

Photo by Andrew Shurtleff

“PST provided me with a foundation in political, social and economic theory that has made me more informed. As a result, I do not approach current events and issues from a single perspective.” Mary Catherine Wellons, Fourth-year student

By Dan Heuchert

Conspicuous in Michael Smith’s third-year Political and Social Thought seminar is a jar with a hole cut in the lid. Whenever students use the word “like” as a verbal placeholder, they must deposit a nickel in the jar. It’s, like, behavior modification for students who should know better.

That may be the least taxing demand that Smith makes on his students, who nonetheless appear to thrive under his expectations.
The Political and Social Thought program, now in its 26th year, is believed to be the University’s oldest interdisciplinary major. Its participants are a Who’s Who of student leaders; its graduates regularly win top fellowships and go on to prestigious graduate schools.

PST, as it is known in shorthand, is a highly selective program within a highly selective university. Each year, Smith receives more than 50 applications from rising third-year students for about 20 coveted spots. (“I try to discourage people from applying for whom it doesn’t suit,” he said.) After reviewing an essay, a graded paper from another course, at least one letter of recommendation and transcripts, he attempts to select a class with diverse interests and pursuits. Full story.

Straight talk on classified staff concerns
Sandridge discusses salaries, retirement, health insurance

By Carol Wood

On a recent chilly February morning, Leonard W. Sandridge blew into an Employee Council meeting like a March wind and proceeded to deliver some straight talk in response to 50 questions that had been posed in advance by the representatives of the Provost’s Employee Communications Council. Full story.