“We need to keep on asking ourselves what is worth learning”
“There is plenty of talent among the staff and students. University College Utrecht is a work-in-progress,” says James Kennedy, who is leaving his position as the Dean of the College in the end of the year. In this interview he looks back on his five years at the College.
“When I came to the College in October 2015, I soon found out that this was a place where students were genuinely curious about everything, and that the staff was extremely hard-working and very much involved in the organisation,” says Kennedy. “What I also noticed was that although this truly was a community where people felt they belonged to, it was also made of islands, spatially spoken, as the college is spread over the campus in many separated buildings.”
“Next to that, there was also a feeling that the College was one world, and the larger university another. In the beginning I thought it was how it should be - that the College should guard its autonomy. But over time I have also seen the importance of having a more integrated and strategic approach to what the college does and how it relates to Utrecht University.”
Liberal Arts and Sciences
“I am formed by Liberal Arts and Sciences, and I taught for many years in Liberal Arts programmes in the United States before coming to the Netherlands. The Liberal Arts and Sciences concept is about pursuing interests for the sake of the interest itself, to cultivate and enrichen your lives, and not for a particular career. That vision is stronger at our college than at the colleges where I taught in the United States, which had turned more to pre-professional programmes. Here, the Liberal Arts shone brighter, and among the University Colleges in the Netherlands, this college is the most true to the original concept.”
“I think like other University Colleges we have shifted a bit from a model of excellence to a community of nurturing student development. Student well-being is now more prominent than before. We have also become more alert to the possibilities of multi- and interdisciplinarity. Our teachers are now teacher-scholars, with 20 percent of their appointment spent on research. The research time has been gradually implemented in the past three years, and most teachers make use of it now. I believe that it improves of the quality of our teaching, and is reflected on our curriculum.”
Looking outwards
“We are now also cooperating more with the University, which was also one of the aims of the reorganisation that we had in the past year. And beyond that, we have also become more attuned to the needs of the world. We are now looking more outwards than before. Presently, we also pay more attention to diversity issues. I really think that it is very important for our development, as well us Community Engaged Learning, which is also increasing at the college as ever more teachers are involved in it.”
“What makes Community Engaged Learning so important is that it helps us break out of the campus bubble. Even though the tight campus is part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences experience, it is important for students to understand that knowledge is not only created by reading and in class, but it is also generated by learning in the world. You need to have those experiences peppered in our curriculum to make it a deeper experience. We need to keep on asking ourselves what is worth learning.”
A tough year
“The past year has been no doubt the toughest year of my professional life. Next to the reorganisation process which we went through last year, the College was met with the announcement of relocation of the campus over a number of years. That came to us as shock, as although the campus is not ideally suited for all our needs, it is closely linked to the identity of the College, and it is here that we have built history for more than twenty years. It will be a big challenge to settle in a new place. The Covid-19 crisis was of course fully unexpected. We had to shift in another mode of teaching and learning within just a couple of days, and I think that we adjusted very well. I really appreciate the high degree of flexibility shown by both faculty and staff.”
“University College Utrecht is a work in progress, and the college has plenty of talent among staff and students than it shows already. People should know what a great place this is. ”
Back to teaching and writing
“As for myself, I am going back to teaching at the Department of History and Art History. I have been teaching there during the past years as well, and now I also do a Master’s seminar on thesis writing. I also have a number of book projects to take up in the coming few years: I will write a book on Dutch church-state relations, an overview of Dutch drugs policy, and a book on the history of 20th century Netherlands.”
“In my new position as Distinguished University Professor of Community Engaged Learning I hope see in which ways I can help the university to further develop its research agenda and tie it to the educational agenda. I am also interested in talking about how universities have responded to the call of society to be mindful of its needs, and why having partners outside the university community is so important.”
As of 1 January 2021, Professor Susan te Pas will follow James Kennedy as Dean of University College Utrecht.