Faculty Spotlight: Dick Moore
Dr. F. Richard Moore shares his viewpoint about Sixth College:
While my tenure as Provost was brief, I have been involved with Sixth College since before its inception. In fact, I helped to design it, and have tried to nurture it ever since it opened by teaching in its core curriculum and serving on its executive committee, among other things. I hope you are as proud of our 21st-Century college as I am.
I have been on the UCSD faculty for almost 30 years now, and I think I spent the first 10 of them figuring out what these colleges were about. To me, the true genius of UCSD's college system is the solution they provide to one of the oldest problems of academia. Like religion and politics, general education is one of those subjects on which almost everyone believes they are an expert. That is part of why the question of how general education is best accomplished can never truly be settled. There is no apparent "one-size-fits-all" solution to general education. So UCSD provides, now, six excellent solutions and a choice.
What I like best about the UCSD colleges are their differences. By emphasizing the effects of art and technology on culture, Sixth College goes very much against a common academic grain holding that fields of knowledge are somehow unrelated. The other colleges take on this integrative aspect of learning in other insightful ways. While our college system is not commonly followed elsewhere, I have come to greatly appreciate its benefits and hope that you have (or will) as well.
I wish to thank founding Provost Gabriele Wienhausen and past Interim Provost David Jordan for their excellent service to Sixth College and our college system, and to welcome Naomi Oreskes as the new (long term!) Provost of Sixth College. Viva la difference!
F. Richard Moore, Ph.D.
Professor of Music and
Former Interim Provost
UC San Diego Sixth College
