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Twenty-three years after teaching his first Honors College students at USC, Davis Baird is now dean of the college and eager to lead one of the University’s most visible academic units.
Baird, chair of the philosophy department for the past 13 years, begins his new duties July 1, replacing Peter Sederberg who will step down June 30 after 11 years as dean.
“Two things I’m most keen on are getting more students engaged in doing research early on and involving students in research and scholarly work in all disciplines—not just the sciences,” Baird said. “I want to continue and improve on the research-based learning model that Peter started several years ago; it’s one of the most important innovations in higher education in a long time.”
Only about 10 to 20 percent of Honors College students currently are engaged in faculty-directed research, Baird said. To increase that participation rate, he’s planning to work with the new Office of Undergraduate Research and with departments that don’t traditionally use undergraduates in research or scholarly projects.
“It’s true that undergraduates don’t have as much experience, but I think we undervalue their motivation to learn,” he said. “If you tell a student that he or she can contribute to a discipline, but that they need to acquire a particular skill to do so, they will learn it.”
Baird, a co-principal investigator on a large NSF-sponsored grant to study the ethical and social implications of nanotechnology, often has involved undergraduates in his research. He also was an early participant in USC’s Hewlett Foundation grant, which supported the Honors College’s initial foray into research-based learning.
“What was very positive about Davis Baird from the search committee’s perspective is his breadth—degrees in philosophy and mathematics and his involvement in nanotechnology,” said Bruce Coull, dean of the School of the Environment and chair of the Honors College search. “With his intellect and interest in reaching across disciplines, which he demonstrated as chair of the philosophy department, he will make the Honors College even more diverse intellectually.”
Baird sees the Honors College as a draw not only for top-notch students but for high-quality faculty members, too. Because the Honors College often has been an incubator for innovative teaching and research activities, Baird is considering a plan to bring in faculty as Honors College fellows who would plan and launch new teaching projects over one- to two-semester periods.
“Details need to be worked out to make such a program work—space for these ‘fellows,’ among other things—but such a program would create a powerful site for educational innovation,” Baird said.
In addition to building on the college’s research-based learning model, Baird hopes to improve on Honors College students’ advisement experience. Students are limited to 15-minute sessions during regular advisement periods in the fall and spring; this fall’s expected influx of 315 honors freshmen will only exacerbate that crunch.
“We want students to take advantage of the time outside the standard advisement sessions,” Baird said. “That’s when there’s not a crunch, and students can talk to their honors advisor for as long as they want.”
Baird also is considering a peer-mentoring model in which junior and senior Honors College students would help advise freshmen and sophomores.
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