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Department of Geological Sciences
East Carolina University
Memo
To:
PPC
From:
Stanley R. Riggs, Distinguished Professor, Geological Sciences
Date:
3/22/2012
Re:
PPC Report of 3/30/2012
Dear PPC Members,
I am disturbed by the potential plan to break up East Carolina University’s Thomas Harriot College of Arts and
Sciences. In this day and age it is more important than ever that a strong “liberal arts and sciences program” be
the fundamental core of academic institutions of higher learning. As the complexity of our global society increases,
it is increasingly important that we not only have a broadly educated population, but that our professionals and
political leaders are well grounded in the humanities, arts, and sciences.
Growth and development within the University’s professional programs is critical. However, today it is crucial that
our graduates in business, education, engineering, nursing, medicine, etc. need adequate skills in writing and
communication, know basic fundamentals about world history and foreign cultures, are versed in moral ethics and
logical thinking, and have a general background in the fundamentals of science. It is imperative that our graduates
have broad-based skills that will allow them to solve the increasingly multifaceted problems of a globally centered
society.
In my professional experience as a scientist working with global resource problems at the international, national,
and local levels, it has become increasingly obvious that many professional experts and political leaders have
become super-specialists with myopic visions. This has led to the decreasing abilities to work together to solve
complex problems resulting from increasing populations, decreasing availability of basic resources, and rapidly
changing physical conditions on our planet Earth. For example, we see this in the conflicts developing between
our high-technology based economy and the increased rejection of basic fundamentals of science by large
portions of our society, by the increasing deterioration of a broad-based education system at both the K-12 and
university levels, and by the ever increasing conflicts between major ethnic, religious, and philosophic groups at
local to global scales. The extreme polarization within our society today is unconscionable.
A core university curriculum in the “liberal arts and sciences” is a crucial component for the future of our global
society. Please do not destroy a quality program that has been developed by ECU since the decision was made
to build a world class university. I came to ECU in 1967 because of this commitment by our leaders to build a
strong program in the “liberal arts and sciences” in concert with the professional school development. The world,
our nation, and North Carolina needs well educated, broad-based citizens and leaders that can work
constructively together to solve today’s increasingly important problems.
If you are interested in talking further about this, please give me a call.
Sincerely,
Stanley R. Riggs