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Center for Community Development and Higher Education and High Potential Education Program records

 Collection
Identifier: AC 59

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a wide variety of content. Much of Box 1 consists of budget sheets, and incoming and outgoing memos from the High Potential Education Program office from both internal and external sources. Most papers are from the offices of Michael Young, Robert Carter, Provost William Kolb, and Sheila Franklin. There are also student grade and work reports, and papers from the G.E.D. preparation program. This collection contains meeting minutes from various committees (including Academic Policy Committee and the special High Potential Education Program committee) and the Board of Trustees, as well as memoranda and other correspondence between committee members. There are also preliminary and final drafts of program proposals prepared by Dean Kolb and Robert L. Carter, director and special assistant to the dean.

Dates

  • 1968-1976

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Biographical / Historical

A reaction to the Civil Rights movements of the late 1960s, Beloit College's High Potential Education Program (HPEP, sometimes called High Potential Program) began as a summer pilot program in 1968, and sought to provide an environment conducive to non-traditional learning for select members of the greater Beloit area's black and "deprived" high school students.

From primary source materials (memo from Dean William L. Kolb, dated 1969) within the collection:

"The High Potential Education Program coordinates all academic and non-academic services relating to students from the Greater Beloit area, considered to be educationally and/or economically deprived, who have matriculated under the special program. Participants meet all degree requirements and are a regular part of the institution." After the success of the pilot program, it was expanded in 1969, and became somewhat of a precursor to Beloit College's current Help Yourself Programs. High Potential Education was explicitly referenced in the Black Demands of 1969.

The program was intended to admit 20 students per year. HPEP students enrolled in a class called Systematic Thinking Curriculum (STC) which was meant to prime them for serious, college-level academic work, and which covered grammar, syntax, logic, and composition. During their Field Term (a curriculum requirement during the Beloit Plan era), HPEP students went to local high schools and they themselves taught STC to high school students with whom they shared "cultural characteristics".

The Center for Community Development and Higher Education was proposed at the same time as High Potential, and was intended to be its parent organization. While High Potential began in 1969, CCDHE was not fully realized until 1972. From then on it encompassed High Potential, as well as the Minority Students Research Center and the Educational Development Program.



Michael Young was the director of the High Potential Program from 1971-73, and the director of the Center for Community Development and Higher Education from 1973-75.

Extent

2 Linear Feet (2 storage boxes)

Abstract

This collection contains records relevant to the High Potential Education Program (HPEP) and its parent organization, the Center for Community Development and Higher Education (CCDHE). This collection contains meeting minutes from various committees (including Academic Policy Committee and the special High Potential Education Program committee) and the Board of Trustees, as well as memoranda and other correspondence between committee members. There are also preliminary and final drafts of program proposals prepared by Dean Kolb and Robert L. Carter, director and special assistant to the dean. This collection also contains records Michael Young (Beloit College class of 1969) created or received in his capacity as part of the High Potential Program, Systematic Thinking Curriculum, Center for Community Development and Higher Education, and related offices. Materials include student reports, faculty and administration meeting minutes, Systematic Thinking Curriculum files, internal and external memos, Sheila Franklin's papers, and student applications to the High Potential Program.

Related Materials

Beloit College Academic Policy Committee records (AC 3)
Beloit College Civil Rights collection (AC 32)
William L. Kolb papers (MC 63)
Michael Young papers (MC 121)

Title
Beloit College College Center for Community Development and Higher Education and High Potential Education Program Records
Status
Completed
Author
This finding aid was completed in December, 2013 by Michelle Tom. Last updated December, 2014 by Julia Malonson.
Date
December, 2013
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Beloit College Archives and Special Collections, Beloit, WI Repository

Contact:
700 College St.
Beloit WI 53511 USA
608-363-2485