Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, records of Margaret MacVicar

This collection contains the records of Margaret MacVicar, the dean for undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1985 to 1991. The dean for undergraduate education chaired the Committee on the Undergraduate Program. Other committees dealing with undergraduate issues in which MacVicar participated included the Committee on HASS (Humanities, Arts and Social Science), 1986; the Committee on the Science Requirement, 1989-1991; and the Committee on Academic Computation for the 1990s and Beyond, 1989-1990. Background materials, discussion papers, and notes related to these and other committees are included in this collection. Also included are proposals, correspondence, and notes concerned with undergraduate issues such as the debate on program requirements in the sciences; the chemistry requirements; the humanities, arts and social sciences requirements; the writing requirement, 1986-1988; freshman year pass/fail/no record; Project Athena and the computing needs of MIT undergraduates; the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP); and the operation of Independent Activities Period (IAP), 1985-1991. Records related to budget planning and the allocation process and longer range budgetary planning are included in the collection. Also included are files and correspondence dealing with foundations and corporations, admissions issues, other MIT offices, Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), teaching chairs and awards, and the five-year plans of the schools.

Materials related to MacVicar's appointment and the creation of the position are included in the collection as are her speeches from 1985 to 1988. The collection also contains an audiotape of an Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education session for new faculty and instructors on how to teach at the Institute, held on 17 January 1989.