9/19/2012: Another sensible faculty led initiative, from Inside Oregon:
Lininger and fellow UO professors Jane Cramer (political science), Chris Doe (biology) and Neil Bania and Laura Leete (planning, public policy and management) saw that local students were losing many opportunities for AP coursework. They also sensed an opportunity to make college-level courses more accessible to students whose parents did not attend college, or who may have believed college was out of reach.
“We did a lot of outreach to let schools know, especially in areas where a lower percentage of kids were going to college that we had an opportunity where students could take four-credit courses for $60,” said Lininger, who holds an Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis professorship.
To Lininger, the biggest accomplishment for the program is the diversity of students from Eugene-area schools – ethnic and financial diversity – as well as first-time college students.
“We have students in our program who have no one in their homes who have been to college and it gives them a vantage point to judge whether college is a good fit,” he said. “I’m happy to say almost all of them have finished our courses and seem interested in coming to a college, sometimes the UO. It’s been successful as far as we can tell.
I hope the administration recognizes this type of service to the university and community. These guys are amazing — imagine faculty voluntarily teaching an extra course for no pay. The same can be said for faculty involved with the SAIL program.
As a student at the UO, I love that two of the professors I’ve had (Cramer and Leete) are working on this. AP credits are invaluable time and money savers and I’m glad to see professors helping out the community like this.