Focus on passionate ideas, grades take care of themselves
Dr. Gwen Murdock

Head of Psychology Department

I never wanted to graduate from college.

I wanted to keep going to class, hanging out in the library or cafeteria and thinking about ideas.

I had fun in college, because I was passionate about a few ideas.

I was passionate about primates, the order of mammals that includes humans, apes and monkeys.

I was a biology major, but I loved my physical anthropology classes.

My senior year, I took a course in Primatology, where we examined the ecology, morphology and behavior of primates.

I chose a topic of orangutan ecology for the course research paper. However, the library at CU-Boulder had almost no relevant reference materials.

Some were very obscure. With my professor s written permission, and in spite of the fact the librarian said, I shouldn t investigate topics that aren t in our library.

I persisted in requesting interlibrary loans from all over the country.

My professor encouraged me to not turn in my paper on the due date, but only after I had used all the references. Over the next six months, I continued working on the paper, even after I officially graduated.

Working on this project was tremendously satisfying.

However, I was let down by the final  A  grade.

I would rather have had a conversation with my professor about my topic or read his analysis of my paper.

Lately, I have thought a lot about my own learning and grading orientation. As a student, I was much more learning oriented.

As a professor, I want to become much more learning oriented for my students. Many students discuss their grades or their graduation requirements with me.

Far fewer students discuss their ideas with me. I hope you come to love college the way I did. I hope you find ideas to feel passionate about.

I hope you can work on those ideas, regardless of the limitations of our library, our semesters, and our graduation requirements.

If your topic is one about which I am somewhat knowledgeable, I will help you explore it.

Focus on the passion of ideas and the grades will take care of themselves.