UNC Asheville’s Quality Enhancement Program (QEP), Inquiry ARC, centers on improving critical thinking through activities of inquiry, application, reflection and communication. The concept began as part of the university’s SACS accreditation review in 2010, when a team of faculty, staff and students led by Dr. Mary Lynn Manns began soliciting feedback through surveys and other venues to ultimately identify critical thinking as a shared priority on our campus. The resulting 2012 Inquiry-ARC SACS Report was enthusiastically received by the SACS review team in spring 2012. The implementation of the project began in fall 2012 by a group of twelve pilot faculty.
This site is designed to serve as a space to track the implementation of Inquiry ARC as it moves from concept to reality. It is our hope that by the 2017 SACS review, the Inquiry ARC initiative will have made a significant impact on our students’ capacities for critical thinking. While students will learn these skill sets for the most part in an academic context, they are also broadly transferable to range of life experiences and situations. Inquiry ARC further reflects UNC Asheville’s dedication to providing an education that empowers students for active and meaningful futures marked by a love of learning and the intellectual and emotional capacity to be “seriously creative” throughout their lives.
I’m pleased to have the opportunity to serve as a faculty leader in this initiative, and I invite you to contact me with any questions or ideas you might have about the program.
Sincerely,
Lorena Russell, Ph.D.
Director, UNC Asheville’s Inquiry ARC
lrussell@unca.edu | 828.251.6594
CPO #2130, Department of Literature & Language