The College of Magic is a non-profit organization (007-517 NPO/NGO) based in Cape Town, South Africa that teaches magic to people from various levels of society with the goal of creating social empowerment. The organisation’s projects address key community concerns at grassroots level.
The Director, David Gore, has been with the organisation since its inception.
It is the current holder of 17 national and 2 international awards. College of Magic graduates perform throughout South Africa, and the world. The College of Magic is a member of the International Jugglers' Association (IJA).
History
The College of Magic opened its doors on 23 February 1980, and is the only one of its kind in the world. It was established with the aim of providing performance arts training for aspirant entertainers from all sections of Cape Town’s community.
In 1992, the College of Magic moved into its present home, a renovated Victorian house in Claremont, Cape Town. Officially opened in 1995 by the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology as the Magical Arts Centre, the College – with the help of the community – has restored the building and developed its facilities for their unique teaching and training needs.
Objectives
To provide skills training in the magical and theatrical arts.
To promote and improve leadership potential and excellence.
To offer access to information, performance and employment opportunities, services and resources.
To empower young people, enabling them to gain the respect of their families and community and to promote interaction and moral regeneration.
To inspire students to be creative and productive through developing their skills, thereby contributing to wealth creation and career development.
Courses
The College of Magic is engaged in performing arts education and training, and specialises in training young people – children from the age of 10 years and upwards – in the art of magic and the allied arts of juggling, ventriloquism, mime and clowning.
The unique curriculum consists of six core courses that are structured hierarchically, with each course increasing in complexity, expectations of the learner and skill mastery. In the first three years, students are introduced to the basics of magic including presentation skills, the theory of entertainment and the essential elements of controlling an audience. During the fourth, fifth and sixth years, the curriculum becomes substantially more demanding in terms of the technical requirements and the theoretical aspects of entertaining. Students focus on entertaining children, sleight of hand, close-up magic, stage magic, magic with animals and stage illusions.
The courses are geared to encouraging individuality and innovation; hence workshops are frequently included as part of the course, where students can build their own props and experiment with new ideas. The nature of the courses is instructive, where opportunities for learners to continually "go back" – i.e. to refine, rehearse, improve and become more competent "magical" performers at that particular level – is fundamental. Embedded in each course is a cycle of action that includes:
demonstration,
practice,
presentation,
reflection,
refinement,
practice, and
presentation.
The syllabus of each course is regularly assessed and upgraded wherever necessary. The required standard of performance is monitored closely so that uniformity and excellence is maintained. Lessons are held on Saturday mornings, and tutorials are arranged at other times directly with the instructors.
Staff
The staff can be segmented into the following categories:
1. The Non-Executive Board of Management - The College of Magic is governed by an experienced board of trustees, who are responsible for all decision-making in line with the organisation’s constitution. Both their chairperson and their treasurer are graduates of the organisation. The executive director and founder of the College, David Gore, has served the organisation for 27 years.
2. The Administrative Staff - The administrative staff is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation.
3. The Voluntary Teaching Staff - The College started with a teaching staff consisting of three people. It has since grown to include professional magicians, experienced teachers, specialists in the various allied arts, graduates of the College, administrative staff and visiting lectures (local and international). The expertise and nurturing approach offered at the College has continued to grow over the years with staff development courses being run on an ongoing basis. The staff are responsible for all aspects of the course they are teaching, including syllabus development, lesson preparation, one-on-one tutorial sessions and grading of student progress. The teaching staff is the backbone of the organisation, and all 14 members are volunteers.
The Magical Arts Centre
The College of Magic is currently resident in its own premises situated on Lansdowne Road in Claremont Cape Town. These premises were officially opened as the "Magical Arts Centre" (MAC) on 24 February 1995 by the then Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology.
The MAC consists of a double-story Victorian house with a wrap-around porch upstairs and downstairs, and is situated on 1840m2 of property. The building has a very homely feel with a large entrance foyer and a mini-theatre that can comfortably seat forty people. Five rooms are used for teaching purposes and two further rooms are available for tutorials when required. One of the teaching rooms is a fully equipped video studio which provides an excellent medium for training. There are sound and recording facilities available, as well as limited lighting equipment that is used to provide students with an all-round knowledge of show business. There is a kitchen-come-staff room and four offices, one of which doubles as a reception area. There is a library-come-social room where students can socialise and take out books and videos. This library is one of the largest magic museums in South Africa and houses five collections of books: the Museum library, the Cape Magician’s Circle Library, the Junior Library, the Senior Library and the extensive Staff Library. There is also a collection of videotapes and DVDs, which form an integral part of the teaching process.
The building has a courtyard in which the College’s animals are kept and two large shipping containers in the back garden. One stores the extensive collection of stage illusions, magical props and costumes; the second is a fully equipped workshop for the students, and was developed through the sponsorship of the Old Mutual Foundation.
Challenges
While the organisation’s human resources is by far its most valuable asset, there is a desperate need to consolidate and develop its physical resources:
A substantial amount of money is outstanding on the existing building, placing considerable strain on the organisation’s cash reserves.
While the building itself has been extensively restored, many necessary items and features are still missing.
Space is at a premium, with the College struggling to accommodate its current student body, project-participants and visitors.
The Solution
On Tuesday 13 March 2007 The College of Magic (007-517 NPO) launched a capital fundraising campaign, entitled "13 Magical Milestones". The campaign target has been set at 1.3 million South African Rand (approx. $186,000 US Dollars), and will cover the costs of constructing and furnishing the "Imagination Centre and Secret Garden" development; necessary extensive renovations to the existing building and grounds; and the amount owing on the building.
The SARMOTI Grant
In 1997 the Siegfried & Roy SARMOTI Grant was established enabling disadvantaged young people to join the college and experience the world of magic. Delivered in person by their emissary and coordinator, Lynette Chappell, the Siegfried & Roy SARMOTI Grant heralded a new era for the College of Magic.
Called the Magic in the Community project, it allows a group of students to be transported for weekly lessons from their destitute homes in the Cape Flats to the fantasy-fulfilling world of the college.
College of Magic Film Documentary
In 2007, director Daniel Roth filmed a feature length documentary entitled "Do You Believe In Magic?" on the College of Magic. The film follows the lives of students Lesley and Mfundo as they struggle to realize their dream of winning the school's annual competition in order to advance to the annual World Teenage Magic Championship in Las Vegas.
"Do You Believe In Magic?" premiered at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles on 9 February 2008, and it was also selected for the 2008 International Film Festival of South Africa.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Cornell University College of Human Ecology
The New York State College of Human Ecology (HumEc) is a statutory college at Cornell University. The college is a unique compilation of studies on consumer science, nutrition, health economics, public policy, human development and textiles, each components of the discipline of human ecology that comprise what Ian McHarg described as “human ecological planning”.
Students at the College of Human Ecology delve into biology and chemistry, economics, psychology, and sociology, applying their expertise in fields such as health, design, nutrition, public policy, and marketing. Studies done by professors and students vary from studying the financial impacts of tax legislation to designing safer workplaces and facilitating healthy growth of premature infants.
For 2007-2008, HumEc has a total budget of $73 million, with $33 million from tuition and $9 million from state appropriations.
The beginnings of the College appeared in the year 1900, when a reading course for farm women was created. In 1907, the Department of Home Economics was created within Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture. In 1919, the Department of Home Economics became a school within the Agriculture College. In 1925, the school was converted to the New York State College of Home Economics, the first state-chartered college of Home Economics in the country.
The focus of the college at the turn of the 20th century was home economics. The field was a critical pathway for women to obtain higher education. From its inception, home economics was multidisciplinary and integrative with an emphasis on science applied to the real world of the home, families and communities. The on-campus program developed in conjunction with Cornell's cooperative extension program that placed extension agents in every county of New York State to teach scientific principles of agriculture and home economics.
Eleanor Roosevelt played an integral role in the development of the College of Home Economics from the 1920s to the 1940s. As the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York from 1928 to 1932, and later as America's First Lady, from 1933 to 1945 (during her husband's tenure as President of the United States), she employed her fame and influence in ways that resulted in greater financial support for home economics programs and increased publicity for the College. It was with Eleanor Roosevelt's support that in February 1925, that the New York State legislature passed a bill, which made Cornell's School of Home Economics the New York State College of Home Economics.
From 1922 until 1950, Cornell's hotel administration program operated as a department within the college, until it spun off into a separate endowed unit.
In 1949, the College was one of four Cornell statutory colleges included in the State University of New York to reflect on-going state funding. The New York Legislature changed the College's name in 1969 (coinciding with an administrative reorganization of the College) to its present name — the New York State College of Human Ecology — to reflect a more "modern" focus of the College beyond "domestic arts." The college remains a unit of the State University of New York.
Academics
The college enrolls approximately 1,200 undergraduates and 200 graduate students and has approximately 300 faculty members.
Admission is extremely competitive. Applications for the College of Human Ecology usually run around 1200. About 89% of the entering students are ranked in the top 10% as compared to the average of 85% for Cornell.
The College of Human Ecology comprises several departments:
Human Development (HD)
Policy Analysis & Management (PAM)
Division of Nutritional Sciences (DNS)
Design & Environmental Analysis (DEA)
Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD)
Cornell’s interior design program in the DEA department is highly ranked on the undergraduate and graduate levels by DesignIntelligence. In its annual edition of "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" the journal has ranked Cornell’s Bachelor of Design and Environmental Analysis (Option I: Interior Design) program as fourth in the nation in 2010, fourth in 2009, third in 2008, second in 2007, and third in 2006. Cornell’s Master of Art in Design program was ranked as third in 2010, fourth in 2009, fifth in 2008, second in 2007, and third in 2006. In 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cornell's Sloan Program in Health Administration 14th in the nation.
Facilities
Since 1933, the college has been housed in Martha Van Renssalaer Hall (MVR), a 171,648 sq ft (15,946.6 m2) Georgian Revival style brick building designed by William Haugaard located between the Ag Quad and Beebe Lake. In 1968, a dramatic, cantilevered wing designed by Ulrich Franzen was added to the North side of MVR overlooking Beebe Lake. However, the building was declared structurally unsafe in 2001 and abandoned. In the meantime, a west wing was built to house the human nutrition labs as a link between the main MVR and the north wing, but it opened in 2002, after the north wing was closed. The North wing was demolished in 2006, and construction began in 2008 to replace it with an 88,228-square-foot (8,196.6 m2) teaching and laboratory building atop a 290 car parking garage. The lead architect is Darko Hreljanovic, a 1977 graduate of Cornell's architecture college. The new building will open in 2012.
Students at the College of Human Ecology delve into biology and chemistry, economics, psychology, and sociology, applying their expertise in fields such as health, design, nutrition, public policy, and marketing. Studies done by professors and students vary from studying the financial impacts of tax legislation to designing safer workplaces and facilitating healthy growth of premature infants.
For 2007-2008, HumEc has a total budget of $73 million, with $33 million from tuition and $9 million from state appropriations.
The beginnings of the College appeared in the year 1900, when a reading course for farm women was created. In 1907, the Department of Home Economics was created within Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture. In 1919, the Department of Home Economics became a school within the Agriculture College. In 1925, the school was converted to the New York State College of Home Economics, the first state-chartered college of Home Economics in the country.
The focus of the college at the turn of the 20th century was home economics. The field was a critical pathway for women to obtain higher education. From its inception, home economics was multidisciplinary and integrative with an emphasis on science applied to the real world of the home, families and communities. The on-campus program developed in conjunction with Cornell's cooperative extension program that placed extension agents in every county of New York State to teach scientific principles of agriculture and home economics.
Eleanor Roosevelt played an integral role in the development of the College of Home Economics from the 1920s to the 1940s. As the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York from 1928 to 1932, and later as America's First Lady, from 1933 to 1945 (during her husband's tenure as President of the United States), she employed her fame and influence in ways that resulted in greater financial support for home economics programs and increased publicity for the College. It was with Eleanor Roosevelt's support that in February 1925, that the New York State legislature passed a bill, which made Cornell's School of Home Economics the New York State College of Home Economics.
From 1922 until 1950, Cornell's hotel administration program operated as a department within the college, until it spun off into a separate endowed unit.
In 1949, the College was one of four Cornell statutory colleges included in the State University of New York to reflect on-going state funding. The New York Legislature changed the College's name in 1969 (coinciding with an administrative reorganization of the College) to its present name — the New York State College of Human Ecology — to reflect a more "modern" focus of the College beyond "domestic arts." The college remains a unit of the State University of New York.
Academics
The college enrolls approximately 1,200 undergraduates and 200 graduate students and has approximately 300 faculty members.
Admission is extremely competitive. Applications for the College of Human Ecology usually run around 1200. About 89% of the entering students are ranked in the top 10% as compared to the average of 85% for Cornell.
The College of Human Ecology comprises several departments:
Human Development (HD)
Policy Analysis & Management (PAM)
Division of Nutritional Sciences (DNS)
Design & Environmental Analysis (DEA)
Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD)
Cornell’s interior design program in the DEA department is highly ranked on the undergraduate and graduate levels by DesignIntelligence. In its annual edition of "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" the journal has ranked Cornell’s Bachelor of Design and Environmental Analysis (Option I: Interior Design) program as fourth in the nation in 2010, fourth in 2009, third in 2008, second in 2007, and third in 2006. Cornell’s Master of Art in Design program was ranked as third in 2010, fourth in 2009, fifth in 2008, second in 2007, and third in 2006. In 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cornell's Sloan Program in Health Administration 14th in the nation.
Facilities
Since 1933, the college has been housed in Martha Van Renssalaer Hall (MVR), a 171,648 sq ft (15,946.6 m2) Georgian Revival style brick building designed by William Haugaard located between the Ag Quad and Beebe Lake. In 1968, a dramatic, cantilevered wing designed by Ulrich Franzen was added to the North side of MVR overlooking Beebe Lake. However, the building was declared structurally unsafe in 2001 and abandoned. In the meantime, a west wing was built to house the human nutrition labs as a link between the main MVR and the north wing, but it opened in 2002, after the north wing was closed. The North wing was demolished in 2006, and construction began in 2008 to replace it with an 88,228-square-foot (8,196.6 m2) teaching and laboratory building atop a 290 car parking garage. The lead architect is Darko Hreljanovic, a 1977 graduate of Cornell's architecture college. The new building will open in 2012.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
College of Augurs
The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds: whether they are flying in groups or alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of birds they are. This was known as "taking the auspices." The ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society—public or private—including matters of war, commerce, and religion.
The Roman historian Livy stresses the importance of the augurs: "Who does not know that this city was founded only after taking the auspices, that everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the auspices?"
Etymology and derivatives
The derivation of the word augur is uncertain; ancient authors believed that it contained the words avi and gero—Latin for "directing the birds"—but historical-linguistic evidence points instead to the root aug-, "to increase, to prosper."
'Come then,' Tarquin said angrily, 'Deduce when they make up in bed, if your augury can, whether what I have in my mind right now is possible.' And when Navius, expert in augury that he was, immediately said that it would happen, Tarquin replied: 'Well, I thought that you would cut a whetstone with a sharp knife. Here, take this and do what your birds have predicted would be possible.' And Navius, hardly delaying at all, took the whetstone and cut it.
—Livy, 1.35.2
The story is illustrative of the role of the augur: he does not predict what course of action should be taken, but through his augury he finds signs on whether or not a course already decided upon meets with divine sanction and should proceed.
Public role
Roman augurs were part of a collegium of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position. At the foundation of the Republic in 510 BC, the patricians held sole claim to this office; by 300 BC, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. Senior members of the collegium put forth nominations for any vacancies, and members voted on whom to co-opt.
In the Regal period tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time; by the time of Sulla, they had reached fifteen in number.
Augury sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Rome's pax, fortuna and salus (peace, good fortune and wellbeing). Political, military and civil actions were sanctioned by augury, historically performed by priests of the college of augurs and by haruspices on behalf of senior magistrates. The presiding magistrate at an augural rite thus held the “right of augury” (ius augurii). Magistracies (which included senior military and civil ranks) were therefore religious offices in their own right, and magistrates were directly responsible for the pax, fortuna and salus of Rome and everything that was Roman.
The effectiveness of augury could only be judged retrospectively; the divinely ordained condition of peace (pax deorum) was an outcome of successful augury. Those whose actions had led to divine wrath (ira deorum) could not have possessed a true right of augury (ius augurum). Of all the protagonists in the Civil War, only Octavian could have possessed it, because he alone had restored the pax deorum to the Roman people. Lucan, writing during the Principate, described the recent Civil War as "unnatural" - a mirror to supernatural disturbances in the greater cosmos. His imagery is apt to the traditional principles of augury and its broader interpretation by Stoic apologists of the Imperial cult. In the Stoic cosmology, pax deorum is the expression of natural order in human affairs.
According to Cicero, the auctoritas of ius augurum included the right to adjourn and overturn the process of law: consular election could be - and was - rendered invalid by inaugural error. For Cicero, this made the augur the most powerful authority in the Republic. Cicero himself was co-opted into the college only late in his career.
In the later Republic, augury came under the supervision of the college of pontifices, a priestly-magistral office whose powers were increasingly woven into the cursus honorum. The office of pontifex maximus eventually became a de facto consular prerogative. When his colleague Lepidus died, Augustus assumed his office as pontifex maximus, took priestly control over the State oracles (including the Sibylline books), and used his powers as censor to suppress the circulation of "unapproved" oracles.
Augurs, auguria and auspices
In ancient Rome the auguria were considered to be in equilibrium with the sacra ("sacred things" or "rites") and were not the only way by which the gods made their will known. The augures publici (public augurs) concerned themselves only with matters related to the state.
According to Varro they used to distinguish five kinds of territory: ager Romanus, ager Gabinus, ager peregrinus, ager hosticus, ager incertus: these distinctions clearly point to the times of the prehistory of Latium and testify the archaic quality of the art of augury.
The jus augurale (augural law) was rigorously secret, therefore very little about the technical aspects of ceremonies and rituals has been recorded. We have only the names of some auguria (augural rites): e.g. the augurium salutis which took place once a year before the magistrates and the people, in which the gods were asked whether it was auspicious to ask to for the welfare of the Romans, the augurium canarium and the vernisera auguria. The first one required the sacrifice of red dogs and took place before wheat grains were shelled but not before they had formed. Of the second we know only the name that implies a ritual related to the harvest.
Augurium and auspicium are terms used indifferently by the ancient. Modern scholars have debated the issue at length but have failed to find a distinctive definition that may hold for all the known cases. By such considerations Dumezil thinks that the two terms refer in fact to two aspects of the same religious act: auspicium would design the technical process of the operation, i.e. aves spicere, looking at the birds. His result would be the augurium, i.e. the determination, acknowledgement of the presence of the *auges, the favour of the god(s), the intention and the final result of the whole operation. In Varro's words "Agere augurium, aves specit", "to conduct the augurium, he observed the birds". Since auguria publica and inaugurations of magistrates are strictly connected to political life this brought about the deterioration and abuses that condemned augury to progressive and inarrestable debasement, stripping it of all religious value.
The role of the augur was that of consulting and interpreting the will of gods about some course of action such as accession of kings to the throne, of magistrates and major sacerdotes to their functions (inauguration) and all public enterprises.
The prototype of the ritual of inauguration of people is described in Livy's relation of the inauguration of king Numa Pompilius. The augur asks Jupiter (signa belong to Jupiter): "Si fas est (i.e. if it is divine justice to do this)... send me a certain signum (sign)", then the augur listed the auspicia he wanted to see coming. When they appeared Numa was declared king.
Technically the sky was divided into four sections or regions: dextera, sinistra, antica and postica (right, left, anterior and posterior).
Before taking the auspicia impetrativa ("requested" or "sought" auspices; see below) the templum, or sacred space within which the operation would take place had to be established and delimited (it should be square and have only one entrance) and purified (effari, liberare).
The auspicia were divided into two categories: requested by man (impetrativa) and offered spontaneously by the gods (oblativa). During a ceremony the enunciation of the requested auspicia was technically called legum dictio.[24] Magistrates endowed by the law with the right of spectio (observation of auspices) would establish the requested the auspicium. To the augur was reserved the nuntiatio i.e. announcing the appearance of auspicia oblativa that would require the interruption of the operation.
The science of interpretation of signs was vast and complex.
Only some species of birds (aves augurales) could yield valid signs whose meaning would vary according to the species. Among them were ravens, woodpeckers, owls, oxifragae, eagles.
Signs from birds were divided into alites, from the flight, and oscines, from the voice. The alites included region of the sky, height and type of flight, behaviour of the bird and place where it would rest.
The oscines included the pitch and direction of the sound.
Since the observation was complex conflict among signs was not uncommon.
A hierarchy among signs was devised: e.g. a sign from the eagle would prevail on that from the woodpecker and the oxifraga (parra).
Observation conditions were rigorous and required absolute silence for validity of the operation.
Both impetrativa and oblativa auspices could be divided into five classes: ex caelo (thunder,lightning), ex avibus, ex tripudiis (attitude to food and feeding manner of the sacred chickens), ex quadrupedibus (dog, horse, wolf, fox), ex diris (ominous events).
During the last centuries of the republic the auspices ex caelo and ex tripudiis supplanted other types, as they could be easily used in a fraudulent way, i.e. bent to suit the desire of the asking person. It sufficed to say that the augur or magistrate had heard a clap of thunder to suspend the convocation of the comitia.
Cicero condemned the fraudulent use and denounced the decline in the level of knowledge of the doctrine by the augurs of his time.
In fact the abuse developed from the protective tricks devised to avoid being paralysed by negative signs. For an instance see the conversation between king Numa and Jupiter in Ovid, Fasti III, 339-344.
Against the negative auspicia oblativa the admitted procedures included:
1. actively avoiding to see them.
2. repudiare refuse them through an interpretative sleight of hands.
3. non observare by assuming one had not paid attention to them.
4. naming something that in fact had not appeared.
5. choosing the time of the observation (tempestas) at one's will.
6. making a distinction between observation and formulation (renunciatiatio).
7. resorting to acknowledging the presence of mistakes (vitia).
8. repeating the whole procedure.
Attus Navius
Contrary to other divinatory practices present in Rome (e.g. haruspicina, consultation of the libri Sibyllini) augury appears to be autochthonous and originally Latin or Italic. The art has its roots in the prehistory of the Italic people and is attested in the Iguvine Tables (avif aseria) and among other Latin tribes. The very story or legend of the foundation of Rome is based on augury, i.e. the ascertaining of the will of gods through observation of the sky and of birds. Romulus and Remus indeed acted as augurs and Romulus was considered a great augur throughout the course of his life.
The character that best represented and portrayed the art however was Attus Navius. His story is related by Cicero.[32] He was born into a very poor family. One day he lost one of his pigs. He then promised the gods that if he found it, he would offer them the biggest grapes growing in his vineyard. After recovering his pig he stood right at the middle of his grape yard facing South. He divided the sky into four sections and observed birds: when they appeared he walked in that direction and found an extraordinary large grape that he offered to the gods.
His story was immediately famous and he became the augur of the king (see above the episode with king Tarquinius narrated by Livy). Henceforth he was considered the patron of the augurs.
The Roman historian Livy stresses the importance of the augurs: "Who does not know that this city was founded only after taking the auspices, that everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the auspices?"
Etymology and derivatives
The derivation of the word augur is uncertain; ancient authors believed that it contained the words avi and gero—Latin for "directing the birds"—but historical-linguistic evidence points instead to the root aug-, "to increase, to prosper."
'Come then,' Tarquin said angrily, 'Deduce when they make up in bed, if your augury can, whether what I have in my mind right now is possible.' And when Navius, expert in augury that he was, immediately said that it would happen, Tarquin replied: 'Well, I thought that you would cut a whetstone with a sharp knife. Here, take this and do what your birds have predicted would be possible.' And Navius, hardly delaying at all, took the whetstone and cut it.
—Livy, 1.35.2
The story is illustrative of the role of the augur: he does not predict what course of action should be taken, but through his augury he finds signs on whether or not a course already decided upon meets with divine sanction and should proceed.
Public role
Roman augurs were part of a collegium of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position. At the foundation of the Republic in 510 BC, the patricians held sole claim to this office; by 300 BC, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. Senior members of the collegium put forth nominations for any vacancies, and members voted on whom to co-opt.
In the Regal period tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time; by the time of Sulla, they had reached fifteen in number.
Augury sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Rome's pax, fortuna and salus (peace, good fortune and wellbeing). Political, military and civil actions were sanctioned by augury, historically performed by priests of the college of augurs and by haruspices on behalf of senior magistrates. The presiding magistrate at an augural rite thus held the “right of augury” (ius augurii). Magistracies (which included senior military and civil ranks) were therefore religious offices in their own right, and magistrates were directly responsible for the pax, fortuna and salus of Rome and everything that was Roman.
The effectiveness of augury could only be judged retrospectively; the divinely ordained condition of peace (pax deorum) was an outcome of successful augury. Those whose actions had led to divine wrath (ira deorum) could not have possessed a true right of augury (ius augurum). Of all the protagonists in the Civil War, only Octavian could have possessed it, because he alone had restored the pax deorum to the Roman people. Lucan, writing during the Principate, described the recent Civil War as "unnatural" - a mirror to supernatural disturbances in the greater cosmos. His imagery is apt to the traditional principles of augury and its broader interpretation by Stoic apologists of the Imperial cult. In the Stoic cosmology, pax deorum is the expression of natural order in human affairs.
According to Cicero, the auctoritas of ius augurum included the right to adjourn and overturn the process of law: consular election could be - and was - rendered invalid by inaugural error. For Cicero, this made the augur the most powerful authority in the Republic. Cicero himself was co-opted into the college only late in his career.
In the later Republic, augury came under the supervision of the college of pontifices, a priestly-magistral office whose powers were increasingly woven into the cursus honorum. The office of pontifex maximus eventually became a de facto consular prerogative. When his colleague Lepidus died, Augustus assumed his office as pontifex maximus, took priestly control over the State oracles (including the Sibylline books), and used his powers as censor to suppress the circulation of "unapproved" oracles.
Augurs, auguria and auspices
In ancient Rome the auguria were considered to be in equilibrium with the sacra ("sacred things" or "rites") and were not the only way by which the gods made their will known. The augures publici (public augurs) concerned themselves only with matters related to the state.
According to Varro they used to distinguish five kinds of territory: ager Romanus, ager Gabinus, ager peregrinus, ager hosticus, ager incertus: these distinctions clearly point to the times of the prehistory of Latium and testify the archaic quality of the art of augury.
The jus augurale (augural law) was rigorously secret, therefore very little about the technical aspects of ceremonies and rituals has been recorded. We have only the names of some auguria (augural rites): e.g. the augurium salutis which took place once a year before the magistrates and the people, in which the gods were asked whether it was auspicious to ask to for the welfare of the Romans, the augurium canarium and the vernisera auguria. The first one required the sacrifice of red dogs and took place before wheat grains were shelled but not before they had formed. Of the second we know only the name that implies a ritual related to the harvest.
Augurium and auspicium are terms used indifferently by the ancient. Modern scholars have debated the issue at length but have failed to find a distinctive definition that may hold for all the known cases. By such considerations Dumezil thinks that the two terms refer in fact to two aspects of the same religious act: auspicium would design the technical process of the operation, i.e. aves spicere, looking at the birds. His result would be the augurium, i.e. the determination, acknowledgement of the presence of the *auges, the favour of the god(s), the intention and the final result of the whole operation. In Varro's words "Agere augurium, aves specit", "to conduct the augurium, he observed the birds". Since auguria publica and inaugurations of magistrates are strictly connected to political life this brought about the deterioration and abuses that condemned augury to progressive and inarrestable debasement, stripping it of all religious value.
The role of the augur was that of consulting and interpreting the will of gods about some course of action such as accession of kings to the throne, of magistrates and major sacerdotes to their functions (inauguration) and all public enterprises.
The prototype of the ritual of inauguration of people is described in Livy's relation of the inauguration of king Numa Pompilius. The augur asks Jupiter (signa belong to Jupiter): "Si fas est (i.e. if it is divine justice to do this)... send me a certain signum (sign)", then the augur listed the auspicia he wanted to see coming. When they appeared Numa was declared king.
Technically the sky was divided into four sections or regions: dextera, sinistra, antica and postica (right, left, anterior and posterior).
Before taking the auspicia impetrativa ("requested" or "sought" auspices; see below) the templum, or sacred space within which the operation would take place had to be established and delimited (it should be square and have only one entrance) and purified (effari, liberare).
The auspicia were divided into two categories: requested by man (impetrativa) and offered spontaneously by the gods (oblativa). During a ceremony the enunciation of the requested auspicia was technically called legum dictio.[24] Magistrates endowed by the law with the right of spectio (observation of auspices) would establish the requested the auspicium. To the augur was reserved the nuntiatio i.e. announcing the appearance of auspicia oblativa that would require the interruption of the operation.
The science of interpretation of signs was vast and complex.
Only some species of birds (aves augurales) could yield valid signs whose meaning would vary according to the species. Among them were ravens, woodpeckers, owls, oxifragae, eagles.
Signs from birds were divided into alites, from the flight, and oscines, from the voice. The alites included region of the sky, height and type of flight, behaviour of the bird and place where it would rest.
The oscines included the pitch and direction of the sound.
Since the observation was complex conflict among signs was not uncommon.
A hierarchy among signs was devised: e.g. a sign from the eagle would prevail on that from the woodpecker and the oxifraga (parra).
Observation conditions were rigorous and required absolute silence for validity of the operation.
Both impetrativa and oblativa auspices could be divided into five classes: ex caelo (thunder,lightning), ex avibus, ex tripudiis (attitude to food and feeding manner of the sacred chickens), ex quadrupedibus (dog, horse, wolf, fox), ex diris (ominous events).
During the last centuries of the republic the auspices ex caelo and ex tripudiis supplanted other types, as they could be easily used in a fraudulent way, i.e. bent to suit the desire of the asking person. It sufficed to say that the augur or magistrate had heard a clap of thunder to suspend the convocation of the comitia.
Cicero condemned the fraudulent use and denounced the decline in the level of knowledge of the doctrine by the augurs of his time.
In fact the abuse developed from the protective tricks devised to avoid being paralysed by negative signs. For an instance see the conversation between king Numa and Jupiter in Ovid, Fasti III, 339-344.
Against the negative auspicia oblativa the admitted procedures included:
1. actively avoiding to see them.
2. repudiare refuse them through an interpretative sleight of hands.
3. non observare by assuming one had not paid attention to them.
4. naming something that in fact had not appeared.
5. choosing the time of the observation (tempestas) at one's will.
6. making a distinction between observation and formulation (renunciatiatio).
7. resorting to acknowledging the presence of mistakes (vitia).
8. repeating the whole procedure.
Attus Navius
Contrary to other divinatory practices present in Rome (e.g. haruspicina, consultation of the libri Sibyllini) augury appears to be autochthonous and originally Latin or Italic. The art has its roots in the prehistory of the Italic people and is attested in the Iguvine Tables (avif aseria) and among other Latin tribes. The very story or legend of the foundation of Rome is based on augury, i.e. the ascertaining of the will of gods through observation of the sky and of birds. Romulus and Remus indeed acted as augurs and Romulus was considered a great augur throughout the course of his life.
The character that best represented and portrayed the art however was Attus Navius. His story is related by Cicero.[32] He was born into a very poor family. One day he lost one of his pigs. He then promised the gods that if he found it, he would offer them the biggest grapes growing in his vineyard. After recovering his pig he stood right at the middle of his grape yard facing South. He divided the sky into four sections and observed birds: when they appeared he walked in that direction and found an extraordinary large grape that he offered to the gods.
His story was immediately famous and he became the augur of the king (see above the episode with king Tarquinius narrated by Livy). Henceforth he was considered the patron of the augurs.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
College of Alameda
College of Alameda is a two-year community college located in Alameda, California.
The college is part of the Peralta Community College District and was opened in 1968. The college has been located at its campus at Atlantic Avenue and Webster Street since 1970. The college in addition to the other three campuses of the Peralta College District are currently on probation for "fiscal insolvency and stability" imposed by WASC.
Accreditation
College of Alameda is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Individual College of Alameda occupational programs are accredited or certified by the American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Dental Education for Dental Assistants, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).
Mission
College of Alameda’s mission is to meet the educational needs of its multicultural and diverse community by providing excellent comprehensive and flexible programs, including basic skills, transfer and occupational programs, which will enable each student to achieve his/her own unique goals.
As a publicly supported community college, College of Alameda makes available college courses, many transferable to meet lower-division university requirements, at a moderate cost to students, $26 per credit as of fall 2009. The college’s relatively small size allows students to benefit from closer contact with instructors and fellow students, and to become more individually involved in campus life and student activities. Personal, academic and vocational counseling services are available to all students. Other student services include financial assistance, tutoring, health services, job placement and various student activities based at the Student Center.
The College of Alameda Campus
College of Alameda’ s first classes were held in 1968 in temporary facilities at Historic Alameda High School on Central Avenue in downtown Alameda. Its present 59-acre campus, located at the intersection of Webster Street and Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway in Alameda, opened in June 1970. With its buildings surrounding a central courtyard, the campus is designed to encourage the interaction between students, faculty and staff essential to an effective learning environment. The campus is accessible by auto or AC Transit bus through the Webster Street Tube from downtown Oakland.
The College’s Aviation Maintenance programs are located on a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) site on Harbor Bay Parkway, adjacent to Oakland International Airport’s North Field.
Academics
College of Alameda offers its courses on the semester calendar, as do the other three colleges of the Peralta Community College District.
The college offers basic skills courses in English and Math, as well as individualized labs and tutoring. English as a Second Language courses provide second language learners with proficiency in English through practice in writing, speaking, listening and reading at various levels.
Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) degrees may be earned in many areas of liberal arts and science, with most credits earned transferable to the University of California, California State colleges and universities, and to other public and private four-year colleges and universities.
Occupational and technical training programs lead to employment opportunities in a variety of fields. College of Alameda offers vocational programs leading to an Associate in Arts or Science degree or a Certificate of Achievement in the fields of:
- Apparel Design and Merchandising
- Auto Body and Paint
- Automotive Technology
- Aviation Maintenance Technology
- Business
- Computer Information Systems
- Dental Assisting
- Diesel and Truck Mechanics
Intercollegiate Athletics
The College of Alameda is a member of the Bay Valley Conference of the California Community College Athletic Association. The intercollegiate athletic program at the college provides students the opportunity to participate in men's basketball and women's volleyball. Students enrolled at College of Alameda may participate in athletic programs at other colleges in the Peralta Community College District if a particular sport is not offered at CoA.
Services for Students
The college offers a variety of services to students to support their academic experience, some of which are:
Alameda One-Stop Career Center
The Alameda One-Stop Career Center is a collaboration between the California Employment Development Department and the College of Alameda. Located on the College of Alameda campus, the One-Stop provides a variety of free job seeker and employer services, including vocational counseling, a resource library, job fairs, onsite recruitment, and resume writing and job search strategies workshops.
Assessment and Tutoring
The college’s Assessment Center helps students choose classes to match their skill levels in English, writing and reading, mathematics, and English as a second language. Students receive course recommendations based on the assessment test results, and then meet with a counselor to choose the classes that are most appropriate. Free group or individual tutoring is provided to all students in most subjects taught at the college.
Children’s Center
The campus Children’s Center serves children of students, staff, and community members. The center is open from 7:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters. It serves children between three and five years of age, on a sliding fee scale.
Concurrent Enrollment
The Transfer Center provides a variety of services to assist students interested in transferring to four-year colleges and universities. Through the Transfer Center, College of Alameda students have the opportunity to enroll concurrently in one class per semester/quarter at the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, East Bay; Mills College; Holy Names College; or John F. Kennedy University.
High school students are able to enroll concurrently as special part-time students at the college and earn college credits while still in high school. This is arranged through the student’s high school principal.
EasyPass
College of Alameda students enrolled in nine (9) or more semester units are eligible to receive an AC Transit EasyPass. The program provides a semester long, unlimited rides Clipper card for a deep discount to students at the Peralta Colleges. COA is serviced by four bus lines, including one Transbay route.
Extended Opportunity Programs & Services (EOPS)
College of Alameda offers an Extended Opportunity Programs and Services program for students who have educational, economic, social, cultural, or language problems that interfere with their educational careers. Supportive services provided to EOPS students include professional counseling and peer advising, priority registration, tutorial services, career and academic guidance, financial and book purchase assistance, and transfer assistance and fee waivers for CSU and University of California.
Programs and Services for Students with Disabilities (DSPS)
Alameda College's DSPS program provides educational and vocational support services for students with disabilities who are enrolled in classes at College of Alameda. Programs focus on learning-skills assessment, advising and training; facilitation of computer access for students with special needs; use of computers as a tool for improving cognitive skills of students with brain injuries; and training in skills necessary to seek and maintain employment.
Student Activities
The Associated Students of College of Alameda (ASCOA) is the student government organization active on campus. There are also a number of student clubs which change year to year depending on current student interest. Very active clubs currently include "Latinos Unidos" and the Psychology Club.
Veterans
The Veterans Affairs Program on campus provides assistance to veterans and their eligible dependents in enrolling and obtaining veterans’ benefits. Services include counseling, tutorial assistance, outreach, recruitment, referral service for job placement, and financial assistance.
Alameda Science & Technology Institute (ASTI)
Alameda Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) is a public high school in the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD), located on the College of Alameda campus. The high school was founded in 2004 through a partnership between AUSD and the College of Alameda and funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. As an Early College High School, ASTI provides students the opportunity to enroll as full-time community college students during their 11th and 12th grade years. The school is based on the belief that all students deserve and are entitled to a college education and that all students are capable of succeeding at a high academic level. The student body is diverse and the school actively seeks out students who are highly motivated but traditionally underrepresented in the areas of socioeconomic level, home language, first generation college goers and ethnicity.
The college is part of the Peralta Community College District and was opened in 1968. The college has been located at its campus at Atlantic Avenue and Webster Street since 1970. The college in addition to the other three campuses of the Peralta College District are currently on probation for "fiscal insolvency and stability" imposed by WASC.
Accreditation
College of Alameda is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Individual College of Alameda occupational programs are accredited or certified by the American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Dental Education for Dental Assistants, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).
Mission
College of Alameda’s mission is to meet the educational needs of its multicultural and diverse community by providing excellent comprehensive and flexible programs, including basic skills, transfer and occupational programs, which will enable each student to achieve his/her own unique goals.
As a publicly supported community college, College of Alameda makes available college courses, many transferable to meet lower-division university requirements, at a moderate cost to students, $26 per credit as of fall 2009. The college’s relatively small size allows students to benefit from closer contact with instructors and fellow students, and to become more individually involved in campus life and student activities. Personal, academic and vocational counseling services are available to all students. Other student services include financial assistance, tutoring, health services, job placement and various student activities based at the Student Center.
The College of Alameda Campus
College of Alameda’ s first classes were held in 1968 in temporary facilities at Historic Alameda High School on Central Avenue in downtown Alameda. Its present 59-acre campus, located at the intersection of Webster Street and Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway in Alameda, opened in June 1970. With its buildings surrounding a central courtyard, the campus is designed to encourage the interaction between students, faculty and staff essential to an effective learning environment. The campus is accessible by auto or AC Transit bus through the Webster Street Tube from downtown Oakland.
The College’s Aviation Maintenance programs are located on a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) site on Harbor Bay Parkway, adjacent to Oakland International Airport’s North Field.
Academics
College of Alameda offers its courses on the semester calendar, as do the other three colleges of the Peralta Community College District.
The college offers basic skills courses in English and Math, as well as individualized labs and tutoring. English as a Second Language courses provide second language learners with proficiency in English through practice in writing, speaking, listening and reading at various levels.
Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) degrees may be earned in many areas of liberal arts and science, with most credits earned transferable to the University of California, California State colleges and universities, and to other public and private four-year colleges and universities.
Occupational and technical training programs lead to employment opportunities in a variety of fields. College of Alameda offers vocational programs leading to an Associate in Arts or Science degree or a Certificate of Achievement in the fields of:
- Apparel Design and Merchandising
- Auto Body and Paint
- Automotive Technology
- Aviation Maintenance Technology
- Business
- Computer Information Systems
- Dental Assisting
- Diesel and Truck Mechanics
Intercollegiate Athletics
The College of Alameda is a member of the Bay Valley Conference of the California Community College Athletic Association. The intercollegiate athletic program at the college provides students the opportunity to participate in men's basketball and women's volleyball. Students enrolled at College of Alameda may participate in athletic programs at other colleges in the Peralta Community College District if a particular sport is not offered at CoA.
Services for Students
The college offers a variety of services to students to support their academic experience, some of which are:
Alameda One-Stop Career Center
The Alameda One-Stop Career Center is a collaboration between the California Employment Development Department and the College of Alameda. Located on the College of Alameda campus, the One-Stop provides a variety of free job seeker and employer services, including vocational counseling, a resource library, job fairs, onsite recruitment, and resume writing and job search strategies workshops.
Assessment and Tutoring
The college’s Assessment Center helps students choose classes to match their skill levels in English, writing and reading, mathematics, and English as a second language. Students receive course recommendations based on the assessment test results, and then meet with a counselor to choose the classes that are most appropriate. Free group or individual tutoring is provided to all students in most subjects taught at the college.
Children’s Center
The campus Children’s Center serves children of students, staff, and community members. The center is open from 7:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters. It serves children between three and five years of age, on a sliding fee scale.
Concurrent Enrollment
The Transfer Center provides a variety of services to assist students interested in transferring to four-year colleges and universities. Through the Transfer Center, College of Alameda students have the opportunity to enroll concurrently in one class per semester/quarter at the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, East Bay; Mills College; Holy Names College; or John F. Kennedy University.
High school students are able to enroll concurrently as special part-time students at the college and earn college credits while still in high school. This is arranged through the student’s high school principal.
EasyPass
College of Alameda students enrolled in nine (9) or more semester units are eligible to receive an AC Transit EasyPass. The program provides a semester long, unlimited rides Clipper card for a deep discount to students at the Peralta Colleges. COA is serviced by four bus lines, including one Transbay route.
Extended Opportunity Programs & Services (EOPS)
College of Alameda offers an Extended Opportunity Programs and Services program for students who have educational, economic, social, cultural, or language problems that interfere with their educational careers. Supportive services provided to EOPS students include professional counseling and peer advising, priority registration, tutorial services, career and academic guidance, financial and book purchase assistance, and transfer assistance and fee waivers for CSU and University of California.
Programs and Services for Students with Disabilities (DSPS)
Alameda College's DSPS program provides educational and vocational support services for students with disabilities who are enrolled in classes at College of Alameda. Programs focus on learning-skills assessment, advising and training; facilitation of computer access for students with special needs; use of computers as a tool for improving cognitive skills of students with brain injuries; and training in skills necessary to seek and maintain employment.
Student Activities
The Associated Students of College of Alameda (ASCOA) is the student government organization active on campus. There are also a number of student clubs which change year to year depending on current student interest. Very active clubs currently include "Latinos Unidos" and the Psychology Club.
Veterans
The Veterans Affairs Program on campus provides assistance to veterans and their eligible dependents in enrolling and obtaining veterans’ benefits. Services include counseling, tutorial assistance, outreach, recruitment, referral service for job placement, and financial assistance.
Alameda Science & Technology Institute (ASTI)
Alameda Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) is a public high school in the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD), located on the College of Alameda campus. The high school was founded in 2004 through a partnership between AUSD and the College of Alameda and funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. As an Early College High School, ASTI provides students the opportunity to enroll as full-time community college students during their 11th and 12th grade years. The school is based on the belief that all students deserve and are entitled to a college education and that all students are capable of succeeding at a high academic level. The student body is diverse and the school actively seeks out students who are highly motivated but traditionally underrepresented in the areas of socioeconomic level, home language, first generation college goers and ethnicity.
College of Justice
The College of Justice includes the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and its associated bodies.
The constituent bodies of the national supreme courts are the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary, and the Office of the Accountant of Court.[2] Its associated bodies are the Faculty of Advocates, the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet and the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
The College is headed by the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the title of Lord Justice General in relation to the High Court of Justiciary, and judges of the Court of Session and High Court are titled Senators of the College of Justice.
History
The College was founded in 1532 by King James V following a bull issued by Pope Clement VII on 15 September 1531. It provided for 10,000 gold ducats to be contributed by the Scottish bishoprics and monastic institutions for the maintenance of its members, one half of whom would be members of the "ecclesiastical dignity".
The Parliament of Scotland passed an Act on 17 May 1532 authorising the creation of the college with 14 members, half spiritual, half temporal, plus a president and the Lord Chancellor. The college convened for the first time on 27 May 1532, in the royal presence.
Supplementing the 14 ordinary lords, who were called Senators, were an indefinite number of supernumerary judges called extraordinary lords.
The founding members of the College of Justice were:
> the Lord Chancellor, Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow
> the Lord President, Alexander Myln, Abbot of Cambuskenneth
> Richard Bothwell, Rector of Ashkirk
> John Dingwell, Provost of Trinity College
> Henry White, Rector of Finevin
> William Gibson, Dean of Restalrig
> Thomas Hay, Dean of Dunbar
> Robert Reid, Abbot of Kinloss
> George Ker, Provost of Dunglass
> Sir William Scott of Balweary
> Sir John Campbell of Lundy
> Sir James Colville of Easter Wemyss
> Sir Adam Otterburn of Auldhame and Redhall, King's Advocate
> Nicholas Crawford of Oxengangs
> Francis Bothwell of Edinburgh (brother of Richard)
> James Lawson of Edinburgh
> Sir James Foulis of Colinton (He was added at the first meeting of the court when the king added him as a "Lord of the Session".
The College at its foundation dealt with underdeveloped civil law. It did not dispense justice in criminal matters as that was an area of the law reserved to the King's justice, through the justiciars (hence the High Court of the Justiciairy), the Barony Courts and the Commission of Justiciary. The High Court of Justiciary was only incorporated into the College of Justice in 1672.
Initially, there was little legal literature. Acts of the Parliament of Scotland and the books of the Old Law as well as Roman Law and Canon law texts were about all to which the pursuer and defender could refer. It was only after the establishment of the court that this situation improved, with judges noting their decisions in books of practicks.
The Treaty of Union 1707 with England preserved the Scottish Legal System. Article XIX provided "that the Court of Session or College of Justice do after the Union and notwithstanding thereof remain in all time coming within Scotland, and that the Court of Justiciary do also after the Union ... remain in all time coming."
The constituent bodies of the national supreme courts are the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary, and the Office of the Accountant of Court.[2] Its associated bodies are the Faculty of Advocates, the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet and the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
The College is headed by the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the title of Lord Justice General in relation to the High Court of Justiciary, and judges of the Court of Session and High Court are titled Senators of the College of Justice.
History
The College was founded in 1532 by King James V following a bull issued by Pope Clement VII on 15 September 1531. It provided for 10,000 gold ducats to be contributed by the Scottish bishoprics and monastic institutions for the maintenance of its members, one half of whom would be members of the "ecclesiastical dignity".
The Parliament of Scotland passed an Act on 17 May 1532 authorising the creation of the college with 14 members, half spiritual, half temporal, plus a president and the Lord Chancellor. The college convened for the first time on 27 May 1532, in the royal presence.
Supplementing the 14 ordinary lords, who were called Senators, were an indefinite number of supernumerary judges called extraordinary lords.
The founding members of the College of Justice were:
> the Lord Chancellor, Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow
> the Lord President, Alexander Myln, Abbot of Cambuskenneth
> Richard Bothwell, Rector of Ashkirk
> John Dingwell, Provost of Trinity College
> Henry White, Rector of Finevin
> William Gibson, Dean of Restalrig
> Thomas Hay, Dean of Dunbar
> Robert Reid, Abbot of Kinloss
> George Ker, Provost of Dunglass
> Sir William Scott of Balweary
> Sir John Campbell of Lundy
> Sir James Colville of Easter Wemyss
> Sir Adam Otterburn of Auldhame and Redhall, King's Advocate
> Nicholas Crawford of Oxengangs
> Francis Bothwell of Edinburgh (brother of Richard)
> James Lawson of Edinburgh
> Sir James Foulis of Colinton (He was added at the first meeting of the court when the king added him as a "Lord of the Session".
The College at its foundation dealt with underdeveloped civil law. It did not dispense justice in criminal matters as that was an area of the law reserved to the King's justice, through the justiciars (hence the High Court of the Justiciairy), the Barony Courts and the Commission of Justiciary. The High Court of Justiciary was only incorporated into the College of Justice in 1672.
Initially, there was little legal literature. Acts of the Parliament of Scotland and the books of the Old Law as well as Roman Law and Canon law texts were about all to which the pursuer and defender could refer. It was only after the establishment of the court that this situation improved, with judges noting their decisions in books of practicks.
The Treaty of Union 1707 with England preserved the Scottish Legal System. Article XIX provided "that the Court of Session or College of Justice do after the Union and notwithstanding thereof remain in all time coming within Scotland, and that the Court of Justiciary do also after the Union ... remain in all time coming."
University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development
The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is one of seventeen colleges and professional schools at the University of Minnesota. CEHD departments are located on both the East Bank and St. Paul campuses.
The college was founded in 1905 as the Department of Pedagogy. In 2006 the College of Education and Human Development became part of a newly organized college that now includes the former General College (Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning) and two units of the former College of Human Ecology (the School of Social Work and the Department of Family Social Science).
As as fall 2010 it enrolled 5,255 students and employed 189 tenured and tenure-track faculty. Living alumni total more than 70,000.
Mission
The College of Education and Human Development is a leader in discovering, creating, sharing, and applying principles and practices of multiculturalism and multidisciplinary scholarship to advance teaching and learning and to enhance the psychological, physical, and social development of children, youth, and adults across the lifespan in families, organizations, and communities.
Degrees granted
1,407 degrees granted during 2009-10 (577 B.S., 483 M.Ed., 347 masters and advanced graduate degrees). In addition, 557 students completed post baccalaureate teacher licensure (322 initial licensure, 235 additional licensure).
Administration
Jean K. Quam, dean
Heidi Barajas, associate dean for engagement, diversity, and undergraduate programs
Kenneth R. Bartlett, associate dean for graduate, professional, and international programs
David R. Johnson, senior associate dean for research and policy
The college was founded in 1905 as the Department of Pedagogy. In 2006 the College of Education and Human Development became part of a newly organized college that now includes the former General College (Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning) and two units of the former College of Human Ecology (the School of Social Work and the Department of Family Social Science).
As as fall 2010 it enrolled 5,255 students and employed 189 tenured and tenure-track faculty. Living alumni total more than 70,000.
Mission
The College of Education and Human Development is a leader in discovering, creating, sharing, and applying principles and practices of multiculturalism and multidisciplinary scholarship to advance teaching and learning and to enhance the psychological, physical, and social development of children, youth, and adults across the lifespan in families, organizations, and communities.
Degrees granted
1,407 degrees granted during 2009-10 (577 B.S., 483 M.Ed., 347 masters and advanced graduate degrees). In addition, 557 students completed post baccalaureate teacher licensure (322 initial licensure, 235 additional licensure).
Administration
Jean K. Quam, dean
Heidi Barajas, associate dean for engagement, diversity, and undergraduate programs
Kenneth R. Bartlett, associate dean for graduate, professional, and international programs
David R. Johnson, senior associate dean for research and policy
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration. Such a school can also be known as a business college, college of business, college of business administration, school of business, school of business administration, or, colloquially, b-school. A business school teaches topics such as accounting, administration, strategy, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource management, information systems, marketing, organizational behavior, public relations, and quantitative methods.
Types
They include schools of business, business administration, and management. There are four principal forms of business schools.
Most of the university business schools are faculties, colleges or departments within the university, and teach predominantly business courses.
In North America (outside Quebec) a business school is often understood to be a university graduate school which offers a Master of Business Administration or equivalent degree.
Also in North America the term "business school" can refer to a different type of institution: a two-year school that grants the Associate's degree in various business subjects. Most of these schools began as secretarial schools, then expanded into accounting or bookkeeping and similar subjects. They are typically operated as businesses, rather than as institutions of higher learning.
In Europe and Asia, some universities teach only business.
Notable firsts
* 1819 – The world's first business school, ESCP Europe was founded in Paris, France. It is the oldest business school in the world and now has campuses in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Torino.
* 1855 - The Institut Supérieur de Commerce d'Anvers (State funded) and the Institut Saint-Ignace - École Spéciale de Commerce et d'Industrie (Jesuits education) were founded in the same year in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. After almost 150 years of business education and rivalry between catholic and state education, the successors of both institutions have merged in 2003 to the University of Antwerp.
* 1857 – The Budapest Business School was founded in the Austrian Empire as the first business school in Central Europe. It is the oldest public business school in the world
* 1881 – The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is the United States' first business school and the world's first collegiate business school.
* 1889 - The Manchester School of Commerce was established in Manchester, United Kingdom. It was the first school in the United Kingdom to teach commerce and was a predecessor of the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.
* 1898 – The University of St. Gallen established the first university in Switzerland teaching business and economics.
* 1906 – The Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) was established as the first university in Poland dedicated to teaching commerce and economics.
* 1946 – The Thunderbird School of Global Management, then called the American Institute for Foreign Trade, was the first graduate management school focused exclusively on global business.
* 1949 – The University of Pretoria in South Africa founded the oldest business school in Africa and was the first university to offer an MBA outside of North America. In January 2008 the Graduate School of Management was formally replaced by the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
* 1991 – The IEDC-Bled School of Management was the first business school to offer an MBA program in Eastern Europe.
* 1994 – CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) was the first business school in China to have received funding from a foreign government, namely the European Commission.
* 2010 – Skema Business School, opting for a multi campus strategy all around the world, in Brazil, France, China, Russia, Australia, Morocco and the USA, is the first French Business School to open a campus in the United States in Raleigh, North Carolina among the Research Triangle Park.
Degrees
Common degrees are as follows.
Associate's degree: AA, AAB, ABA, AS
Bachelor's Degrees: BA, BS, BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), BBus (Bachelor of Business), BCom, BSBA, BAcc, BABA, BBS, BMOS and BBusSc (Bachelor of Business Science)
Master's Degrees: MBA, MBM, Master of Management, MAcc, MMR, MSMR, MPA, MISM, MSM, MHA, MSF, MSc, MST, MMS, EMBA and MCom. At Oxford and Cambridge business schools an MPhil, or Master of Philosophy, is awarded in place of an MA or MSc.
Post Graduate: Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM), Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Business Management, Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Management
Doctoral Degrees: Ph.D., DBA, DHA, DM, Doctor of Commerce (DCOM), FPM, PhD in Management or Business Doctorate (Doctor of Philosophy), Doctor of Professional Studies (DPS)
Use of case studies
Some business schools center their teaching around the use of case studies (i.e. the case method). Case studies have been used in graduate and undergraduate business education for nearly one hundred years. Business cases are historical descriptions of actual business situations. Typically, information is presented about a business firm's products, markets, competition, financial structure, sales volumes, management, employees and other factors affecting the firm's success. The length of a business case study may range from two or three pages to 30 pages, or more.
Business schools often obtain case studies published by the Harvard Business School, INSEAD, the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario, the Darden School at the University of Virginia, IESE, other academic institutions, or case clearing houses (such as European Case Clearing House). Harvard's most popular case studies include Lincoln Electric Co. and Google, Inc.
Students are expected to scrutinize the case study and prepare to discuss strategies and tactics that the firm should employ in the future. Three different methods have been used in business case teaching:
Prepared case-specific questions to be answered by the student. This is used with short cases intended for undergraduate students. The underlying concept is that such students need specific guidance to be able to analyze case studies.
Problem-solving analysis. This second method, initiated by the Harvard Business School is by far the most widely used method in MBA and executive development programs. The underlying concept is that with enough practice (hundreds of case analyses) students develop intuitive skills for analyzing and resolving complex business situations. Successful implementation of this method depends heavily on the skills of the discussion leader.
A generally applicable strategic planning approach. This third method does not require students to analyze hundreds of cases. A strategic planning model is provided and students are instructed to apply the steps of the model to six to a dozen cases during a semester. This is sufficient to develop their ability to analyze a complex situation, generate a variety of possible strategies and to select the best ones. In effect, students learn a generally applicable approach to analyzing cases studies and real situations. This approach does not make any extraordinary demands on the artistic and dramatic talents of the teacher. Consequently most professors are capable of supervising application of this method.
History of business cases
When Harvard Business School was founded, the faculty realized that there were no textbooks suitable to a graduate program in business. Their first solution to this problem was to interview leading practitioners of business and to write detailed accounts of what these managers were doing. Of course the professors could not present these cases as practices to be emulated because there were no criteria available for determining what would succeed and what would not succeed. So the professors instructed their students to read the cases and to come to class prepared to discuss the cases and to offer recommendations for appropriate courses of action. The basic outlines of this method are still present in business school curriculum today.
Other approaches
In contrast to the case method some schools use a skills-based approach in teaching business. This approach emphasizes quantitative methods, in particular operations research, management information systems, statistics, organizational behavior, modeling and simulation, and decision science. The goal is to provide students a set of tools that will prepare them to tackle and solve problems.
Another important approach used in business school is the use of business games that are used in different disciplines such as business, economics, management, etc. Some colleges are blending many of these approaches throughout their degree programs, and even blending the method of delivery for each of these approaches. A study from by Inside Higher Ed and the Babson Survey Research Group shows that there is still disagreement as to the effectiveness of the approaches but the reach and accessibility is proving to be more and more appealing. Liberal arts colleges in the United States like New England College, Wesleyan University, and Bryn Mawr College are now offering complete online degrees in many business curriculae despite the controversy that surrounds the learning method.
There are also several business school that still rely on the lecture method to give students a basic business education. Lectures are generally given from the professor's point of view, and rarely require interaction from the students unless notetaking is required. Lecture as a method of teaching in business schools has been criticized by experts for reducing the incentive and individualism in the learning experience.
Global Master of Business Administration ranking
Each year, well-known business publications such as Business Week, The Economist, U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal publish rankings of selected MBA programs that, while controversial in their methodology, nevertheless can directly influence the prestige of schools that achieve high scores. Academic research is also considered to be an important feature and popular way to gauge the prestige of business schools.
Types
They include schools of business, business administration, and management. There are four principal forms of business schools.
Most of the university business schools are faculties, colleges or departments within the university, and teach predominantly business courses.
In North America (outside Quebec) a business school is often understood to be a university graduate school which offers a Master of Business Administration or equivalent degree.
Also in North America the term "business school" can refer to a different type of institution: a two-year school that grants the Associate's degree in various business subjects. Most of these schools began as secretarial schools, then expanded into accounting or bookkeeping and similar subjects. They are typically operated as businesses, rather than as institutions of higher learning.
In Europe and Asia, some universities teach only business.
Notable firsts
* 1819 – The world's first business school, ESCP Europe was founded in Paris, France. It is the oldest business school in the world and now has campuses in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Torino.
* 1855 - The Institut Supérieur de Commerce d'Anvers (State funded) and the Institut Saint-Ignace - École Spéciale de Commerce et d'Industrie (Jesuits education) were founded in the same year in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. After almost 150 years of business education and rivalry between catholic and state education, the successors of both institutions have merged in 2003 to the University of Antwerp.
* 1857 – The Budapest Business School was founded in the Austrian Empire as the first business school in Central Europe. It is the oldest public business school in the world
* 1881 – The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is the United States' first business school and the world's first collegiate business school.
* 1889 - The Manchester School of Commerce was established in Manchester, United Kingdom. It was the first school in the United Kingdom to teach commerce and was a predecessor of the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.
* 1898 – The University of St. Gallen established the first university in Switzerland teaching business and economics.
* 1906 – The Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) was established as the first university in Poland dedicated to teaching commerce and economics.
* 1946 – The Thunderbird School of Global Management, then called the American Institute for Foreign Trade, was the first graduate management school focused exclusively on global business.
* 1949 – The University of Pretoria in South Africa founded the oldest business school in Africa and was the first university to offer an MBA outside of North America. In January 2008 the Graduate School of Management was formally replaced by the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
* 1991 – The IEDC-Bled School of Management was the first business school to offer an MBA program in Eastern Europe.
* 1994 – CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) was the first business school in China to have received funding from a foreign government, namely the European Commission.
* 2010 – Skema Business School, opting for a multi campus strategy all around the world, in Brazil, France, China, Russia, Australia, Morocco and the USA, is the first French Business School to open a campus in the United States in Raleigh, North Carolina among the Research Triangle Park.
Degrees
Common degrees are as follows.
Associate's degree: AA, AAB, ABA, AS
Bachelor's Degrees: BA, BS, BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), BBus (Bachelor of Business), BCom, BSBA, BAcc, BABA, BBS, BMOS and BBusSc (Bachelor of Business Science)
Master's Degrees: MBA, MBM, Master of Management, MAcc, MMR, MSMR, MPA, MISM, MSM, MHA, MSF, MSc, MST, MMS, EMBA and MCom. At Oxford and Cambridge business schools an MPhil, or Master of Philosophy, is awarded in place of an MA or MSc.
Post Graduate: Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM), Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Business Management, Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Management
Doctoral Degrees: Ph.D., DBA, DHA, DM, Doctor of Commerce (DCOM), FPM, PhD in Management or Business Doctorate (Doctor of Philosophy), Doctor of Professional Studies (DPS)
Use of case studies
Some business schools center their teaching around the use of case studies (i.e. the case method). Case studies have been used in graduate and undergraduate business education for nearly one hundred years. Business cases are historical descriptions of actual business situations. Typically, information is presented about a business firm's products, markets, competition, financial structure, sales volumes, management, employees and other factors affecting the firm's success. The length of a business case study may range from two or three pages to 30 pages, or more.
Business schools often obtain case studies published by the Harvard Business School, INSEAD, the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario, the Darden School at the University of Virginia, IESE, other academic institutions, or case clearing houses (such as European Case Clearing House). Harvard's most popular case studies include Lincoln Electric Co. and Google, Inc.
Students are expected to scrutinize the case study and prepare to discuss strategies and tactics that the firm should employ in the future. Three different methods have been used in business case teaching:
Prepared case-specific questions to be answered by the student. This is used with short cases intended for undergraduate students. The underlying concept is that such students need specific guidance to be able to analyze case studies.
Problem-solving analysis. This second method, initiated by the Harvard Business School is by far the most widely used method in MBA and executive development programs. The underlying concept is that with enough practice (hundreds of case analyses) students develop intuitive skills for analyzing and resolving complex business situations. Successful implementation of this method depends heavily on the skills of the discussion leader.
A generally applicable strategic planning approach. This third method does not require students to analyze hundreds of cases. A strategic planning model is provided and students are instructed to apply the steps of the model to six to a dozen cases during a semester. This is sufficient to develop their ability to analyze a complex situation, generate a variety of possible strategies and to select the best ones. In effect, students learn a generally applicable approach to analyzing cases studies and real situations. This approach does not make any extraordinary demands on the artistic and dramatic talents of the teacher. Consequently most professors are capable of supervising application of this method.
History of business cases
When Harvard Business School was founded, the faculty realized that there were no textbooks suitable to a graduate program in business. Their first solution to this problem was to interview leading practitioners of business and to write detailed accounts of what these managers were doing. Of course the professors could not present these cases as practices to be emulated because there were no criteria available for determining what would succeed and what would not succeed. So the professors instructed their students to read the cases and to come to class prepared to discuss the cases and to offer recommendations for appropriate courses of action. The basic outlines of this method are still present in business school curriculum today.
Other approaches
In contrast to the case method some schools use a skills-based approach in teaching business. This approach emphasizes quantitative methods, in particular operations research, management information systems, statistics, organizational behavior, modeling and simulation, and decision science. The goal is to provide students a set of tools that will prepare them to tackle and solve problems.
Another important approach used in business school is the use of business games that are used in different disciplines such as business, economics, management, etc. Some colleges are blending many of these approaches throughout their degree programs, and even blending the method of delivery for each of these approaches. A study from by Inside Higher Ed and the Babson Survey Research Group shows that there is still disagreement as to the effectiveness of the approaches but the reach and accessibility is proving to be more and more appealing. Liberal arts colleges in the United States like New England College, Wesleyan University, and Bryn Mawr College are now offering complete online degrees in many business curriculae despite the controversy that surrounds the learning method.
There are also several business school that still rely on the lecture method to give students a basic business education. Lectures are generally given from the professor's point of view, and rarely require interaction from the students unless notetaking is required. Lecture as a method of teaching in business schools has been criticized by experts for reducing the incentive and individualism in the learning experience.
Global Master of Business Administration ranking
Each year, well-known business publications such as Business Week, The Economist, U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal publish rankings of selected MBA programs that, while controversial in their methodology, nevertheless can directly influence the prestige of schools that achieve high scores. Academic research is also considered to be an important feature and popular way to gauge the prestige of business schools.
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