Dean for graduate education to take leave, start new university - The Tech

Professor Christine Ortiz is stepping down from her post as dean for graduate education to found a new residential research university. “The goal for the next year,” she said in an interview with The Tech, “is really to try to create a non-profit university with a new model for a research university.”

The residential university she hopes to create would differ radically from what’s been done traditionally. Project-based learning is the cornerstone of her vision.

“I’m looking at a new model, where the whole sort of vocabulary is different,” she said. “The distinction between undergrad and grad goes away.”

Ortiz said the university would focus on project-based learning and would dispense with some of the familiar hallmarks of university education, like the lecture.

“I don’t...

Professor Christine Ortiz is stepping down from her post as dean for graduate education to found a new residential research university. “The goal for the next year,” she said in an interview with The Tech, “is really to try to create a non-profit university with a new model for a research university.”

The residential university she hopes to create would differ radically from what’s been done traditionally. Project-based learning is the cornerstone of her vision.

“I’m looking at a new model, where the whole sort of vocabulary is different,” she said. “The distinction between undergrad and grad goes away.”

Ortiz said the university would focus on project-based learning and would dispense with some of the familiar hallmarks of university education, like the lecture.

“I don’t see it having any face to face, on-the-ground lectures, actually,” she said. “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms.”