Finding Aid for the KSU Experimental and Integrative Studies records

Repository: Kent State University. Special Collections and Archives.
Title: KSU Experimental and Integrative Studies records
Inclusive Dates: 1970-2012
Bulk Dates: 1970-1983
Author: Finding aid prepared by Kristin Silvestro, April 2026
Origination: Kent State University. Honors College
Extent:  2.66 cubic feet (4 boxes=2 record storage boxes and 2 document cases)
Physical Location: 10th floor
Abstract: This collection contains records created by or about KSU's former program Experimental and Integrative Studies, also known as the Experimental Programs or the Experimental College.
Language: English
Descriptive Rules: DACS 2nd Edition

History of KSU Experimental and Integrative Studies 

Experimental and Integrative Studies was established in September 1970 as the Experimental Programs Division of the Honors College. The Honors College became the Honors and Experimental College for a time after the program was established. The founding of the division came in the aftermath of the May 4, 1970 shootings and a desire by faculty and students to address issues of the times. In May of 1970, faculty and graduate appointees were asked for suggestions of innovative changes to curriculum that would be submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee on Innovative Curriculum Change. More detailed information about the ad hoc committee and the experimental program's origins, including correspondence and proposals, can be found in the "Curriculum innovation initiatives" folders in box 1 of this collection.  

The division's original program structure was based around "Clusters of Concern," which focused on problems and questions that were facing society. The courses were taught by volunteer "Teacher-Guides," class sizes were kept smaller, and the courses were all offered as pass-fail and as electives. The original clusters were War and Peace, Racism and Poverty, Natural & Social Ecologies, Problems and Possibilities of Education for the Future, Individualism, Dissent & Communication, and Focus on Women's Studies. According to a program overview from around the mid 1970s, which can be found in the historical summaries folder, the first two years of the program saw "over 5,000 students and over 260 Teacher-Guides in approximately 400 classes." The program would grow through the 1970s to include "special topic" courses in addition to the clusters.  Many faculty were using the special topic courses to develop new curriculum and so in 1978, the special topic courses could be taken for regular letter grades, but the clusters remained pass-fail. In the mid to late 1980s (ca. 1986-1987), the name division's name changed from the Experimental Programs Division to Experimental and Integrative Studies, which is what it continued as until the program's advisory board voted to discontinue the experimental program in 2012 after several years without viable course proposals. 

Scope and Content: 

This collection contains records created by or about the former Experimental and Integrative Studies program, which was a division of the Honors College from 1970 to the 2010s. Included are articles, catalogs, correspondence, handbooks and manuals, meeting files, program statistics, project files, and other administrative and subject files of the division. 

Statement of Arrangement: The records are organized alphabetically by subject matter. 

Preferred Citation: KSU Experimental and Integrative Studies. Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Related Materials: Further information concerning KSU Experimental and Integrative Studies can be found in the KSU Honors College records. 

Acquisition Information: These records were transferred to the University Archives in 2015. 

Box 1
Folder -- Contents

1. Advisory Council, 1976-1977
2. Advisory Council, 1978-1979
3. Advisory Council, 1980-1981
4. Advisory Council, 1982-1987
5. Annual Report September 1970-August 1971, 1971
6. Article, "Birth after Death: A Curricular Renaissance at Kent State University" by Basil S. Deming and James A. Phillips Jr., 1970s
7. Article, "Student Evaluations of Experimental University Classes" by Donald M. Hassler and Helga E. Kaplan, 1977
8. Article, "Systematic Curriculum Evaluation: A Means and Methodology" by Basil S. Deming and James A. Phillips Jr., 1974
9. Article, "Volunteer Teach Guides of Experimental University Classes: Some Characteristics, Motivations, and Assessments," including documentation and questionnaires, 1977
10. Correspondence, 1971-1973
11. Correspondence, 1974-1977
12. Correspondence, 1978-1979
13. Correspondence, 1978-1979
14. Correspondence, 1980-1985
15. Correspondence, 1993-2003
16. Correspondence- Regionals, 1974-1975
17. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Fall 1970
18. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Winter 1971
19. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Spring 1971
20. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Fall 1971
21. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Winter 1972
22. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Spring 1972
23. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Fall 1972
24. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Winter 1973
25. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Spring 1973
26. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Fall 1974
27. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Winter 1975
28. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Spring 1975
29. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Fall 1975
30. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Winter 1976
31. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Spring 1976
32. Correspondence- Teacher-Guides, Fall 1976
33. Curriculum innovation initiatives, May-June 1970
        Scope and Content: This folder contains early correspondence and, reports, and papers related to the creation and early development of the experimental program at Kent State in the aftermath of May 4, 1970, including information from the Curriculum Innovation committee that explored this idea in their meetings.
34. Curriculum innovation initiatives, July-November 1970
        Scope and Content: This folder contains early correspondence and, reports, and papers related to the creation and early development of the experimental program at Kent State in the aftermath of May 4, 1970, including information from the Curriculum Innovation committee that explored this idea in their meetings.

Box 2
Folder -- Contents

1. Experiential Programs and Prior Learning, 1976-1981
2. Experiential Programs and Prior Learning, 1977
3. Experiential Programs and Prior Learning, 1978-1981
4. Experiential Programs and Prior Learning, 1981
5. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 1986-1987
6. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 1987-1988
7. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 1988-1989
8. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 1989-1990
9. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 1994-1998
10. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 2001-2005
11. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 2002-2006
12. Experimental and Integrative Studies(EXIS) Curriculum Committee, 2007-2012 
13. Handbooks and Manuals- Teacher-Guide Handbook for the Clusters of Concern, undated
14. Handbooks and Manuals- Teaching Manual, 1978?
15. Handbooks and Manuals- Teaching Manual (philosophy, techniques, resources), undated
16. Historical Summaries, 1970, 2010, undated
17. Mini-Catalogs, 1970-1971
18. Mini-Catalogs, 1971-1972
19. Mini-Catalogs, 1972-1973
20. Mini-Catalogs, 1974
21. Mini-Catalogs, 1975
22. Mini-Catalogs, 1976
23. Mini-Catalogs, 1977
24. Mini-Catalogs, 1978
25. Mini-Catalogs, 1979
26. Mini-Catalogs, 1980
27. Mini-Catalogs, 1981
28. Mini-Catalogs, 1982
29. Mini-Catalogs, 1983
30. Mini-Catalogs, 1984
31. Mini-Catalogs, 1985
32. Mini-Catalogs, 1986-1989
33. Mini-Catalogs, 1990-1995

Box 3
Folder -- Contents

1. Mini-Catalogs, 1996-1999
2. Mini-Catalogs, 2000-2005
3. Mini-Catalogs, 2006-2010
4. Newsletters, 1973-1975
5. Oberlin Proposals, May 21, 1970
       Scope and Content: This folder contains a proposal with "principals and procedures according to which those formerly associated with Kent State University can re-form in an environment which will permit our peaceful development as a human university community." The proposal was created and submitted by a group of faculty and students that had ended up at Oberlin College in the aftermath of May 4, 1970.
6. Program Excellence Project, 1987-1989
7. Program Excellence Project, 1987-1989
8. Program Statistics, 1971-1972
9. Program Statistics, 1973-1974
10. Program Statistics, 1974-1975
11. Program Statistics, 1975-1976

Box 4
Folder -- Contents

1. Program Statistics, 1976-1977
2. Program Statistics, 1978
3. Program Statistics, 1978-1979
4. Program Statistics, 1979-1980
5. Program Statistics, 1980-1981
6. Program Statistics, 1981-1982
7. Program Statistics, 1983-1984
8. Promotional Resources- Drafts, 1973, undated
9. "Proposal for Experimental Program at Kent State University 'The Communiversity'” by M.J. Lunine, 1970
10. Recruitment Materials, 1971-1973, undated
11. Speech- Observations on the Experimental Program at Kent State University by Tom S. Cooperrider, December 11, 1971
12. Workshops, 1973-1977
13. Workshops, 2010