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Bruce Gans

Bruce Gans served as a professor of English for many years at the City Colleges of Chicago where he founded the Great Books Curriculum. The Curriculum, which became the model for similar programs around the United States, was funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education, and publicized through front page coverage in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. Symposium, the student-written intellectual journal he founded, received a commendation from the Wall Street Journal and won an award from Columbia University. Professor Gans has published widely in journals ranging from American Scholar to Playboy and has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant for his fiction and an Illinois Art Council prize for his literary criticism.

Articles by Bruce Gans


Part 2: Here is more evidence that group learning fails students

Aug 15, 2014 · Bruce Gans · Comments Off on Part 2: Here is more evidence that group learning fails students

Here is more evidence that group learning fails students


In college humanities classes, small group learning is nearly always a waste of time or worse.

Jul 11, 2014 · Bruce Gans · Comments Off on In college humanities classes, small group learning is nearly always a waste of time or worse.

In college humanities classes, small group learning is nearly always a waste of time or worse.

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  • Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall Jun 23, 2022

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  • The Limits of Expertise Jun 22, 2022

    As a professor devoted to his college’s “pre-disciplinary” core curriculum, I was hooked by David Epstein’s title, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The book is chock-full of anecdotes and evidence that people with breadth or range—indeed, amateurs in the true sense of the word—can contribute immensely to enterprises in environments that seem, … Continue reading “The Limits of Expertise”

More in Innovation

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  • The Limits of Expertise Jun 22, 2022

    As a professor devoted to his college’s “pre-disciplinary” core curriculum, I was hooked by David Epstein’s title, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The book is chock-full of anecdotes and evidence that people with breadth or range—indeed, amateurs in the true sense of the word—can contribute immensely to enterprises in environments that seem, … Continue reading “The Limits of Expertise”

  • Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid? Jun 20, 2022

    Chancellor salaries at public universities across the country are far higher than those for other public executives, out of step with faculty compensation, and unrelated to student success and university performance. A new program at UNC may help to address some of these concerns. In an article in Forbes, the economic historian Richard Vedder states … Continue reading “Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid?”

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  • Did You Know? Student Loan “Pauses” Help Those Who Can Afford to Pay Jun 30, 2022

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