Kay McAdams
Kay McAdams is associate professor of history at York College of Pennsylvania, a mid-size comprehensive four-year institution. At York College, Dr. McAdams teaches a number of European history courses, specializing in modern Europe, the Holocaust, and women and gender studies. Her research interests include the Holocaust in film. She is also director of general education of York College. Her interest in the tuning project stems from her involvement with general education reform at York College, a reform effort that is moving YCP towards a system focusing on helping students strongly acquire skills and abilities necessary for meeting contemporary challenges. Dr. McAdams sees history as being essential to helping students, major and non-major, to learn those skills, especially communication (oral, visual, and written), critical thinking and inquiry, evaluation of information, integration of multidisciplinary perspectives, and awareness of alternative solutions and perspectives, all valuable abilities for citizenship, personal life, and a career. She is optimistic that the tuning project can help history programs more clearly articulate their essential contributions to creating educated citizens and professionals.