In its second year of existence, a little-known committee aimed at improving teaching quality is dreaming big.

The Teaching Excellence Committee (TEC), pioneered by Principia professors, has stepped up the pace to expand and retool its goals after a successful first year.

A reward of honor is given at Principia College when faculty members have devoted a good portion of their educational careers to the college, have put their heart, soul, and love into their work, and leave a lasting impression on students. This reward is becoming a faculty emeritus. Economics professor Frank Biggs and former Athletic director Lee Suarez were recently awarded this honor.

The Admissions department has been putting in extra hours behind the scenes to make visiting weekends more accessible and enticing for potential Principians — and if Homecoming weekend was any indication, their efforts are paying off.

“The Streets” has become the most popular new dance craze on campus. While the competitors vary from week to week, the premise of each challenge is always the same. Every Monday at midnight, two students go head to head in a dance battle. Each week’s winner, known gender neutrally as the “Dance Dictator,” is determined by the crowd’s response to each competitor’s performance. At the end of every show, anyone from the crowd can challenge the winner to the next round of competition.

One of the major changes being examined by Principia’s Tiger Team is a new type of class structure called an Integrated Learning Course (ILC). ILC could be implemented as soon as 2010, but would probably work best if Principia changes to a semester-based system.

At the end of every week this season, each of the soccer teams has added yet another victory to their score cards. There have been a few losses this season, but, overall, both teams have been enjoying great success and are expected to perform well in their conference tournaments.