In a new article in Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, “Drinking with the Dead: Libation Conduits from Rome’s Columbaria to the Cortile at the American Academy in Rome,” Liana examines ancient Roman funeral customs which allowed the Romans to maintain connections to their deceased loved ones through rituals involving the offerings of food and drink. Liana focuses on libation conduits, special channels carved into marble epitaphs, known to modern scholars as infundibula, which have not been well studied to date. These conduits provided a means for liquids, like wine and water, to be poured directly into the tombs, which allowed the living to symbolically share a meal with their loved ones. Such a practice honored the deceased while maintaining a sense of continuity between the living and the afterlife. Liana notes that, “Such commemorative strategies were especially prominent among the non-elite, for whom the perpetuation of memory was of special concern.”

Liana is a field archaeologist who excavates a Roman cemetery in southeast Italy. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, Proceedings of the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, and in various edited volumes. She is currently working on a monograph, Corporeal Connections in Roman Burial Practices, which explores ongoing interactions between the living and the dead in Roman Italy.

Brent, L. “Drinking with the Dead: Libation Conduits from Rome’s Columbaria to the Cortile at the American Academy in Rome.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome vol. 69 (Fall 2024). 

“Beatriz Valencia, a domestic worker, and her daughter-filmmaker, Carolina, collaborate to create the fictional character of a writer. Together, mother and daughter capture the slippage between truth and fantasy, in a hybrid documentary that tells a story about immigration, labor, dreams and the power of fiction to spark emancipation.” – From Away Films

Carolina González Valencia, Associate Professor of Art and Visual Culture, and Director of the film explains, “The film is an experiment, where we use play, fiction and improvisation to tell our stories.  All of these by pushing the form where the limits that separate genres are blended, erased. Here, we take the viewer into a journey of pleasure, beauty, and closeness through a family archive, animations, re-enactments, music and dance!”

Currently, the film is in the post-production phase, where Carolina is working with an editor to finish the cut. They hope to start the last phase of post, which includes sound mastering, and color correction, at the end of the winter.  Carolina and her team plan to release the film next year. 

The project has been funded by LEF Foundation (awarded production and post production funds), BAVC MediaMaker fellowship, Ellis-Bullergard, and �ֲ���ý Faculty Development Grant.  In addition, the film is part of the 2024 Sundance Producers Lab.  

Associate Professor of Art and Visual Culture, Carolina González Valencia​’s films lie at the intersection of personal, social, and political narratives. She weaves multiple media–animation, video, film, performance, and writing–to create films that challenge social and historical representations of migration, otherness, diaspora, and labor.  She has worked on projects in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Lebanon, and the United States.

Photos courtesy of From Away Films

October 9, 2024 Update: You can now visit the Peer Learning Commons website at bates.edu/plc.

�ֲ���ý has long provided comprehensive and innovative peer education and peer tutoring. In 2021, after some staff departures, we began an initiative to re-imagine our academic support programs and structures with a goal of improving what we do to better meet the ever changing needs of our students. As we move toward academic year 2023-24, with the Kessler Scholar Program and the Schuler Access Initiative fully in place, we know that achieving this goal is even more important. Over the last two years, we have been examining some of the best programs in the nation to determine how we can improve �ֲ���ý’ already robust model of student academic support. Working with the excellent colleagues in the unit, we are excited to announce a reorganization, redesign, and expansion of our student academic support programs.

Reorganization of Student Academic Support and Student Writing Support Resources and Programs

Academic support services and programs for students are currently divided into 3 areas: the Academic Resource Commons (ARC), the Mathematics & Statistics Workshop (MSW), and the Writing and Language Center (WLC). On August 31, 2023—Arrival Day for the Class of 2027—these resources will re-open as 2 Centers: the Student Academic Support Center and the Student Writing and Language Center.

The Student Academic Support Center will combine the programming presently provided by the MSW and ARC, namely peer tutoring in math, statistics, computational studies, the quantitative social sciences, and the natural and physical sciences. The Student Writing and Language Center will expand the work of the WLC by providing writing and language support to students with a particular focus on course-attached peer support for the First-Year Seminar, support for the W2, and support for the thesis/capstone (W3). Furthermore, this reorganization enables expansion of the staff for both Centers, so that there will now be a dedicated staff member in the Student Writing and Language Center focused on translingual and multilingual education and English-language learning and a dedicated staff member in the Student Academic Support Center focused on learning skills and learning strategies development.

New Leadership

We are excited to announce new leaders of these 2 Centers. Bridget Fullerton will be the Director of Student Writing. In this role, she will lead the design of programs and resources offered by the Student Writing and Language Center. In addition, starting this coming Fall 2023, Bridget will teach a new half-credit Fall course, EXDS 201, in which all FYS Writing-Course-Attached Tutors will be enrolled and which will enable those tutors to learn about writing pedagogy and writing center theory, and therefore be better able to partner with first-year students and support FYS instructors. She will also teach a second course – in the Short Term – that will also focus on writing pedagogy, which will be available to tutors whose roles include supporting students who come to the Center to develop their writing for courses throughout the curriculum, including but not limited to the W2 and W3. Finally, Bridget will work with a new Assistant Director of Student Writing, who will focus on supporting English-language learning, linguistic diversities, and trans-lingual education. The search for this position is ongoing.

Grace Coulombe will be the Director of Student Academic Support, and in this role, she will lead the reorganization of peer tutoring in mathematics, statistics, quantitative social sciences, computational studies, and the natural and physical sciences. In addition, Grace will offer one mathematics course per year as she has in previous years and will develop a new half-credit EXDS course in tutor pedagogy that we expect to be available in the 2024-25 academic year.

We are also happy to announce that Andee Alford will take the role of Associate Director of Student Academic Support and will focus on math, statistics, and digital and computational studies support. Eric Dyer has accepted the position of Assistant Director of Student Academic Support; he will be the liaison of student academic support to the Kessler Scholars Program as well as develop learning skills and learning strategies programs and resources. A search for a second Assistant Director of Student Academic Support is ongoing, and that position will focus on supporting peer tutoring in the area of the sciences and quantitative social sciences.

We want to acknowledge the hard work that Grace, Bridget, and Andee took on in the Summer of 2021 to each take on two-year Acting positions—Grace as Acting Director of ARC, Bridget as Acting Director of the WLC and the Writing@�ֲ���ý Program, and Andee as Acting Assistant Director of ARC. Without their partnership, that ongoing management of these programs as well as the visioning for this reorganization would not have been possible. Thank you to each of them for their professionalism and care for �ֲ���ý students.

An Exciting Relocation

The 2 new Centers will be co-located on the Ground Level of Ladd Library, adjacent to the Office of Accessible Education and Student Support and across from the redesigned Chase Hall. We expect that this Ground Level area of Ladd will be named the Peer Learning Commons.

This relocation offers some exciting opportunities. First, it creates an accessible and organized single location for student academic support resources – Accessible Education, Student Academic Support, and Student Writing and Language Support. Second, the Peer Learning Commons has a newly-accessible exterior door that opens onto the area near Chase and Carnegie. As many Student Support Advisors will be located in the new Chase Hall, this proximity enables more partnership between these services and SSAs. Third, we believe the integration of the 2 new Centers into a single shared Peer Learning Commons—which occupies the same square footage of the current 3 Centers (ARC, MSW, and WLC)—will provide exciting new opportunities to continue and expand upon �ֲ���ý’s innovative community approach to peer tutoring. Work to redesign the Ground Level into the Peer Learning Commons will take place over the Summer, and we expect that the Peer Learning Commons will open on Arrival Day, August 31, 2023.

Improved Faculty Support for Writing and Writing Pedagogy

This reorganization of student writing and student academic support has also enabled a systematic re-examination of how the Dean of the Faculty can improve resources for faculty writing and faculty writing pedagogy. While Bridget Fullerton, in her role as Director of Student Writing, will continue to partner with Steve Engel in his role as Associate Dean of Faculty, to support the First-Year Seminar (which functions as the W1) as well as to work with tutors who support writing across the curriculum, this reorganization also enables more dedicated writing pedagogy resources for faculty to be available through the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning. Lindsey Hamilton, Director of CITL, is currently searching for an Assistant Director, whose portfolio will include supporting faculty in their role as teachers of writing, and we expect that individual to start on or near August 1. We aim for there to be close alignment between the writing pedagogy support provided by the CITL for faculty and the student-facing work—both in the education of peer tutors and the support for faculty in developing their FYS courses—that Bridget will oversee in her new role.

Again, we are excited about the prospects of this reorganization and redesign of our student academic support and student writing support resources and programs. The services provided by this new structure should be more easily understood by students, staff, and faculty. We look forward to inviting faculty and staff into the new Peer Learning Commons to explore the new Student Academic Support Center and the new Student Writing and Language Center in the coming academic year. We are tentatively scheduling an open house of the new Commons at Ladd’s Ground Level for Friday, September 8, 2023, which is the Friday of First-Year/First-Weekend programming of the First-Year Experience.

Thank you for all the work that you do to support our students.

Malcolm Hill, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Steve Engel, Professor of Politics and Associate Dean of Faculty

Racial Justice in STEM, with focus on Climate Modeling, Environmental Chemistry, and Statistics and Analysis of Environmental Data

Why: �ֲ���ý College is currently engaged in serious exploration of how inclusive practices centering racial and social justice should be incorporated throughout its curriculum, scholarship, and governance and engagement. As we explore expanded curricular pathways related to climate and the environment, an inclusive excellence grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has helped us explore the effects of structural barriers to persistence and thriving in STEM due to racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of oppression. We recognize that systemic barriers are often factors that shape how scholars approach their careers, and are often entangled with the types of questions that are asked by scientists and mathematicians. For the study of climate and the environment, what are these intersections and what  practices  will ensure that BIPOC students, faculty, and staff thrive?

What: The College seeks applications from postdoctoral scholars and advanced PhD students from groups underrepresented in the sciences working in one of three areas: 1) climate modeling, 2) environmental chemistry and 3) statistics and data analysis of environmental data. Attendees will receive a $2000 stipend and participate in an expenses-paid symposium where they will present their research, network with emerging scholars in their and related fields, serve on a panel discussing anti-racism in STEM, and experience the research and teaching environment of a nationally distinctive small liberal arts college. The symposium is scheduled for 7-9 April 2022 and coincides with our campus’ annual student research presentation event, the Mount David Summit (/summit/) 

Goals: We have four main aims for this Emerging Scholars Symposium: (1) highlight current topics in research on climate modeling, environmental chemistry, and statistical analysis of environmental data featuring the research and/or pedagogies of the panelists; (2) discuss with faculty and students observations of and recommendations for racially and socially just practices in STEM education; (3) engage with curious undergraduates about their student research; and (4) foster mutually-supportive connections between the panelists and �ֲ���ý faculty and students. 

Who: Postdocs & advanced PhD students from underrepresented groups
When: The application deadline is 1 March 2022. The symposium is 7-9 April 2022. 

Application: To apply, please submit a CV and a cover letter of no more than two pages that addresses the selection criteria listed below. Please submit applications via by 1 March 2022. For more information, please contact Matt Duvall mduvall@bates.edu.

Candidate Selection: Candidates should state the research area with which they consider themselves most closely aligned. Invitations to participate will be based on the candidate’s field of study, proximity to completion of the PhD, evidence of anti-racist work in education and / or research, and thoughts on their desired career trajectory presented in the CV and cover letter.

Tom Twist, �ֲ���ý’ Sustainability Manager, announced that �ֲ���ý recently made the top ten green school ranking.  �ֲ���ý has just made the Top 10 Green Schools list for the first time in its history. We have been ranked #8 in Baccalaureate institutions internationally, out of 800+ schools. We have also been ranked #4 in the Air & Climate category, and #1 in the Energy category. We were also a featured school, so the publication included some nice pictures of �ֲ���ý students. Here’s the flyer –    This was the result of lots of work from the Committee for Environmental Responsibility and the EcoReps – and everyone we had to pester to get data!

Josh McIntosh, Vice President for Campus Life, wrote with an update on a couple of changes to our COVID-19 policies on campus.  We would like to draw your attention to our updated masking policy, which can be found here.  We will continue to monitor the public health situation on our campus and in Androscoggin county, and seek guidance from our advisors at the Mayo Clinic, to continue to inform changes to our public health policies.

President Spencer announced the annual �ֲ���ý Community Giving Campaign.  The �ֲ���ý Community Giving Campaign is a meaningful way to contribute to three organizations making a real difference in Lewiston and throughout Maine: United Way of Androscoggin County, MaineShare, and Community Health Charities of Maine.

Every gift matters. Our goal for the 2021-22 �ֲ���ý Community Giving Campaign is $40,000 and 225 donors between now and December 5. You can make your gift by signing in to the When you give, you’ll become eligible for a series of weekly prize drawings. Look for special events throughout the giving period as well.  If you have any questions about making a gift or about the �ֲ���ý Community Giving Campaign in general, please send an email to communitygiving@bates.edu.

Kerry O’Brien of the Dean of Faculty’s Office sent a message about December deadlines for student grants.

BATES STUDENT RESEARCH FUND

Deadline December 1 

Supports student research associated with courses and senior work in all disciplines. Grants of up to $300 (sometimes more for very expensive projects) support research supplies, domestic research travel, subject reimbursements, datasets and software, etc.  See /academics/student-research/academic-year/bates-student-research-fund/ FMI.

STEM CONFERENCE FUND

Deadline December 6 NEW DEADLINE!

Supports students in all classes who are presenting their research in STEM at regional and national scholarly meetings. Grants cover registration, travel, housing, meals for student presenters. Grants typically range from $300-$1500.  See /academics/student-research/academic-year/stem-travel-grants/ FMI.

James Morrison, Director Health and Safety sent a message regarding fire safety. Statistics bare out that fires are most likely to occur during winter months and on college campuses, particularly on weekends. While campus fire drills have been limited due to COVID, inspections of fire extinguishers, suppression and alarm systems continue. In addition, there are a number of things we can all do to prevent fires and associated loss.

1.       Know and be familiar with the campus building evacuation policy and individual building plans accessed at: /campus-safety/emergency-preparedness/building-evacuation-policy/.

2.       Be sure to familiarize yourself with the designated assembly area for your building. When an alarm sounds, promptly exit the building to your assembly point.

3.       If someone needs assistance, please escort them to the nearest stairwell and contact Campus Safety at 6-6111 or emergency responders alerting them to the location.

4.       Help keep hallways and stairwells free for stored items. Do not leave doors propped open.

At home, be sure to change batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors which should be located on each occupied level of your home. Fire extinguishers should similarly be placed on each level of your home and especially in the garage and kitchen.

The campus Environmental, Health and Safety Department will be working throughout this semester to review emergency practices with faculty, staff and students. If you have questions, please reach out to them at 207-786-8226.

Ken Emerson announced that Annual Benefits Enrollment will be open through midnight, Tuesday, November 23.  Annual Enrollment is your opportunity to make changes to your medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity plan, life insurance and reimbursement account elections for the upcoming plan year (January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022). It is important that you review your benefit elections carefully and, if you have questions, review Alex, a recorded information session or schedule an appointment with Human Resources.

Changes to your medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity plan and reimbursement account elections can be made through Garnet Gateway, while life insurance changes need to be made through Human Resources.

Even if you are not making any changes to your coverage it is important that you confirm your elections by completing the annual enrollment process through Garnet Gateway.

Next, upcoming events.

Postcolonial Scars: Parallel Histories of Madness, Entitlement, and Misappropriation of Resources in Eastern Congo and the PostColonial Mind.  Laura Balladur – French and Francophone Studies.

Online Positive Psychology Interventions: Strategies to Boost Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood.  Susan Mangan – Psychology.

November 16 at Noon-1:00
This event will be on zoom:

Investigating ideas starts this semester with two of our colleagues talking about their research. For those of you new to �ֲ���ý, Investigating Ideas features two faculty members talking about their research. Each presents for about 15 minutes, after which the floor is open for comment and questions.  

Neither Tutsi, nor Hutu: A Rwandan Memoir
Monday, November 15th at 5:30 PM.
Lewiston Public Library – Callahan Hall
Author Prosper Ishimwe will speak about his book in conversation with �ֲ���ý College Professor Emeritus Charles (Val) Carnegie.  Masks required.

“Criminal Justice Reform in Maine”

Thursday, November 18th at 12 noon

Virtual (Zoom + Facebook Live)

The 2021-2022 season of the Great Falls Forum continues featuring Maine Representative Charlotte Warren.

Notes from the Field:  Otis Fellowships and �ֲ���ý Environmental Internships
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2021
12-1 PM  Commons 221
ENVIROLUNCH returns for a limited engagement!  Please join us for lunch and insights on the environment from smart, insightful students.  A panel discussion featuring students who undertook environmental fellowships and internships in summer 2021:
Salma Ali ’24, Living the Nomadic Life in Somaliland (Otis Fellowship); Cam Anderson ’24, Maine Sierra Club (�ֲ���ý Environmental Internship); Sam Gilman ’22, Mass Audubon Coastal Waterbird Program (�ֲ���ý Environmental Internship); and Dianna Georges ’22, Landshare Program, Land in Common (�ֲ���ý Environmental Internship).  Due to Covid, registration is required.  You may do so.  Sponsored by the Otis Committee

Below please find a summary of recent announcements and upcoming events. 

President Spencer sent this message to the �ֲ���ý Community.  As we settle into the rhythms of the academic year, I wanted to be in touch to share some thoughts and plans about our work together.  Please see my message here.

The MLK Committee sent a message announcing they are accepting workshop proposals for this year’s observance, which will take place via Zoom or in person on January 17, 2022.  This is a day on campus that our work transforms from regular classes to a series of events.

An important part of the day consists of morning and afternoon workshops. These workshops are typically organized by �ֲ���ý faculty, staff, students, and administrators, but sometimes also local community members, and they offer a rich diversity of formats and ideas. The success of MLK Day depends heavily on our having a full program of workshops, and so the success of the day depends on people such as yourself.

The theme for MLK Day 2022 is “Decolonization and Liberation.”  We look forward to reviewing your proposal for workshop/film/performance etc. 

Kerry O’Brien, Assistant Dean of Faculty, sent a message announcing that the deadlines have been extended until October 8  for students applying for a BATES STUDENT RESEARCH FUND GRANT or a STEM CONFERENCE GRANT.   Student proposals must have a brief statement of support from the faculty advisor, which you can email to Kerry O’Brien (kobrien@bates.edu) or to Alison Keegan (akeegan@bates.edu). Student materials are due on 10/8; faculty comments are needed no later than 10/12.

BATES STUDENT RESEARCH FUND (Deadline Friday, October 8): Grants of up to $300 (sometimes more) to support research in a course, and independent study, or a thesis/capstone. These grants support:

– research supplies and consumables

– travel within the U.S. to archives, museums, historic and field sites

– subject reimbursement

– studio art and theatrical design supplies, 

– data sets, books and media not available through Ladd, etc.

All the guidelines and applications info can be found here:  /academics/student-research/academic-year/bates-student-research-fund/

Krista Aronson announced that the Short Term Innovative Pedagogy Program will resume this Spring. For more detailed information about the program and the proposal process, please visit this page. Proposals are due on or before October 29th, 2021. I’m happy to answer questions you may have and look forward to receiving your proposal.

STEM CONFERENCE GRANTS (Deadline Friday, October 8): Support students presenting research at scholarly conferences in STEM fields:  Bio, Biochem, Chem, DCS, Earth and Climate Sci, Environmental Science, Math, Neuro, Physics, biomedically-related Psych. Funding is available for both online conferences and those held in the U.S. Alums from the Class of 2020 and 2021 also may apply for this funding to present research conducted while at �ֲ���ý.  All the guidelines and applications info can be found here: 

Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir, Associate Dean of Faculty, sent along this message.  Last spring, we shared with faculty that we would begin to from the Faculty Governance Review Committee, which has been working for the past two years to rethink our faculty governance structure. Please find the minutes from our meetings since then in this folder. We will continue to update this folder.

The CFG Committee sent this message:  We are working toward a goal to bring legislation to the faculty this fall, during which process you will have the ability to engage with our ideas as they move through the legislative process.

Our second Faculty Meeting of the semester will take place on October 4, from 4:15 PM to 6:00 PM, using Zoom only (and via phone connection for colleagues who need that alternative).  .

As was the case in September, we will pursue a remote meeting format on Zoom. We follow the recommendations of the specialists at Mayo Clinic, and we believe that a gathering of the entire faculty indoors is inadvisable at the moment.

We will keep evaluating the situation and we are currently exploring several options for how and when to bring the entire faculty together in-person safely and with accessibility in mind.

Thank you for your understanding and continued efforts to keep the �ֲ���ý community healthy and safe.

Facilities Services announced to the �ֲ���ý Community that starting Tuesday October 5, Facility Services will begin the process of removing all campus window A/C units for Fall and Winter.  The process usually takes two to three days to complete.  Please ensure there is a clear path to these units so we can make this process safe and efficient for our staff and customers.  Work should take approximately a half hour per location.

Geoff Swift wrote with an update to the information provided in his September 8 message about our COVID-19 testing program.  Thanks to the efforts of the entire �ֲ���ý community, cases of COVID-19 on campus remain low.  In order to continue this favorable trend, we are extending COVID-19 testing until further notice.  All students will continue to participate in ongoing COVID-19 testing on Tuesdays and Thursdays at our COVID-19 Testing Center at Underhill. Faculty and staff who are regularly on campus are encouraged to test once a week; faculty and staff who are not fully vaccinated are required to test weekly on one of these days. Instructions for how to register for testing and further information about the testing program can be found here.

Kristen Cloutier of the Harward Center shared the following announcement.  2022 Davis Projects for Peace award.  Students interested in applying should plan on attending an informational meeting on Monday, October 25 at 4p.m. via Zoom.  Those who RSVP that they will be in attendance will be sent a Zoom link on October 22. 

The Davis United World Scholars Program, which funds a number of scholarships for international students at �ֲ���ý each year, has decided to re-fund this coming summer “Davis Projects for Peace” at the colleges at which they have scholarships, including �ֲ���ý.  The awards will be made to a student or group of students at each college who design the most promising and do-able project, funded at $10,000 each, which they will implement during the summer of 2022 anywhere in the world. The objective is “to encourage and support today’s motivated youth to create and try out their own ideas for building peace in the 21^st century.”  The grants are made possible by a gift of $1M for this purpose by Mrs. Kathryn Wasserman Davis.  She wants today’s students—tomorrow’s leaders—to be challenged to design and test their own ideas for world peace. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the world.  Information and particulars on the project are available at the project website:   

Lee Desiderio announced that the Zoom Client for Meeting has been upgraded to version 5.8.0. If you have not had an opportunity to update Zoom, please do so at your earliest convenience so you may access Zoom’s news features, bug fixes, and security patches.

Judith Miller ’91, Chair of the Committee on Honorary Degrees, writes to the members of the �ֲ���ý community to solicit nominations for honorary degree recipients for Commencement 2022 and beyond.

The committee is composed of faculty, students, staff, and trustees. Nominations for honorary degrees come from the �ֲ���ý community and from committee members, and the committee maintains a rolling list of individuals to be considered. Names are discussed by the committee as a whole and invitations are often extended a year or two in advance.

If you would like to nominate someone for an honorary degree, please write to honorarydegrees@bates.edu with the individual’s name, a brief description of why the individual would be a good honorand for �ֲ���ý, and whether you have or know of a personal connection. Submissions are welcome throughout the year, but those received by October 15 will be considered at the Committee on Honorary Degrees’ fall meeting.

Click to read more about the guidelines for honorary degrees and to find a list of past recipients.

Assembling a dynamic and worthy class of honorands is a community project, and I thank you, in advance, for your thoughtful contributions.

Next, upcoming events. Please Note: You can find additional, asynchronous resources for course redesign, and pedagogy here. I will use these weekly emails to draw your attention to upcoming events, but you are also welcome to check this link for real-time updates.

Faculty Technology Showcase
Thursday, October 21

4:30-6:00 p.m.
Ladd Library

As one way to bring us together as a community, ten of your faculty colleagues are partnering with the DOF and ILS to demonstrate unique ways they have incorporated technology into their teaching and scholarship.   The final program is coming together and will be shared shortly.  Refreshments will be served.

Workshop:  Reginald Dwayne Betts

In Conversation with Major Jackson

Thursday, October 7, 2021

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST

Hear in conversation with renowned poet . They will discuss why reading and writing matter and the ways in which teachers can bring literature alive for students. Their insights will deeply inform the goals of the Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative in re-engaging students with transformative works of literature and philosophy and providing them with clear pathways through general education that enable them to connect the humanities to their professional aspirations.

As a poet and lawyer, Reginald Betts has championed the power of the humanities. He created , an initiative to curate micro libraries and install them in prisons across the country, inspired by the impact literature had in countering hopelessness in his own life when he was incarcerated as an adolescent. His award-winning essays and poetry reflect on his journey towards becoming a working lawyer, the failure of the criminal justice system, and his post-incarceration experience.

Major Jackson is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University and author of five books of poetry, including The Absurd Man (2020), Roll Deep (2015), Holding Company (2010), Hoops (2006) and Leaving Saturn (2002), which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. He has received numerous fellowships, including those from Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

The event is the first in a series of Teaching with Transformative Texts Workshops. Workshops focus on what can be done to strengthen general education—as students move into STEM, business, health, and other pre-professional fields—to ensure that college students, whatever their major or background, encounter inspiring works of literature and philosophy and grasp the power of the humanities and its relevance to their professional aspirations.

These virtual workshops provide practical insight on effectively teaching first-year students and non-majors in the humanities. Each workshop will run from 12:30-1:30 p.m. EST. Foundation staff will remain from 1:30-2:00 p.m. EST to answer questions about the initiative. All workshops are free and open to current grantees and prospective applicants.

On-Site Flu Shots
Underhill Testing Center
Tuesday, October 5-Thursday, October 14.

7:30 am – 1:00 p.m. 
Sign up for a flu shot using the same scheduling system in Garnet Gateway for signing up for a COVID test.  You may then receive a Flu shot only and/or a COVID test with the same appointment.  

You may sign up for a flu shot next week, you just cannot schedule an appointment on the same day as each day’s schedule is locked down at 4:00 am (if you want to schedule a flu shot for Tuesday you have to book an appointment before 4:00 am Tuesday morning).

The type of flu shot that will be offered is the Standard Injectable Quadrivalent.  There will also be High Dose flu shots available to those employees who are age 65 or older. Due to the Pandemic, only employees will be able to receive the flu shot at the testing center.  An employee’s family members are encouraged to seek a flu shot in their community.  

A flu shot registration table will be set up outside of Underhill for you to pick up and complete a flu shot consent form.

• Flu shot consent form requires you to answer a few questions on how you feel that day.
• If you are a member of the �ֲ���ý Medical Plan your medical billing information has been completed.
• If you are covered under a non-�ֲ���ý provided medical plan please be prepared to enter your medical coverage information on the consent form (plan name, group number and ID).
• In the event of bad weather an email will be sent if the registration table is relocated.

If you choose to receive both a flu shot and a COVID test within the same appointment you will be directed to take your flu shot first and then follow the procedures to go through the center for your COVID test.

Purposeful Work Wednesday, October 13
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Baxter Brewing

Emily Tamkin ’23 will present her research that she conducted alongside Merritt Waldron (Quality Director at Baxter Brewing) and our own Dr. Lori Banks (Assistant Professor of Biology) this past summer.

Optional purchase of a $10 ticket for a guided flight tasting upon arrival. For more information and to register (required), click . 

Curious about retirement?
A panel of recently “liberated” faculty will discuss/learn about diverse ways to navigate life and work beyond �ֲ���ý.
Monday, October 18, 2021
4:15-5:15 p.m.  (ZOOM link forthcoming)
From ongoing academic engagement, to creative reinvention, to graceful disappearance, our panelists will describe how it is all possible!  

FMI: Contact Margaret Creighton, Leslie Hill, or Darby Ray

Literary Arts Live presents writer Corinna Vallianatos
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
7:30 – 8:30 pm
A Zoom reading and conversation

Corinna Vallianatos is the author of the novel The Beforeland (Acre Books 2020), a 2020 winner in the Forward Indie Awards for literary fiction. 

Her first collection of short stories, My Escapee (Univ. of Mass 2012), won the Grace Paley Prize in Fiction, and was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. 

Vallianatos’ stories have been published in Tin House, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, The Kenyon Review, The Idaho Review, and elsewhere. 

She teaches fiction writing at Claremont McKenna College in California, where she lives with her family.

Phillips Fellowship Lecture
Monday, October 4, 2021
Benjamin Mays Center
6:00 p.m.
Dinner followed by Raluca’s Presentation
“Claiming the Carpathians:  Transnational Mountain Discourses in East-Central Europe”  Registration, Tickets, & Mask Required. 

A key outcome of the Foundational Dialogues will be the development of a curricular transformation plan. This plan should be no more than three pages total, including a narrative, budget, and timeline. The narrative section should include:

• a transformation plan that addresses and considers the three areas listed below,
• a timeline of up to two years that outlines the approximate timing of curricular transformation,
• a reflection on how the department or program will know if it meets its goals and how it will sustain the work past the life of the grant, and
• a list of the team doing the work.

In writing the narrative, departments and programs must address each of the following three areas that form the core of any curriculum. (The bullets underneath offer some suggestions for possible consideration in units’ plans.)

1. Curricular content (in majors/minors and/or specific courses) 

• Identify how white supremacy, colonialism, and settler colonialism are manifested in the unit’s current curriculum, including assumptions about the “history” or “canons” of the discipline
• Identify barriers and challenges that students experience in and across the curriculum content, including but not limited to barriers/challenges regarding accessibility (physical, mental, emotional, cultural, linguistic, materially, etc.), race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, and faith/non-faith
• Identify resources useful to more complete, accurate, and fulsome curricular content

2. Structure and sequencing of curriculum and major/minor requirements

• Use data to identify and address structural barriers in major/minor/thesis/advising requirements—including “hidden” requirements—that prevent the inclusion and flourishing of all students 
• Consider the impacts of the major/minor/thesis/advising structures as they pertain to emerging trends and requirements in post-graduate education and employment  
• Consider transformations to curricular requirements and sequencing that will lead to an educationally just learning environment—physically, mentally, linguistically, structurally, materially, culturally, etc.—for students and faculty.

3. Pedagogy

• Assess current pedagogies and practices, focusing on those that marginalize, exclude, or other students
• Identify inclusive, anti-racist, and decolonizing pedagogies that ensure all students have the opportunity to thrive 
• Collaborate across disciplines by involving other faculty and staff on campus 
• Consider co-curricular partnerships and programs, including community-engaged learning and research, that support or complement the classroom teaching and learning
• Identify strategies for supporting and increasing ongoing faculty development around—and building faculty’s capacity for—inclusive and equitable pedagogy, advising, and curricular design
• Consider students’ ability to access technology and course materials when redesigning courses
• Consider how to incorporate universal design and other inclusive forms of learning/technology/demonstration of knowledge for evaluating student progress and success.

Budget and Funding

Proposals must include a budget of up to $25,000 that details proposed expenses, including travel, consultants, or supply purchases. Funding may be used for the following expenses:

• Stipends or course releases (pending AAC approval) for academic unit faculty to review curriculum, develop or revise courses, conduct research on methods they seek to adopt, or gain expertise in inclusive pedagogies. The maximum stipend per person is $5,000. Academic units wishing to provide stipends to a large group of faculty should align the compensation requested with the roles and responsibilities of each participating faculty member;
• stipend for outside consultants;
• wages for student interns assisting with curricular revision or development;
• travel for professional development related to curricular transformation (rather than faculty scholarship). Such travel might include site visits to other colleges and universities or attendance at conferences or workshops about pedagogy;
• materials, software, or other expendable supplies; and
• modest meeting costs (up to $500 per project), not including meals or refreshments, per the Mellon Foundation’s restrictions.

We encourage requests for expenses other than stipends, within the $25,000 maximum, and particularly encourage the inclusion of faculty development.

Institutional Support

The Mellon Curriculum Transformation Grant Committee recognizes the significant effort involved in developing or revising courses, curricular structures, and pedagogies within an academic unit. An instructional designer will support academic units throughout this process and the Committee will be available for regular consultation. Support and guidance can take many forms, such as incorporating students and students’ voices, curricular consultation, implementing new teaching methods, and assistance developing an assessment plan.