Carrie Cushman talks Museum of Art鈥檚 Marsden Hartley Legacy Project on Maine Public

Carrie Cushman, director of the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art, spoke about the museum鈥檚 current projects .

In conversation with Heather McDougall, manager of music and people at Maine Public Classical, Cushman, who joined the museum in August 2025, discussed the excitement of arriving at 乐播传媒. The museum is preparing to launch the Marsden Hartley Legacy Project, an online digital catalog of all known paintings and ephemera by modernist painter and Lewiston native Marsden Hartley, which has been in development since 2019.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really lucky that this is happening at 乐播传媒, and we will be the home of it and responsible for stewarding it into the future,鈥� Cushman told McDougall.

The 乐播传媒 Museum of Art was founded because of the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, Cushman explained, comprising over 400 paintings and ephemera by Hartley 鈥� by far the largest collection of Hartley鈥檚 work 鈥� which Hartley鈥檚 niece donated to the college in 1955. 

鈥淲e have people coming to the museum almost weekly requesting to see work from the collection, and many are artists who are looking for inspiration in this 20th century modernist who is finally getting his due,鈥� Cushman said.

Additionally, Cushman鈥檚 exhibition The Worlds of Ilse Bing was featured in a in the online magazine What Will You Remember?.

The exhibition is on view through May 24 at Wellesley College鈥檚 Davis Museum, where Cushman previously worked as the Linda Wyatt Gruber 鈥�66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography. Exploring Bing鈥檚 rise to prominence, coinciding with 35mm photography鈥檚 growing popularity, the exhibition 鈥渂rings her work into conversation with her creative influences and with those who she influenced in the worlds of modern art.鈥�

What Will You Remember? also included the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art鈥檚 exhibition Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle, co-curated by Thurber and 乐播传媒 assistant curator Samantha Sigmon, in its February roundup. On view through March 21, the exhibition demonstrates how Thurber鈥檚 photography has 鈥渧isualized interior work that is private, domestic, psychological, or insular.鈥�

Mara Tieken opines on rural schools, students in The Hechinger Report; Women Writers, Women鈥檚 Books

Though public school closures and consolidations are becoming increasingly common, they rarely serve their intended purpose of saving struggling school districts money, writes Professor of Education Mara Tieken in an .

For school districts with declining enrollment or decreasing state and federal funding, 鈥渟chool closures may seem logical,鈥� Tieken writes. 鈥淐lose schools, 鈥榬ight-size鈥� districts, save money. Problem solved.鈥�

However, she explains, school closures require additional transportation and renovation costs, often leading to districts saving little to no money, while students’ test scores and future college and employment outcomes decrease.

Tieken has extensively researched and written about rural schools and their students. On Feb. 5, she published a piece about the process of developing her latest book 鈥� Educated Out: How Rural Students Navigate Elite Colleges鈥擜nd What It Costs Them 鈥� in an .

While writing the book, which explores how students from rural places experience attending a small elite college, Tieken developed an approach to research characterized by slowly developing relationships with the students she was interviewing, she writes.

鈥淲e often think of research as a one-way process, a passing of 鈥榙ata鈥� from 鈥榮ubject鈥� to 鈥榬esearcher,鈥欌�� Tieken writes. 鈥淏ut that approach is neither ethical (in fact, it鈥檚 often quite exploitative) nor useful. So much more can be learned when the relationship is actually relational.鈥�

The 13 years that Tieken spent researching and writing the book taught her to be a more patient teacher, she says, with an expanded awareness of the struggles that her students from rural backgrounds may be facing. The book culminates with suggestions for how academic institutions can better support rural students.

鈥淎ll those recommendations that I make in the book鈥檚 final chapter?鈥� Tieken writes. 鈥淚 have to do them, too, and I feel obligated鈥攊n a really good way鈥攖o encourage others to do them, as well.鈥� 

Caylin Carbonell 鈥�12 gives public talk exploring daily life, labor dynamics in colonial New England

Caylin Carbonell 鈥�12, an assistant professor of history at Bowdoin College, gave a public lecture about labor dynamics in colonial New England households, .

The talk, entitled “Laboring Lives and Hidden Stories in Colonial New England,” was the second installment in a series of free online lectures hosted by the Lincoln County Historical Association, based in Wiscasset, Maine.

Carbonell shared insights on 鈥渢he daily lives inside colonial households as the country was beginning to take shape, with a focus on laborers, often a diverse group ranging from enslaved and indentured people to hired workers, including Indigenous, African, and European women and men.鈥�

She also discussed the challenges of uncovering the stories of 17th and 18th century laborers from incomplete or nonexistent records. Carbonell, who majored in history at 乐播传媒, is currently working on a book manuscript that closely explores daily life in colonial New England households.

Boston Globe, Sun Journal cover MLK Day at 乐播传媒

The held during 乐播传媒鈥� Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day,  鈥淔rom Silencing to Empowerment: Exploring Anger, Justice, and Post-traumatic Growth Among Refugee Women and Women of Color,鈥� led by Yun Garrison, assistant professor of psychology, and Fowsia Musse from Maine Community Integration.

During the workshop, Garrison and Musse presented a framework of healing from trauma that they developed by examining the experiences of refugee women. For Musse, herself a refugee from Somalia, and other Somalian refugees and immigrants living in Lewiston, the workshop was particularly topical, the Globe reports; Musse said that anxiety caused by the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration deportation agenda led her to reflect on past trauma from her immigration experience.

鈥淲hen something traumatic happens, how do we hold both anger and peace at the same time? Because sometimes they are pulling us in opposite directions,鈥� Garrison said. 鈥淢aybe love and healing can bridge this. I do not know, but that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 sitting with right now.鈥�

The Lewiston given by Myisha Cherry, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside.

Cherry’s address 鈥� 鈥淲hat Do We Do With All This Fear?鈥� 鈥� explored the day鈥檚 theme of 鈥淟ove, Anger and the Struggle for Justice鈥� by closely examining and interpreting MLK鈥檚 writings and words.

The Sun Journal quoted from President Garry W. Jenkins鈥� introductory remarks addressing the day鈥檚 theme, sharing his interpretation of how love and anger may intersect in the pursuit of justice.

鈥淚 would rather spend my days in a space of love rather than a space of anger,鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 always get to make that choice. 鈥� In linking these two, we have to wrestle with how they exist together 鈥� both in tension and in harmony.鈥�

In sharing MLK鈥檚 thoughts about fear, Cherry explained that not all fear was negative; it can, in fact, be harnessed and transformed into a powerful force for change, the Sun Journal reported.

鈥淲e should be maestros as opposed to mere masters of our normal fears 鈥� and we should transition that normal fear into courage,鈥� Cherry said. 鈥淐ourage is just not doing something in spite of your fear, it鈥檚 taking your fear and matching it up with confidence 鈥� and engaging in action.鈥�

As the Sun Journal reported, Cherry linked this healthy fear to MLK鈥檚 nonviolent protests and actions, urging all in the audience to use their 鈥渘ormal鈥� fear to advance causes they care about.

鈥淲hat we should do with this fear is make something beautiful out of it,鈥� Cherry said. 鈥淭his is a time of fear for lots of us 鈥� Turning to King has been illuminating, and I find that fear doesn鈥檛 mean that we are weak, it doesn鈥檛 mean we鈥檝e given people the upper hand. It means that we鈥檙e sensitive to injustice. It means we value the people we鈥檙e fearful for and we value the principles that we are scared we are going to lose.鈥� 

Brian Shankar Adler featured in DownBeat magazine鈥檚 cover story

Brian Shankar Adler 鈥� percussionist and 乐播传媒 instructor of drum set, tabla, and other hand percussion 鈥� and Grammy-award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom released their debut album once like a spark, in their February issue鈥檚 cover story, 鈥淢aking music in the moment.鈥� 

The magazine used the stage at Olin Concert Hall as the setting for a photo shoot with the two musicians, who have performed extensively in Lewiston and Portland, Maine as a duo.

鈥淲e played each other鈥檚 compositions, and the music came alive instantly,鈥� Adler told DownBeat. 鈥淥ver the years, we built up a hefty book of tunes and a musical language with which to communicate.鈥�

Without chorded or bass instruments, the brass-drum duo is a rare one, DownBeat reported. The combination makes for a unique, melodic sound, with roots in jazz, North Indian Hindustani, and Indonesian musical traditions.

鈥淭he way I see it, music is interconnected and has the power to communicate beyond borders,鈥� Adler told DownBeat. 鈥淟istening to and playing jazz, it鈥檚 evident that the music has roots beyond America and arms that extend to virtually every corner of the world. When approached with open ears, curiosity and a sense of respect for the traditions, the possibilities for exchange are really limitless.鈥�

Art New England reviews current exhibition at the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art

On Feb. 5, of 鈥淧recision and Expression: American Studio Ceramics from the E. John Bullard Collection,鈥� the current show at the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art, co-curated by Assistant Curator Samantha Sigmon and Lecturer in Art and Visual Culture Susan Dewsnap. 鈥�…Bullard sought diversity and individuality in his acquisitions,鈥� Little writes. 鈥淗e also embraced humor and joy: many of the pieces will prompt a smile.鈥� 

Calling it an 鈥渆ntertaining and enlightening exhibition,鈥� Little highlighted an 鈥渆xquisite vessel鈥� by Mark Bell, 鈥淪pherical Vase,鈥� ca. 2011, which he said 鈥渆xemplifies the Blue Hill, Maine, artist鈥檚 seamless style.鈥�

Little also explained the motivation behind Bullard鈥檚 generous gift to the museum. 鈥淭he collector鈥檚 longtime ties to Haystack and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, inspired his gift, as did the college鈥檚 ceramics program led by Susan Dewsnap, who co-curated the exhibition and accompanying catalogue,鈥� Little writes. 鈥淏ullard envisions future students exploring and learning from these singular objects. That vision is already happening: interns at the 乐播传媒 Museum researched artists for the catalogue and labels.鈥� 

What happens when a middle-school student鈥檚 classes have moved online due to the coronavirus 鈥� but her rural community doesn鈥檛 have high-speed internet? What if her family can鈥檛 afford the breakfast and lunch she and her siblings normally get at school? And what happens to the accommodations she usually gets for deafness, or dyslexia?听

Travis Palmer 鈥�21 is one of the people trying to answer these questions in his western Maine community. A school board member in a district that comprises his hometown of Rumford and several smaller towns and communities, he鈥檚 had a front-row seat to decisions about feeding students, remote learning, and long-term planning.听听

Palmer, who has been on the board for four years, has also been talking to and learning from Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken, an expert on rural education who is closely watching how rural teachers and school districts across the country are rethinking, often in a matter of days, their entire approach to education.

Over the past several weeks, Tieken has heard from a variety of educators, from administrators of big Texas school districts to college advisors who serve public and semi-private schools in Maine, about what鈥檚 working for them and what they need in a new era of remote learning. She’s also helped create a for school administrators.听

The answers she got paint a picture of educators doing their best in uncharted waters 鈥� teachers moving instruction online, administrators distributing food and technology. She hopes that the stories she has gathered will help shed light on the issues these communities face and help direct resources to the schools and districts most in need.听

鈥淚n the long term, I would like to help think about what we can take away from this experience and how we can change our educational system based on what we鈥檝e learned,鈥� Tieken says.听听

Perhaps the most pressing problem facing rural school districts around the country is food. During the school year, many students rely on breakfast and lunch provided by schools free or at reduced prices, and educators have to figure out how to continue to distribute those meals. (For students who are homeless or transient, the challenge grows exponentially more difficult.)

It鈥檚 a little easier for urban and suburban school districts to set up convenient meal pickups at places around a city. It鈥檚 harder for rural schools, which might serve families across a vast geographic area and whose families still might not have transportation.听

Palmer says school administrators in his district, Regional School Unit 10, have set up meal pickup points, distributing hundreds of meals a day, as close to families鈥� homes as possible. 鈥淚deally, we鈥檙e trying to get out to the places where people are, because it鈥檚 difficult to expect parents to have the time or transportation to get the kids to these places,鈥� Palmer says.听

Tieken has heard from other districts that are using school buses to deliver meals, or asking paraprofessionals like classroom assistants to do so. The schools still have to navigate legal issues 鈥� what does an ed tech鈥檚 union contract allow him to do? 鈥� plus ever-evolving stay-at-home orders and practical concerns like refrigeration. Still, 鈥渢hat flexibility is great,鈥� Tieken says.听

Keeping students fed is a concern for any school district, rural or urban, that serves poor families. But rural schools in particular have to be creative about technology, Tieken says. Many families don鈥檛 have the devices they need for the kids to do schoolwork, and . In 2019, only 63% of rural adults were broadband users.

鈥淭he terrain can make it more difficult for signals to reach farther,鈥� Tieken says.听

Access to technology varies within Palmer鈥檚 own district, he says. Districts in other states have had to scramble to distribute tablets or laptops, but Maine has long been a leader in so-called one-to-one technology, and RSU10 has already purchased Chromebooks for most students.听 In the towns in Palmer’s district, up to 90% of families have access to broadband.听

鈥淭his problem is so frustrating because it鈥檚 so fixable, and we knew it.鈥�

Palmer is happy with the way these students and their teachers have transitioned to remote learning.听

But some pockets of his district don鈥檛 even have cell service, let alone high-speed internet. Families there receive lesson plans via paper 鈥渟torm packets,鈥� a holdover from snow days. The packets, Palmer says, are focused more on retaining old material than learning something new, since students don鈥檛 have as much contact with their teachers and can鈥檛 necessarily rely on their parents to teach them.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 an imperfect system,鈥� Palmer says. 鈥淚f this blows through, in the next school year we鈥檝e got a lot of catching up to do.鈥澨�

Other districts around the country are trying different solutions. Tieken heard from one in Texas that wants to set up strategic internet hotspots, though demand for them has made them scarce. Some districts have resorted to asking families to come to the parking lots of schools or local businesses to tap into their Wi-Fi from the car, Tieken says.听

鈥淭his problem is so frustrating because it鈥檚 so fixable, and we knew it,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been a persistent rural-urban digital divide, so it should surprise nobody.鈥澨�

Food and technology access directly affects how well students learn, Tieken says 鈥� if you鈥檙e hungry or anxious about the future, or your laptop dies, you鈥檙e not going to be thinking about math or reading as much. But even when schools and districts can provide food and educational technology, the quality of delivery of these resources will vary from district to district and state to state.听

Tieken has talked to educators working in many locations and in all kinds of environments, from private schools to large public districts with thousands of students to small districts with a single school. No one setup is better than the other, she says. Some, it seems, are dropping the ball in terms of revamping their curriculum and making sure everyone has the technology they need.听

Others, however, are full speed ahead. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen some pretty amazing things happening in terms of districts making sure all their kids have technology,鈥� she says. 鈥淭eachers are providing synchronous instruction that helps students structure their days, and they鈥檝e got some really cool, innovative lesson plans or videos that are up on the internet.鈥澨�

As it turns out, each type of school or district has advantages and disadvantages, Tieken found. A smaller district might be better able to distribute devices and be more supportive of teachers, but a bigger district with more resources and people could ensure that thousands of students get the same educational experience.听

鈥淭his idea of centralized control versus local control, small and nimble versus big and consistent 鈥� it will be interesting, the lessons we learn,鈥� she says. But COVID-19 is 鈥渘ot going to equalize things,鈥� Tieken says. Instead it will only exacerbate existing differences.听听

鈥淚f this blows through in the next school year we鈥檝e got a lot of catching up to do.鈥澨�

This is especially true when it comes to helping students go to college, Tieken says. Rural students were than urban or suburban students. And across the board,

Organizations like Upward Bound, a federal program that since 1965 has helped low-income, first-generation, and rural students gain access to college, have traditionally operated within school buildings, forming relationships with students to help them see college as a possibility, then helping them get there.

鈥淭hey can pull a kid from a class and say, 鈥榃e鈥檝e got an admissions representative coming from this particular school, and I think it would be a great fit for you,鈥欌�� Tieken says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do that in the same way in this remote environment, build that same kind of trust.鈥澨�

For Tieken and the educators she鈥檚 talking to, other questions abound. What about rural students of color, particularly East Asians and Asian Americans, and might as a result become more isolated? What happens to the diner that serves Friday night sports fans? How will the pandemic affect the school budget long-term? How do you provide special education services?听

Those last two are particularly concerning to Palmer in Rumford. A quarter of students in this district receive special education services, which the district is committed (and required by law) to continue to provide. Meanwhile, the 13 members of the school board are trying to pass a budget, made all the harder by the knowledge that many families have lost jobs and are struggling to pay basic bills, let alone an increased property tax to fund the schools.听

Many of the educators Tieken has spoken with 鈥渁re grateful for the light this is shedding on inequities they encounter on a regular basis,” she says.听听

Now the question is, how and when will the light shine on some solutions, too?

Fifteen 乐播传媒 College seniors and young alumni have received offers of prestigious Fulbright Student awards for the coming 2018鈥�19 academic year.

鈥淚 am so proud of the 乐播传媒 seniors and recent graduates who have received these awards. Fellowships like the Fulbright demonstrate concretely that a 乐播传媒 liberal arts education prepares students to be global citizens, equipped to pursue purposeful work anywhere in the world,鈥� said President Clayton Spencer.

鈥淲hile we tend to focus on the outstanding individuals who win Fulbrights, their success depends on the deep engagement of 乐播传媒 faculty and staff and a culture that emphasizes academic rigor, the power of experiential education, and the importance of social contribution.鈥�

Grace Jurkovich is one of the 乐播传媒 seniors who’ve been offered a Fulbright Student offer for 2018-19. Her 乐播传媒 experience is a blueprint for Fulbright success. She’s been a campus leader, dean鈥檚 list student, reading tutor and college access mentor in local schools, and a key figure in building a social enterprise at a Lewiston nonprofit, the Center for Wisdom’s Women. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright is the U.S. government鈥檚 flagship international educational exchange program. The highly competitive program sends Americans to dozens of countries to teach, study, or conduct research, promoting cultural exchange and international understanding.

In the current Fulbright year, 乐播传媒 is the No. 1 producer of Fulbright Student awards among U.S. liberal arts colleges and has received Fulbright 鈥淭op Producer鈥� honors for the past seven years.

Five attributes of a 乐播传媒 education drive the college鈥檚 Fulbright success, explains Robert Strong, director of national fellowships.

乐播传媒 College has received Fulbright 鈥淭op Producer鈥� honors for the past seven years.

They are: extensive study abroad programs; community-engaged learning and teaching opportunities; the requirement of a senior thesis; robust faculty and staff mentoring; and intercultural exchange during study abroad and among the diverse Lewiston-Auburn community, which incorporates new residents from African nations.

鈥淢ost organizations that grant fellowships, like the Fulbright, have certain qualities they’re seeking,鈥� Strong says. 鈥淭hey want leaders. They want citizens who are engaged in their communities. And they want global and intercultural awareness. And that鈥檚 乐播传媒 defined.鈥�

Fulbright Student awards include Open Study/Research awards that fund self-designed projects and work with advisers at universities abroad, and English Teaching Assistant awards that place Fulbrighters in classrooms abroad.

For 2018鈥�19, three of 乐播传媒’ awardees have been offered research grants, and 12 have been offered ETA awards. The awardees comprise 13 members of the graduating Class of 2018 and two young alumni.

Fulbright U.S. Student Awards: Seniors

+Mary 鈥淏ecca鈥� Ferguson 鈥�18

Becca Ferguson 鈥�18 of North Andover, Mass., an environmental studies major, was offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award for Taiwan. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Sophie Gardephe 鈥�18

Sophie Gardephe 鈥�18 of New Rochelle, N.Y., a double major in English and politics, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Vietnam. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Katherine Hartnett 鈥�18

Katherine Hartnett 鈥�18 of St. Paul, Minn., a neuroscience major, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Malaysia. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Matthew Johnson 鈥�18

Matthew Johnson 鈥�18 of Linwood, N.J., a double major in art and visual studies and in European studies, was offered a combined Fulbright research grant and English Teaching Assistant award for Austria. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Julia Juenemann 鈥�18

Julia Juenemann 鈥�18 of Bethesda, Md., a psychology major, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Laos. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Grace Jurkovich 鈥�18

Grace Jurkovich 鈥�18 of St. Paul, Minn., a double major in politics and in women and gender studies, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Spain. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Cole Limbach 鈥�18

Cole Limbach 鈥�18 of Los Altos, Calif., a double major in politics and philosophy, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Germany. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Julia Nemy 鈥�18

Julia Nemy 鈥�18 of San Francisco, a double major in French and Francophone studies and in environmental studies, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Rwanda. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Caroline O鈥橰eilly 鈥�18

Caroline O鈥橰eilly 鈥�18 of Longmeadow, Mass., a Spanish major, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Spain. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Jonathan 鈥淛ack鈥� Reid 鈥�18

Jack Reid 鈥�18 of Dallas, a philosophy major, was offered an English Teaching Assistant Award for Poland. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

+Stephen Rowe 鈥�18

Stephen Rowe 鈥�18 of Gambier, Ohio, a politics major, was offered a combined Fulbright research and English teaching assistant grant for Austria. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

Fulbright U.S. Student Awards: Young alumni

+Francis Cheng 鈥�15

Francis Cheng 鈥�15 of San Leandro, Calif., a psychology major, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Taiwan.

+Noah Riskind 鈥�16

Noah Riskind 鈥�16 of Bethesda, Md., an economics major and Spanish minor, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Colombia. (Sarah Crosby/乐播传媒 College)

Fulbright offers not accepted

Two 乐播传媒 seniors were offered Fulbright grants, but chose not to accept:

Caroline Andy 鈥�18 of Concord, N.H., a biochemistry major and minor in public health, was offered an Open Study/Research award for a public health project in Brazil.

Sophia Merelas 鈥�18 of Pelham, N.Y., a psychology major and minor in educational studies and in Spanish, was offered an English Teaching Assistant award for Spain.

Brooke Drabkin 鈥�18 of Roslyn, N.Y., describes her surprise at the importance that off-campus relationships played in her 乐播传媒 experience.

鈥淪pending time with the Jewish community in Lewiston-Auburn has really opened my eyes to the differences that can exist in one tradition,鈥� says Drabkin, a history major who has been co-president of 乐播传媒 Hillel.

https://vimeo.com/266351678

With a minor in education, Drabkin has been active in local literacy efforts. She joined six other 乐播传媒 students to research the effectiveness of literature circles in English-language learning in Lewiston schools.

鈥淲e come to 乐播传媒 and live in Lewiston for four years, and I think it鈥檚 really important to emphasize that piece,” she says. “We are Lewiston residents.鈥�

Nationally, about 1 out of every 10 public school students is an English-language learner.

And as a presenter pointed out during an education panel at last Friday’s Mount David Summit, the numbers are even higher locally, where 25 percent of the students at Lewiston High School are ELL, due to the influx of immigrants and refugees to the city in recent years.

With ELL instruction a national topic, 乐播传媒 is helping to develop improvements at the local level.

One really effective approach, as described by students during the panel, is surprisingly simple. First, assign readings that are relevant to the ELL students鈥� own life situations. Second, organize the students into small, facilitated groups to discuss those readings.

Associate Professor of Education Patricia Buck. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Of course, there鈥檚 a bit more to it than that. But the combination of so-called literature circles and culturally relevant texts, the students found, instills the language in ways that resonate beyond the ELL classroom. And student engagement during their field research was high.

鈥淭hose two findings really support each other, because as students become more proficient, they鈥檙e going to be more engaged with the text,鈥� said Allison Berman ’18 of Philadelphia. 鈥淎nd as they鈥檙e more engaged with the text, they pick up more proficiency.

鈥淲e can see that as proficiency goes up and engagement goes up, students are more likely to have deeper discussions about topics that they find interesting.鈥�

Berman and the 12 other seniors in the session are education-studies minors who, last fall, took a capstone seminar, taught by Associate Professor of Education Patricia Buck, that鈥檚 dedicated to community-engaged research. At the Mount David Summit, the class presented findings from the semester鈥檚 two research projects.

鈥淲e can see that as proficiency goes up and engagement goes up, students are more likely to have deeper discussions about topics that they find interesting.鈥�

At the invitation of an English Language Learning teacher at Lewiston High, seven members of the class took part in the literature-circles study. (The other six conducted focus groups looking at disciplinary issues in local schools. Students in Buck鈥檚 winter seminar have continued both projects.)

Looking at systemic factors that could impair ELL instruction, the 乐播传媒 group focused on the fact that immigrant and refugee students arrive at LHS with varying levels of education and English proficiency 鈥� to say nothing of cultural backgrounds much different from their native-born peers.

鈥淲e wanted to examine a potential disconnect between school curriculum and the lived experiences of these students,鈥� explained Meghan D鈥橝rcy 鈥�18 of Concord, Mass. For the circles, they selected books spanning a range of reading levels but having in common the theme of immigration to America.

鈥淲e thought that the small, supportive setting鈥� of the circles 鈥渨as ideal to introduce culturally relevant texts,鈥� explained Brooke Drabkin ’18 of Roslyn Heights, N.Y.

Brooke Drabkin 鈥�18 of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., at right, works with Lewiston High School ninth-grader Estefania Luemba in an English Language Arts class on March 29, 2018. Drabkin was one of seven education-studies minors at 乐播传媒 who did field research on the effectiveness of literature circles in ELL instruction. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

The seminar students prepared homework and vocabulary sheets and even recorded audiobook versions of the selected texts (only to be teased about the sound of their voices by the ELL students).

The ELL students, who had come to the U.S. between one and three years prior to the project and were between 15 and 19 years old, were grouped by skill level. The circle leaders aimed to facilitate, not drive, discussions about the readings 鈥� discussions that entailed, along with grammar and vocabulary, issues of identity, coming-of-age, race, class, gender, and high school social life.

鈥淲e allowed them to [lead] the conversation so that they could connect with the texts in ways that were most interesting to them, and that鈥檚 what fueled the most productive conversations,鈥� said Hannah Singer ’18 of New York City.

The team assessed the efficacy of the circles in four categories: student engagement, sociocultural connection, ELL proficiency, and, finally, by comparing their own experience against the education literature.

Especially in the first three categories, the method鈥檚 value was apparent. Berman shared quotes from the ELL students illustrating so-called text-to-life and text-to-world connections that they made from their reading. One of the latter, an exchange between two girls, was particularly striking.

One said, 鈥淏oys just have to to go to work; the girls have to clean.鈥� The other replied, 鈥淲e’re in America now; we’re gonna work.鈥�

Patricia Buck’s fall and winter educational studies seminars were dedicated to community-based research. Buck (upper right) is shown with the winter class. (Phyllis Graber Jensen乐播传媒 College)

Though her school had a rule against using cellphones during class, a teacher allowed a student to use his phone to show her something lesson-related.

Another teacher permitted students to record homework assignments on their phones.

While the public often hears about 鈥渘o phone鈥� edicts in schools, the reality of cellphone use in schools tends to change from teacher to teacher and even from day to day, says Anita Charles, a lecturer in education at 乐播传媒 who studies literacy and special education and who directs the college鈥檚 teacher education program for secondary teacher candidates.

Anita Charles teaches a class in special education. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

In fact, says Charles, cellphones get at 鈥渢he heart of rule-building鈥� in the classroom: The best rules are built on trust and respect, and that respect is a two-way street.

Since 2008, Charles has been part of the scholarly discussion about cellphone use in schools. That year, she observed classrooms and interviewed high school students and English teachers for a paper that was published in the journal American Secondary Education in 2012.

In 2017, she contributed a chapter to Researching New Literacies: Design, Theory, and Data in Sociocultural Investigation, offering insights into technology in the classroom and the nature of trust between students and teachers.

What did you learn from interviewing students and teachers about rules about cellphones and enforceability?

I found that when schools attempted a blanket policy, invariably, it was unenforceable. Teachers and students developed work-arounds.

What I found, without people explicitly stating it, or even knowing that they were doing it, was that managing cellphone use was really about contextualized negotiation, happening classroom by classroom, teacher by teacher, group by group. Overwhelmingly, I found that standards around cellphone use were founded on how students and teachers were building relationships with each other.

Even when teachers said, 鈥淚 have this rule,鈥� there was always the 鈥渂ut.鈥� 鈥淚 have this rule, BUT then again there are these times…鈥� or, 鈥淲ell there was a day when鈥�.鈥� Even a teacher who was working in a school which did not allow any of these items in the classroom said, 鈥淚鈥檓 the teacher they can come to if they need to call their mom or if they need to jot down their homework. I don鈥檛 care.鈥� She said, 鈥淚 just think it鈥檚 reasonable to do that.鈥�

Overwhelmingly, the students recognized when teachers were working with them to develop a reasonable policy. When they knew that teachers were developing policies that made sense, they also were much more likely to respect and honor those policies.听

Your initial interviews were a decade ago. How have cellphones and their roles in classrooms changed in the decade since?

Our technology is getting smarter and smarter, more intuitive, more sophisticated, more versatile, and also more prolific. It used to be easy enough to say, 鈥淧ut away your cellphone,鈥� when the only thing it did was make a phone call or text.

But now, it鈥檚 also your calendar, it may be your note-taker, you may be taking a picture of the board to get your homework assignments, it may be recording something you need. And there may be kids with differences or disabilities who prefer using these tools as a way to access schoolwork. Teachers also have their own devices in their hands.

We鈥檙e not turning back time, so we have to come up with a sensible way to say, 鈥淗ow do we engage with this in schools, and how do we develop rules?鈥� Not even how do we develop rules, but how do we talk about reasonable guidelines?

What might a reasonable guideline be?

It鈥檚 not an all-or-nothing kind of thing. I think we need to have conversations. We can say to kids, 鈥淗ave you thought about the pros and cons? How does a device work in your own life? How much time are you spending on your devices? What kind of time are you spending on them? What鈥檚 happening when you鈥檙e feeling that urge to get on it in the classroom?鈥�

Students can articulate reasons, and I think we need to honor that and listen to that. I鈥檇 ask the participants in my study, 鈥淎re you texting in a classroom?鈥� 鈥淲ell, I鈥檒l text in English, but not in math.鈥� 鈥淲hy?鈥� 鈥淲ell, in math, I have to pay attention more.鈥� Or, 鈥淚 never text in this particular class, because the teacher engages me, and I want to be learning.鈥�

In my own 乐播传媒 classes, I鈥檒l start by saying that laptops and phones or devices may be used during class at their discretion, for class-related purposes. That gives a fair shot for people to be mature about the way in which they鈥檙e using them. It also allows for the fact that there are class-related purposes.

I don鈥檛 think we should shut down those processes, and it鈥檚 not for me to micromanage them either. I should not have to rotate through the back of the room and say, 鈥淎re those notes for this class? Are you enlarging that on your screen because you can鈥檛 see?鈥� That鈥檚 not my business. I think we need to let go of our control a little bit.

What do you say to 乐播传媒 students studying to be teachers about technology in the classroom?

I do observations with my student teachers who are placed in middle and high schools. One of the things I look for while scanning around the room is if any of those students are on devices.

Quite often, somebody does have one out, and they鈥檙e doing something quick with it. I then have a conversation with my student teacher: 鈥淒id you see it? What do you think about that? Is this becoming problematic?鈥� I ask, 鈥淗ow are you thinking about this issue in your classroom?鈥�

There鈥檚 something in teaching called 鈥渨ith-it-ness鈥� and that can鈥檛 really be taught. It can be encouraged, but it can鈥檛 be taught. With-it-ness is having eyes in the back of your head, being aware of who has phones out. It鈥檚 positioning yourself in the classroom so you can do a scan. I think I鈥檝e seen some pretty reasonable approaches with my student teachers who might say gently, 鈥淧ut that away now,鈥� or they go nearer to the student, tap on their desk, maybe give a reminder: 鈥淚f I have to ask again, I鈥檒l need to take it.鈥�

You can鈥檛 become a monster in the classroom any more than you can for any other rule-breaking 鈥� and there are lots of ways that we can break rules. So what do we do? We gently redirect, we acknowledge it, we help students self-monitor. Self-monitoring is ultimately going to be a lot more successful than top-down monitoring.

It seems that managing cellphone use is more about relationships and trust.

The heart of rule-building in schools is about relationships. I鈥檓 not comfortable with someone saying, 鈥淲hat would you come up with for a rule?鈥� We need to ask, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the scenario?鈥� and, 鈥淟et me talk with people, and let鈥檚 figure out what鈥檚 happening.鈥�

In classrooms, we hear a lot about respect: Everyone needs to respect each other. But we don鈥檛 really talk about what that looks like or means. We鈥檙e all just supposed to know what respect is. Meanwhile, we can say that we believe in respect, but we also say, 鈥淒on鈥檛 touch your phones because I don鈥檛 trust you with them.鈥� My take on that is that our actions certainly speak louder than words. If I say, 鈥淟et鈥檚 work through what we can all live with in terms of cellphone use in the classrooms,鈥� that relationship helps us negotiate out what鈥檚 okay and what isn鈥檛 okay.

And if we respect, trust, like, and support each other, then we are engaging in an agreement. We can explicitly articulate some of that agreement. We could even have it up on the walls and all sign off on it. But some of it happens when we engage with each other. When a student asks if they can take a photo of the board so they have the homework assignment, then that might become a new protocol in the classroom. I think that鈥檚 a reasonable protocol.

And if someone abuses the trust then you can deal with it as an abuse of trust, not necessarily something specific to cellphones.

Right, just like any situation where somebody abuses trust. If I have a rule about food in the classroom and somebody decides to throw food all over the place, they鈥檝e abused that trust. So we have to renegotiate, or we have to tighten up the reins or say, 鈥淕osh, that really disappoints me.鈥� If we鈥檙e in relationships, that sense of disappointment speaks more loudly than a hard and fast rule.

People can abuse any privilege, like driving a car or having a pen or pencil in your hand. We have to work with those cases as, 鈥淕ee, I was trusting you, and we were building a rapport, and you have really not abided by that expectation, and what do we do next?鈥� That鈥檚 the way we should handle any of these things.

Teenagers have an uncanny sense of fairness and what鈥檚 reasonable. They appreciate being treated as young adults, but they also appreciate boundaries 鈥� they don鈥檛 actually want a free-for-all. Negotiation, when they feel that they鈥檙e being listened to, benefits everybody, because the teacher finds that students become more cooperative.

If we approach cellphone use as negotiating a relationship, it鈥檚 not all subversive. It鈥檚 not all under the current somewhere. It鈥檚 not kids sneaking out to the bathroom to use their phone.

At a time when enlightenment seems to be draining out of U.S. society faster than it can be replenished, 乐播传媒 pitched in on the enlightenment side by choosing education as the theme for its 2018 observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

After all, what arena is more central to the battle for minds than the field of education, where objective truth, democratic values, the American social contract, and the sheer physical and emotional well-being of tens of millions of Americans are all up for grabs?

Na’ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation, delivers the 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote address on Jan. 15 in the Peter J. Gomes Chapel. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Of course, King himself and his mentor, Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, were acutely aware of what 乐播传媒 President Clayton Spencer, in her welcoming remarks at the MLK Day keynote, described as “the strength of the connection between education on the one hand, and justice, freedom, and economic mobility on the other.

“The power of this connection is ironically confirmed by the lengths,” Spencer continued, “to which we have gone to deny African Americans equal access to educational opportunity.”

Titled “Power, Politics, and Privilege: Resistance to/through Education,” the 乐播传媒 theme “captures a core conundrum of education,” said keynote speaker and education researcher Na’ilah Suad Nasir: “that it can be both a site of social reproduction and a site of resistance.”

Na’ilah Suad Nasir delivers the keynote address during the college’s 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance on Jan. 15.

“To my mind, education is key to building and creating the kind of society that we need…ensuring that society will have citizens that have the capacity to reason using evidence, to listen to each other, and to create socially just policy and structures,” she said.

Giving the challenges facing American education, Nasir said, “it is imperative that we figure this out.”

The theme found myriad expressions during the three-day King observance. In addition to the keynote address by Nasir, president of a foundation that supports education research, there was the annual debate in which 乐播传媒 and Morehouse College students teamed up to tackle a highly charged resolution: “This house supports racially homogeneous schools.”

There were workshops and presentations that examined intersections of education, oppression, resistance, and empowerment from every angle. If you wanted to hear about minority protests on campus, multicultural children’s books, racist discourse in the Trump era, how individual school choices affect segregation, advice for underrepresented students in STEM fields, or the college-prep work of a Maine squash program, 乐播传媒 was the place.

The theme for 乐播传媒’ 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance is on bold display as the Gomes Chapel fills up for the keynote address. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

The sessions were packed and the attendees tuned in. “乐播传媒 does a fantastic job of elevating MLK Day to another level, where there鈥檚 a universal understanding that this day is tremendously important within our community,” said Ellijah McLean 鈥�20, an African American student from Providence, R.I., who took part in a panel on the role of protests in athletics.

“It makes me feel extraordinarily welcome and makes me feel that 乐播传媒 is making a genuine and valid effort to educate individual students and the entire community about MLK Day.”

President of the Spencer Foundation and a researcher who studies race, culture, learning and identity, keynote speaker Nasir proposed some groundwork for re-envisioning public schools. She described current challenges 鈥� in her words, “the challenges of educating an increasingly diverse population of U.S. young people at a time when federal policy and national discourse is outright hostile to immigrants, to the undocumented, to black people, to disabled people, to queer and transgender people, to women, and to our democracy as a whole.”

Students, staff, faculty, and members of the community filled the chapel for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote speech at 乐播传媒. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

She also offered tenets for meeting those challenges, and illuminated it all with words from Dr. King. The challenges included a decreasing public investment in education that not only hurts students and institutions, Nasir said, but reflects a sea change in the national view of education.

Where Americans once considered education a public good, foundational to a healthy society, now it’s increasingly seen as a private good, “something families can use to get into a good college and achieve access to resources and wealth.”

“This is an alarming shift,” she noted.

Nasir also pointed to a re-segregation of schools that has been gaining momentum since the late 1980s. “For blacks, more than a third of a century of progress in racial integration has been lost,” Nasir said 鈥� while LatinX students, who never shared the gains that began four decades ago for blacks, are simply losing ground.

How to address such formidable challenges? Nasir’s guidelines spoke more to emotional perspective than grand strategy:

鈥� Take the long view, and understand that setbacks will always accompany progress;
鈥� Attend to the “pervasive architecture of white supremacy”;
鈥� Remember to cultivate and operate from a place of hope;
鈥� Work collectively to chart the path forward.

Key figures in the 2018 Martin Lurther King Jr. Day observance at 乐播传媒: from left,
James Reese, associate dean for international student programs; keynote speaker Na’ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation; and Nasir’s former protege at Stanford, Chris Petrella, lecturer in the humanities at 乐播传媒 and associate director of programs in the Office of Equity and Diversity. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Another tenet spoke to a shadow in King’s personal history 鈥� a chauvinism toward women that Nasir associated with “toxic structures of masculinity.” This aspect of King’s character had reverberations in her own life, Nasir said, as well as with the widespread revelations of male sexual belligerence called out by the #MeToo movement.

“The very power structures we fight against in our scholarly work and in our own work as activists can play out in our own lives if we are not vigilant,” Nasir said. “Let’s connect this outer work that we need to do in the world and the inner work we need to do in ourselves.”

A humble pleather armchair sits across from Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken鈥檚 sleek desk in her third-floor office in Pettengill Hall.

Foam stuffing spills from holes in the armrests, and the holes get bigger as students fidget with them during office visits. Call it ugly, and she鈥檒l agree, but she still loves the green chair for its personality and history, if not its Mad Men style.

She first sat in the chair in spring 2002 when she was a young college grad. One day, as she drove past an elementary school in Vanleer, Tenn., population 310, she thought, 鈥淭his might be a school I would love to teach in.鈥�

Mara Tieken, her chair, and her dog, Lulu. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

So she dropped in, knocked on the principal鈥檚 office door, and was invited to take a seat in the green chair, where she explained that she hoped to begin her teaching career in a rural setting. Two months later, she was hired.

Tieken acquired the chair the next year when the school moved into a new building. The principal 鈥� who hated the chair — wanted it gone. 鈥淏ut it wasn鈥檛 ready for the trash heap,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was comfortable.鈥�

鈥淚 wrote my dissertation in that chair.鈥�

So she put it in her classroom. 鈥淚t was the chair I sat in when I read to my third-graders. We read all sorts of books in this chair.鈥� One year, she read every Roald Dahl book, plus Where the Red Fern Grows, 鈥渁 perennial favorite of mine and my students.鈥�

In 2005, Tieken and the chair left Vanleer for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 鈥淚 sat in that chair in my apartment to study,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 wrote my dissertation in that chair.鈥�

Six years later, the chair came to 乐播传媒 with her. At the time, Tieken was sure that teaching college students would be very different from teaching third-graders. But when students came to her office, sat in the chair, and talked with her, she saw 鈥渉ow much it was the same.鈥�

Tieken is a national expert on rural education and the many ways it differs from urban or suburban educational environments. 鈥淚 look at how context shapes education and shapes schools.鈥� At the same time, the chair is a reminder of 鈥渉ow similar teaching can be and education can be and schooling can be across varied geographies and demographics.鈥�

鈥淪o much of teaching is about the human element,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about having the courage to put yourself out there as a teacher or learner, because there鈥檚 still a third-grader in all of us. I like that that chair reminds me of all that.鈥�

If you’re feeling blue about the prospects for civic society in a post-factual era, it would ease your heart to hear Elizabeth Erbafina ’17 tell a roomful of seventh-graders about using evidence in a written argument.

“Make sure your evidence is strong, and clear, and relevant,” Erbafina says to an afternoon literacy class at Lewiston Middle School one recent Thursday. Analyze your evidence, she says, asking the students to help define that verb.

“Don’t just evidence-drop.”

Elizabeth Erbafina ’17, center, listens as Sue Weber ’74 reads to a seventh-grade literacy class at Lewiston Middle School on March 2. Erbafina is student-teaching with Weber. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

The 20 students in this book-filled classroom are writing essays that argue the pros and cons of topics close to them 鈥� competitive sports, homework, climate change. Erbafina is leading the class as a student teacher under the guidance of Susan Bowditch Weber ’74, who teaches literacy at LMS.

This is career preparation for Erbafina, an English major from Sudbury, Mass. Drawn by the quality of the college’s education program, she came to 乐播传媒 to learn to teach.

En route to fulfilling her education minor requirements, Erbafina last fall spent 60 to 90 minutes a day with Weber. This semester she’s been with Weber bell-to-bell, often running the class 鈥� while still taking four 乐播传媒 courses.

Sue Weber ’74 has taught literacy at Lewiston Middle School for 18 years. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

“It鈥檚 not often that I can just give my class over to the student teacher and know it’s just going to be fine,” Weber says. “It鈥檚 just like being with another adult teacher. Elizabeth鈥檚 doing a great job.”

Weber, who reckons that she has mentored a half-dozen or more student teachers from 乐播传媒, describes Erbafina as a standout 鈥� and not only because she’s really good at the work. The two have a lot in common. They’re both funny, they’re both highly organized, they both love teaching and love the kids.

And, says Weber, “she loves English, and I love English” (even though Weber majored in psych at 乐播传媒).

Erbafina first met Weber as a sophomore, observing the veteran teacher during a field experience for an education course. “I always knew in the back of my mind that I would love to student-teach,” Erbafina says, “and I always thought that maybe I would student-teach with her.

Student teacher Elizabeth Erbafina ’17 consults with a seventh-grade literacy student. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

“I knew Sue was a 乐播传媒 graduate 鈥� we had that connection.”

An education minor at 乐播传媒 can take the education studies track or, like Erbafina, the teacher-education track, which leads to a teaching certification valid in Maine and roughly 40 other states with which Maine has reciprocal certification agreements. (With placements coordinated by the college’s Harward Center for Community Partnerships, both tracks require substantial field experience.)

And though the days are past when 乐播传媒’ claim to fame was turning out “teachers and preachers,” student teaching reflects certain 乐播传媒 values. The college explicitly aims to prepare its students for fulfilling and meaningful careers.

Student teaching is a great example of how that job gets done, aligning theory, practical experience, and, importantly, intentional reflection. “Our candidates face typical challenges of beginning teachers 鈥� classroom management, learning to motivate and inspire students, developing lessons and units of study, and understanding the cultural context” of the field and the students, explains Bronwyn Sale, lecturer in education.

But, she adds, “they also learn how to think about teaching.”

With the students’ essays due the following day, Weber and Erbafina (upper right) are ready to help. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

“We do so much reflection and class discussion on personal growth, which I think is one of the best aspects of the program,” says Erbafina, who cites Sale and lecturer Anita Charles as mentors in the department. “That’s a good way to balance the practical side of the classroom.”

Erbafina’s emergent philosophy of teaching is rooted in the notion that the relationship between student and teacher is reciprocal and interdependent 鈥� in fact, collaborative. While students are learning the subject at hand, they’re also showing the teacher what’s working and what isn’t.

During the Thursday class, Erbafina and Weber circulate constantly, responding to raised hands and stopping at tables to check in. Weber acts casual, but always seems to be where she’s needed. “You guys are doing fantastic,” she says. “I’ve been peeking over your shoulders.”

A literacy worksheet. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Erbafina, still attuning her nervous system to the countless social cues of a lively classroom, focuses like a hawk as she makes her rounds.

Educators even have a word for the awareness that new teachers need to develop. “Withitness” 鈥� sound it out, kids 鈥� is the capacity to sense what’s happening throughout the classroom at all times. Erbafina likens it to having “eyes in the back of your head.”

“It鈥檚 hard,” she says. “Sometimes you鈥檒l be working with a student one-on-one, and in the background you see something happening 鈥� and you鈥檝e got to sort of see what鈥檚 going on, just see if you need to intervene or not.”

“When you can teach the kids how to behave and for what reasons 鈥� for social reasons, for the emotional well-being of the class, and for their own benefit, for the learning experience 鈥� then you don鈥檛 have too much trouble with the management of your class,” Weber says.

“If you build those relationships and learn to care about each student as an individual, and get to know them, then the management falls into place. The kids care about you because they know that you care about them.”

That’s especially true for 12- and 13-year-olds. It’s an awkward age. “Elizabeth has a knack for working with them,” Weber says. “They don鈥檛 know whether they鈥檙e kids or adults 鈥� you know, they鈥檒l do silly little things like elementary school kids, and on the other hand they鈥檒l act like mini-adults.

Between students and teachers and among the students themselves, the class is intensely collaborative. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

“So your conversations are always changing, and she鈥檚 very good at that. She gives them respect even when they鈥檙e being silly kids.”

Humor helps. “You can鈥檛 take yourself too seriously, and you can’t take the kids too seriously, but you do need to know where that line is 鈥� ‘OK, now we’ve got to work,'” Weber explains. Erbafina “has a good sense of that balance.

“Not everyone does.”

Like all Lewiston schools, LMS has a student body that’s much more diverse, in myriad dimensions, than you might expect in a small northern New England city. “It鈥檚 a great training ground for student teachers,” says Weber.

At the same time, Lewiston schools have often been ahead of the pack in adopting curricular and administrative systems that are now commonplace, such as proficiency-based learning and the Common Core learning standards initiative.

“We鈥檙e very welcoming to student teachers here,” says Weber. “We love to have them. We know they offer a whole new fresh perspective that we may not have.”

Halfway through the period, the classroom is lively but productive. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

She adds, “It鈥檚 a real privilege to be able to reflect on my teaching experience, sift through it, and pass on to them what I’ve found to be so important.”

“But it’s extra special in this case,” Erbafina adds, “because Sue went to 乐播传媒 and I’m at 乐播传媒.”

“And Sue鈥檚 a great role model for me,” she says. “I am so lucky that she has established a great classroom culture that I can just step into.”

As her classroom decor makes clear, Sue Weber ’74 loves school. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

When talk turns to achieving greater access to U.S. higher education, the question is often framed as how more students can get a college degree.

This weekend at 乐播传媒, a national conference will look at a different access point and ask different questions.

Questions such as: How can higher-ed institutions help aspiring young scholars from underrepresented groups gain access to the professoriate at U.S. colleges like 乐播传媒?

And, in the context of student learning, why is this goal central to the mission of 乐播传媒 and similar colleges?

The gathering is the , and 乐播传媒 is hosting the event as a lead member of C3, whose other members are Connecticut, Middlebury, and Williams colleges and Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley.

The three-day program will draw some 200 U.S. undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and senior college administrators to tackle the theme “Practicing Communities:听The Transformative Power of Race in the Academy.”

To 乐播传媒, they’ll bring their collective best efforts to address race and the pursuit of graduate school; at the same time, the summit will create real-time mentoring and networking opportunities for the younger participants.

Crystal Williams, the chair of this year’s C3 Summit Planning Committee, is an associate vice president and chief diversity officer at 乐播传媒, as well as a professor of English and noted poet.

Since her arrival in 2013, Williams and her staff in the Office of Intercultural Education have deployed new programs to support diversity and inclusion at 乐播传媒, many of which are student-facing.

And if those programs support the student experience, it seems appropriate on the eve of the C3 Summit to talk with Williams about how a more diverse faculty helps to advance student learning.

To support that goal at 乐播传媒, the college received a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and received another Mellon grant of $400,000 in the college’s capacity as a lead C3 college.

Crystal Williams, associate vice president and chief diversity officer at 乐播传媒, chairs the C3 Summit Planning Committee. (Leah Nash)

Q. Twenty-two percent of 乐播传媒 students are U.S. underrepresented minorities. On the 乐播传媒 faculty, 15.4 percent of 209 professors are underrepresented minorities. Is what C3 might do for 乐播传媒 (and other institutions) a numbers question 鈥� making the number of faculty of color at least comparable to student representation? Or is that too simplistic?

A: That 1:1 argument is both far too simplistic and it is dangerous. It very quickly leads us to a question of quotas. And quotas are absolutely not what we鈥檙e focused on, what we aspire to achieve, or what aligns to the historic mission of the institution.

The importance of racial, cultural, and social diversity within any group of people, and especially any institution of higher education, has to do with the very definition of excellence.

At a college like 乐播传媒, the intellectual endeavor is enriched when many different kinds of people are engaged in the production and investigation of knowledge. That鈥檚 the first point.

“The true power of difference is that we learn we can and should learn from everyone.”

It is also true that faculty and staff are role models 鈥� for every student. And, as it is important for students from underrepresented groups to have regular and substantive interaction with people who share similar backgrounds and experiences, it is also important that they have regular and substantive interaction with people who do not share those backgrounds and experiences.

This is also true for white students, first-generation-to-college students, LGBTQ+ identified students听鈥� all students. The true power of difference is that we learn we can and should learn from everyone.

So, though the 1:1 equation is easy to make, it points us to an incomplete and overly simple view of why diversity is important 鈥� and to whom it is important. The mission and history of this institution, in particular, suggest that we should be at the vanguard of this particular effort.

Q: You have said, in outlining the goals of C3, that when professors and students answer questions together, those questions and answers are 鈥渋nextricably linked to our cultural, social, gendered, racialized selves…. The more diverse the people are who ask those questions, the more complete, exciting and dynamic the resulting knowledge is.鈥�

This statement emphasizes the role of a professor鈥檚 self-identity in the classroom. Has that changed in the last generation, how a professor鈥檚 鈥渟elf鈥� supports learning and teaching?

A: Yes. In many ways we are still working towards the acknowledgement of the whole person as professor.

There are disciplines that actively train scholars to attempt to divorce their personal selves/histories/cultures from their intellectual selves, which has always seemed counterintuitive to me 鈥� and impossible, in many ways.

Increasingly, however, institutions are thinking about the whole student, the whole person, and the contingencies related to whole personhood must also be reflected in how we think about, serve, and support our faculty.

For instance, we have begun to think and act collectively in support of faculty with families, which is a whole-person concern. So while we have many improvements to make in this regard, that the question arises 鈥� having to do with faculty availability during certain hours or days in relation to their larger selves 鈥� is important.

In this effort, we have a long way to go.

Q: A 乐播传媒 professor recently talked about her path to the professoriate. In high school, she was told she was not college material. She graduated in the bottom three of her high school class (not the bottom third, bottom three!).

This kind of diversity (socio-economic / first generation) . Do you see something distinctive about what a professor who occupies this definition of diversity 鈥� a person who was never on the 鈥渢rack鈥� to college, let alone to graduate school and the professoriate 鈥� can give to students?

“When people understand that there are no identity-based strictures for what they or other people can accomplish, they become strong advocates for a kind of fundamental and automatic inclusion.”

A: Yes. Absolutely. As I said before, it is important that students 鈥� and all students, first-generation-to-college students as well as students who come from multiple generations of college graduates 鈥� understand that people who are in the professoriate come from many types of backgrounds. That is the normative frame that we would be wise to use because it is this frame that opens all students to the idea of possibility 鈥� both for themselves and for others.

When people understand that there are no identity-based strictures for what they or other people can accomplish, they become strong advocates for a kind of fundamental and automatic inclusion.

Students should “understand that people who are in the professoriate come from many types of backgrounds,” Williams says. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Beyond 乐播传媒, they don鈥檛 hesitate, as managers, to hire people who look or speak very differently than they. As teachers, they don鈥檛 hesitate to require the best from each of their students. In boardrooms, they advocate the kind of rigorous inquiry that requires diversity of thought and experience.

In short, their belief that our differences are a source of mutual power has an incredible impact on their lives and on our collective.

So, yes, it is important that she is among us 鈥� and willing to share her experience. In addition to her work in the classroom around whatever disciplinary questions she鈥檚 training students to ask, she is also doing a different, deeply important type of teaching that has the ability to transform any host of endeavors her students undertake.

as not when 鈥渆verybody feels good all of the time. And I鈥檓 not particularly interested in trying to make a community in which everybody says the right thing all of the time, or in which everybody has the ‘right’ answer.鈥� Instead, you said, 鈥榮uccess鈥� is when everyone feels respected, included, valued, and empowered enough in this 鈥渃ommon endeavor鈥� to 鈥渟peak up and help create change鈥� when needed.

How does having a more diverse faculty specifically help to create this kind of 乐播传媒 community?

A. When there exists diversity of experience and thought, so too exists differences of opinion.

“A diverse faculty helps the institution continue to push forward, ask difficult questions, and not rest on its laurels.”

Engaging in productive dialog and action with people of differing opinions towards a common endeavor provides a very important model for students. And, in the world we live in, we need more models of civil discourse, productive disagreement, and collective action.

But also, a diverse faculty helps the institution continue to push forward, ask difficult questions, and not rest on its laurels. Again, diversity of thought and experience is a catalyst for creating, nurturing, and sustaining a community of people who must work together towards, if nothing else, the educational goals we鈥檝e set for ourselves.