From staging exhibitions to working with local community organizations and engaging with the media, the faculty who presented at the latest Topics in Higher Education event on Feb. 19 were as varied in their methods as their areas of expertise.
"Public Scholarship and Teaching at Bryn Mawr and Beyond" featured:
- Professor of Mathematics Victor Donnay
- Assistant Professor of Social Work Lisa Young Larance
- Associate Professor of Literatures in English Bethany Schneider
- Associate Professor of History Stephen Vider
- Assistant Professor of Education Chanelle Wilson
Donnay talked about the work of his Math Modeling and Sustainability Course, which recently advised the Haverford Township School District about installing solar panels on two elementary schools. The district recently voted to move ahead with the project.
Larance touched on her collaboration with a number of organizations, including a current project funded by the Maine Humanities Council to provide resources and training to social work practitioners.
Schneider highlighted her 2018 article Tears on the Bench, published during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. In her presentation, Schneider emphasized the importance of public scholarship and the challenges of engaging with the public in a political climate that devalues academia.
Vider focused his time on the importance of engaging with history in spaces outside the classroom and his curation of the 2017 exhibition AIDS at Home: Art and Everyday Activism at the Museum of the City of New York.
Wilson closed out the presentations talking about her experience as a Black woman in academia and the need to address important issues despite the risks and challenges.
In closing the event, President Wendy Cadge touched on a number of efforts being considered to promote public scholarship that she’ll discuss with the faculty in the weeks and months ahead.
“This session was a hidden experiment to see how interested people are in public scholarship and I'm glad that there's a lot of people here,” said Cadge. “I care deeply about public scholarship…and this is a longer conversation that I’d love to be a part of.”
The next Current Topics in Higher Education event, A Workshop on Permutations in a Bryn Mawr Education with Hearth and Vergara, will be held from 12–1 p.m. on Friday, April 4.