November 17, 2004
Making A Difference: Practice
In the context of the conversation initiated and developed in the two previous forums, we would now like to ask, in concrete terms, what does place and polemic mean when we, as teachers, are designing courses, constructing syllabi, planning for lessons, and mediating discussions inside the writing classroom?
How can (and how do) we foster classroom or campus environments that help the university community to make connections between the classroom and the world in which it is situated?
Panelists:
- Maureen Fitzimmons, PWI, Writing Program
- Adam Banks, Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric;
- Steve Parks, Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric,
- Eileen Moeller, PWI, Writing Program
Posted by mryonker at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
Making A Difference: Polemic
Female Muslim standup comic, Shazi Merza, begins her act with the words: "Hello, my name's Shazia, or at least that's what it says on my pilot's license. Michael Moore asserts that he “will not seek a Best Documentary Oscar” for Fahrenheit 9/11, because he would rather get the film on television to be seen by more voters before the national elections in November. Both of these individuals are clearly engaging in public discourse in ways quite unlike what happens in academia. Both have been invited to speak here at SU this fall.
What counts as legitimate analysis or argument inside the academy and out? What kinds of discourses and media persuade? Why? How can and do we, as students, faculty, and members of the Syracuse community and beyond, contribute to a wider public discourse that responds to the late Edward Said’s call to speak back to power?
Panelists:
- Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Maxwell School and Director of the Middle Eastern Studies program
- Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Professor, Women's Studies; Dean's Professor of the Humanities
- Scott Lyons, Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric; Native American Studies
- Sandra Faulkner, Assistant Professor Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies
Posted by mryonker at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2004
Making A Difference: Place
- How does the university become more than a non-place that students move through on their way to a degree and ‘real life’?
- How do history, memory, geography, representation, and encounter produce a sense of place here at SU?
- In what ways do classrooms become places where students and teachers, through various layers of encounter, imagine themselves to be part of (and responsible to) both local and global communities?
Panelists:
- Don Mitchell, Chair of Geography and Director, People’s Geography Project
- Mary Lee Hodgens, Program Coordinator, Community Darkrooms/Light Work
- Lori Brown, Assistant Professor of Architecture
- Eileen Schell, Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric
Posted by mryonker at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2004
No Bull Diversity Summit
Background
At the initiation of Brian Levenson, Vice President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, we hosted a campus-wide brainstorming session on what teachers can do to make open, honest, respectful conversation across lines of difference possible and productive in (writing) classes on this campus. The purpose of the summit was for teachers to listen—really listen—to students.About 120 people participated - the members of SAE, students from other organizations and from a range of political beliefs, a few staff members, and teachers from the Writing Program. The evening began with six manifestos - short statements by students about what they would like to see happen on campus, including one by the president of SAE. Then for about 45 minutes participants talked in small groups about what does and doesn't work in diversity conversations, about the teacher's role, about the students' role, and about the relationship of classrooms to other campus events. For the last hour there was a wide-ranging, sometimes difficult, always respectful large group discussion.
Group leaders and other teachers wrote up notes from the evening, which are included below. Teachers were impressed with the articulateness and commitment of the students who participated - and with the excellent, specific, passionate suggestions they heard.
All too often diversity events are attended by those who are already engaged in activist work and/or who share a certain political view. This event included a much wider range of students, including many who value a more inclusive campus but who haven't taken a public role before. To a degree, this resulted in a disruption of the stereotypes and the polarizing that often limit real diversity work.
As I was putting these notes together, I was also reading Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope by bell hooks (Routledge, 2003), and found overlaps between the notes and her essays. I decided to add some quotations from this book into the notes, as emphasis, as points of contrast, as hopeful claims. Those quotations are at the end of the document.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this event, especially Brian and the members of SAE.
Margaret Himley (May 21, 2004)
Posted by mryonker at 02:56 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2004
Recruitment and Retention of Students from Historically Underrepresented Groups
Diversity Forum 6—Spring 2004
Recruitment and Retention of Students from Historically Underrepresented GroupsPanelists in this forum describe administrative goals and practices involved in how Syracuse recruits students; which students stay; and which ones leave—and for what reasons. The forum is designed to help Writing teachers understand who our students are and how we can best serve them in the classroom.
Speakers:
Deborah Freund—Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs
Nancy Rothschild—Assitant Dean of Admissions
Pat Burak—Director of International Students Office
Anne Shelly—Director of Student Service and Retention
Barbara Yonai—Associate Director of Center for Support of Teaching and Learning
Horace Smith—Associate Vice President of Undergraduate StudiesCanagarajah, A. Suresh. "Safe Houses in the Contact Zone: Coping Strategies of African-Americans in the Academy." College Composition and Communication 48.2 (1997): 173-196.
Posted by mryonker at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2004
Disabling "Handicapped": Representations of disability and language
Diversity Forum 5—Spring 2004
Disabling "Handicapped": Representations of disability and languageThis forum explores what disability studies is and model how to use language and representations of disability as an instructional tool in writing (and other) classes. Speakers who will initiate the conversation are members of Beyond Compliance and disAbility Law Society:
Rebecca Cory, Julia Morse, Jagdish ChanderPosted by mryonker at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2004
Developing Curriculum
Diversity Forum 4—Spring 2004
Developing CurriculumIn this second diversity forum of the spring semester—Developing Curriculum—several teachers from across the University will share course materials and ideas that reflect a range of interpretations and applications of "writing and diversity in a globalized world." Rather than simply showcase successful enactments of design ideas, however, teachers will discuss the risks and anxieties and challenges that accompany any efforts to weave diversity issues into a curriculum.
Presenters:Adam Banks, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, The Writing Program
Anne Fitzsimmons, Teacher Training Coordinator, The Writing Program
Michael Lasley, PhD student in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric
Alison Mountz, Professor of Geography
Mark Rupert, Professor of Political SciencePosted by mryonker at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2004
Classroom teacher stance
Diversity Forum 3—Spring 2004
Classroom teacher stance"In today’s classroom and larger cultural climate, overtly politicized 'critical' composition pedagogies may only exacerbate student resistance to issues and identities of difference, especially if the teacher is marked or read as different her/himself. I therefore suggest that the marginalized teacher-subject look to contemporary theoretical notions of the “radical resignification” of power as well as to the neglected rhetorical concept of mêtis, or “cunning,” to engage difference more efficaciously, if more sneakily. Specifically, I argue that one possible praxis for better negotiating student resistance is the performance of the very neutrality that students expect of teachers."
From Karen Kopelson, "Rhetoric on the Edge of Cunning; Or, The Performance of Neutrality (Re)Considered As a Composition Pedagogy for Student Resistance." CCC 55.1 (September 2003): 115-146.
Posted by mryonker at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2003
Whiteboards/Blackboards
Diversity Forum 2
Whiteboards/Blackboards
How much student "empowerment" is too much? When does "fun" speech become "hate" speech? When does safety and accountability override creativity and anonymity? How do we approach these questions in the dorms and in the classrooms? Students will discuss the controversial effects of recent bias-related incidents, including anonymous messages written on dorm whiteboards, on relationships in/outside dorm life. Respondents will include representatives from the Office of Residential Life, Judicial Affairs, and Public Safety.Posted by mryonker at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2003
Who Owns Diversity?
Diversity Forum 1
Freshman Orientation: Who Owns Diversity?
Initiating the conversation will be Adrea Jaehnig, Director of the LGBT Resource Center; Mariana Lebron, Director of Orientation and Transition Services; Monica Roberts, Co-Chair of the Team Against Bias (TAB); and James Duah-Agyeman, Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Students from WRT 105 will respond.Posted by mryonker at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
- Don Mitchell, Chair of Geography and Director, People’s Geography Project