Nexus Newsletter - Fall 2016

NEXUS

S C H O O L O F I N T E G R AT I V E S T U D I E S | FA L L 2 0 1 6

GREETINGS

FROM THE DEAN

SoIS MISSION

To cultivate creative, intellectually engaged, and ethical problem solvers through integrative inquiry and action for social justice and the public good.

SCHOOL OF INTEGRATIVE STUDIES

Dean: Kristine M. Mickelson, PhD Predolin 108 608.663.2374 kmickelson@edgewood.edu

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE SCHOOL OF INTEGRATIVE STUDIES - 2006-2016 2016 marks the 10-year anniversary of SoIS – the perfect occasion to express appreciation to all of you who collaborate to cultivate creative, intellectually engaged, and ethical problem solvers through integrative inquiry and action for social justice and the public good. Our mission has remained the same since the inception of the School, but the ways in which we live that mission have grown tremendously in terms of programs and connections to campus priorities.

Originally home to five interdisciplinary program areas (ENVS, ETHS, GS, WGS and Human Issues), SoIS has grown to be the institutional home of 13 different initiatives.

This “round number” anniversary provided the perfect opportunity for me to revisit our foundational documents. In the original concept paper for SoIS, authored by Dean Pribbenow and Jennifer Kushner, the idea of “border crossing” defined a central purpose of the School.

“Not only does this image capture the crossing of disciplinary boundaries, but it also calls our attention to other borders—campus and community, in-class and out-of-class, theory and action. At its core, the concept of border crossing is about the capacity to bridge different ways of knowing; to navigate, communicate, analyze and problem solve from multiple perspectives; and to recognize moral and ethical dimensions of problems and actions.”

In 2016, border crossing remains a unifying concept for our diverse array of programs, and it remains a vital need in our too-often fragmented existence. We look forward to continuing and evolving our work with all of you to be responsive to the needs and opportunities of the world. I hope the stories shared in this edition of Nexus invite you to think of possibilities!

Left to right: Shad Wenzlaff, Lauren Lacey, Sara Friar, Tricia Dusick, Steve Gilchrist, Nancy Kern, Kris Mickelson, Andrea Byrum, Jake Griffin, Angela Woodward, Bonnie Sierlecki, Huining Ouyang, Binbin Fu, Sue Pastor.

NEXUS NEWS

COR 1 SEMINARS CONNECT LEARNING, BELIEFS, AND ACTION working muralist about challenges with and community responses to her work, especially her memorial to community members who have lost their lives to violence. The class studied the work of Los Angeles muralist Judy Baca before the tour; afterward a unit on Placemaking: Art and Community connected to their experiences viewing the murals.

Professor Melanie Herzog and students in her COR 1 seminar Art Matters visited mural sites in Madison with artist Sharon Kilfoy, Director of Dane Arts Mural Arts. Stops on the tour included Omega School, Centro Hispano, the Madison Labor Temple, and the Social Justice Center. Students heard directly from a

COR 1 freshman seminars illustrate Edgewood College’s promise that students will connect learning, beliefs, and action. Students engage with the community through the themes of individual courses – guest speakers and hands-on project work contribute to learning, as well as site visits. The same day the Mural Tour rolled off campus, Brianna Huebner’s students in Disability Awareness and Advocacy traveled to American Family Children’s Hospital, and Susan Rustick’s class, Compassion and Justice for Animals, toured Heartland Farm Sanctuary. Freshman seminars provide students with opportunities to reflect on their own identities, beliefs, values, worldviews and spiritualities, in ways relevant to the theme of their particular course.

Freshman seminars also support first-year students in their transition to college academic and social life.

TUTORS IN CONVERSATION This fall, the Writing Center devised a new tutoring experience for a group of incoming students from China. Five students in the ongoing exchange program with the Business College of Beijing Union University (BCBUU) are getting a special tutor-led course that mixes English conversation with coursework and writing support. Rowan Sockwell has been a tutor in the Writing Center since last fall, while Jessica Barrera and KC Yang were recruited just for this course. KC, an accounting major, is also president of the Asian Student Association at Edgewood.

Jessica is an Elementary Education major with a minor in ESL, and is vice president of ASA. The three tutors loosely plan activities for the BCBUU students, aiming for a mix of casual social time, more structured lessons, and help with coursework. The group recently attended Gallery Night at the Overture Center in downtown Madison. They’ve practiced writing

e-mails, discussed the tv show Family Guy, given PowerPoint presentations to each other to practice public speaking, and gotten together to make dumplings. “It’s amazing how they’ve really opened up,” says Rowan. Jessica sometimes

has to leave the class a little early. “I miss everything!” she says, knowing the conversation really gets going right at the end of their weekly time together.

Dumpling night

COMMON READING STRIKES A CHORD IN THE “YEAR OF TRUTH”

This year’s Common Reading selection, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Colorblindness, has inspired countless discussions and several unique programming opportunities. The Common Reading program has provided opportunities for dialogue around a complex set of social issues relevant to our community members. During orientation, first-year students had the opportunity to hear from some citizens directly impacted by the failures of the criminal justice system when members of EXPO (Ex-Prisoner Organization) shared their stories. Several COR 1 courses, along with other students interested in social justice, participated in a powerful prisoner re-entry simulation facilitated by Madison Urban Ministries in November.

History professor Andy Witt led a discussion of the documentary film Freedom Riders, providing students with more contextual knowledge about the civil rights struggle within the justice system. A creative forum for continuing the conversation about the social issues raised by The New Jim Crow was the fine arts event “We Are: Exploring Inter-Cultural Identity,” a performance piece made possible by scholar-in-residence Donna Peckett on October 19. Several additional opportunities to experience diverse forms of expression and conversation about “Truth” are already being planned for Spring 2017.

Community artists: Tiffany Ike, Sergio Nute Fornés, Donna Peckett, Fabu and Jane Reynolds.

FACULTY EXCHANGES WITH PARTNER SCHOOLS IN CHINA For the past two semesters, the Asian Affairs Coordinating Team continued mutually beneficial international faculty exchanges.

Economics Professor Belkis Cerrato Caceres completed a twoweek exchange program at Zhaoqing University in the summer with support of the Global Faculty Development Grants from the Center for Global Education. This fall, we welcomed three English faculty from Zhaoqing University for a three-month visit, the fifth cohort of visiting scholars from Zhaoqing since 2012. Meanwhile, the exchange opportunities we developed over the past few years have brought about some very fruitful outcomes. Collaborating with our Art faculty, Prof. Hongbo Xu, a ceramics artist from Zhaoqing University, completed a major installation entitled Book through Heart. A reworking of the Heart Sutra, a classic Buddhist script, the project was designed to promote mutual understanding and cross-cultural communications through the heart. As a work of public art, the installation also engaged many in the Edgewood community – students, staff and faculty – to participate in its production. During its exhibition at the Edgewood Gallery between December 2015 and March 2016, the installation attracted many audiences from Edgewood and the larger Madison community. It was also acknowledged as a favorite of 2015 by Spackle Madison, an organization that is well-known in local art circles.

N EXUS NEWS

NEXUS NEWS

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY WELLBEING

In spring and summer of 2016, the Sustainability Leadership Graduate Program launched its International Engagement in Community Wellbeing course in Arequipa, Peru. The course focuses on deepening cross-cultural understanding and relationship building through the Mission of St. Paul and an amazing group of 12 indigenous women known as Promotoras de Bienestar (Promoters of Wellbeing). Prior to our visit, the community asked the Sustainability Leadership students to share tools related to collaborative decision making. The students took the spring term to learn more about Peru and prepare workshops on collaborative decision-making tools.

Our first day with the Promotoras was spent learning about each other, our respective communities, and the work each of us is doing to create wellbeing. Through this dialog, the Sustainability Leadership students gained an understanding of the cultural, economic, social, and ecological context of the Promotoras’ lives and work. In turn, the Promotoras gained an understanding of the students’ lives and their work on creating wellbeing in Madison. Although we lived half a world away from one another, we were all sustainability leaders, striving to bring about personal, social, and ecological wellbeing in our communities.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Building on partnerships with the COR program through the COR 1 class ENVS/BIO 102: Food: You Are What You Eat, the Woods Edge student organization sponsored its first ever Fall Produce Sale on October 20. Environmental Studies students provided garlic, greens, squash and gourds for sale to the Edgewood Community, all grown in the campus hoop house and garden.

Additional produce will also make its way into Phil’s and Wingra Café, as well as the Catholic Multicultural Center’s food pantry. Proceeds from the sale will support Woods Edge outings and activities, and also be reinvested into the garden.

Students sold sweet potatoes and even more greens from the hoop house in November. Students are also creating a campus bicycle rental program. Though not a reality yet, students are researching options to

source and maintain a small fleet of bicycles to rent to all members of the campus community. Lastly we will once again sponsor and host our traditional Earth Week celebration in April, with a full slate of speakers, films, service opportunities, and outings in our local ecosystems.

Dave Simons (WE/ENVS), Emily Limberg (ENVS Work Study, WE student leader), Maddie Rodriguez & Nichole Schaeve (BIO 102-COR 1), and Olivia De Castro (WE, Bio Major intent)