Nexus Newsletter - Spring 2018

SoIS Mission

NEXUS

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 | SPRING 2018

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

GREETINGS FROM THE DEAN ON BEHALF OF ALL OF US Recently I had the privilege to attend the Social Innovation and Sustainability Leadership’s (SISLP) Illuminate Opportunity fundraiser to support our community partners in Alto Cayma, Peru. While the evening at Crandall’s Peruvian Bistro had many highlights, the one I find myself returning to is a conversation with a student from that program. This graduate student, an experienced and successful business professional in our local community, shared with me the ways in which being a SISLP student at Edgewood has enriched, stretched, and changed him in directions he could never have imagined.

“I mean, look at me . . . I’ve always studied business and numbers . . . here I am at a fundraiser for Peru . . . something I never would have done before with people I would have otherwise never met.”

This expressed sentiment is what I have come to treasure most about Edgewood over the years because it is the rule rather than the exception for so many of our students and colleagues. In this issue of Nexus you will read about ways in which intellect, spirit, imagination, and heart are developed through teaching and learning experiences designed to enrich, stretch, and change. Through two-way exchange programs with Peru, a small group conversation and dinner with a renowned author, or the in-depth exploration of a French Opera coverlet, students, faculty, and staff are experiencing the promise of a liberal arts education in the Dominican tradition.

COR STUDENTS PARTNER WITH HARAMBEE COR instructor Kerstin Smith introduces students in COR 312 “Beyond Birth: Social and Emotional Aspects” to social conditions that affect birth, including one that is invisible to many people: incarceration. Following a guest lecture by Harambee Village co-founder Tia Murray, three students partnered with Harambee to satisfy their community project requirement.

They raised awareness about the practice of shackling pregnant and birthing women in Wisconsin prisons, and raised funding for Harambee Village. A letter from an incarcerated woman influenced their choice.

“Harambee,” which means “Let’s pull together” in Swahili, is a collective of birth professionals dedicated to dismantling disparities that lead to negative birth experiences. The organization focuses on prenatal support systems, promoting doula support—including for women in prison— advocating for evidence-based care, and providing accessible education on a mother-centered model of maternity care. The collective works from shared space in the East Madison Community Center.

From left to right: Annie Bedore, Kerstin

Smith, Kami Doberstein, and Billy Bull.

This group’s project required extensive research about prison conditions for incarcerated mothers and mothers-to-be. The students sought insight into the experience of giving birth while incarcerated and spread the word about legislation to abolish shackling.

The project requirement exemplifies the integration of multiple learning sources, including reflection on one own’s path, that characterizes courses in the COR General Education Program.

CME PROMOTES COLLABORATION The Center for Multicultural Education (CME) facilitated a 90-minute faculty professional development session during January Seminar 2018. The focus of the workshop was developing multicultural teaching excellence with the goal of keeping our students first during the current sociopolitical climate. With the collaboration of the CME Advisory Board, the School Hon. Judge Everett Mitchell takes a question. of Education, and the School of Nursing, Edgewood College (EC) faculty led participants in discussion about current events, and microaggression case studies that can lead to unwelcoming classrooms. The presenters offered strategies to prepare faculty to deal with situations as they arise in the classroom. The highlight of the session was a keynote address by Hon. Judge Everett Mitchell. He discussed how faculty might create a climate of inclusion and equity based on his experiences teaching at Edgewood College and personal challenges with navigating the education system as an African-American youth. Judge Mitchell’s presentation brought to the EC community the idea of using nonviolent communication for facilitating dialogue and nurturing our compassion for all students. Because of this presentation, a reading group of over a dozen faculty and staff are educating themselves about nonviolent communication strategies. Facilitating the reading groups is our Faculty Development Coordinator Julie Dunbar. CME is grateful to have strong collaboration in the sharing of faculty expertise across campus toward meeting EC strategic inclusion goals.

COMMON READING AUTHOR VISITS EDGEWOOD COLLEGE In March, the college welcomed Eboo Patel, a highly regarded interfaith leader and author of Acts of Faith.

Patel challenged members of our campus community to ask ourselves: what role do we play in developing and encouraging effective practices and programs that promote interfaith understanding? Patel’s keynote lecture, “Crossroads of Inheritance and Discovery – Eboo Patel book signing.

Inspiring Interfaith Action,” addressed the increased tensions around religious diversity in the contemporary culture. Patel argued that institutions of higher learning and religious communities have both an opportunity and a responsibility to nurture interfaith leaders. These leaders should have the vision, knowledge, and skills to create spaces and craft conversations that enrich our religious traditions rather than threaten them. In addition to delivering the annual Common Reading/Siena Lecture, Patel facilitated interfaith dialogues with students and leaders across campus throughout his visit.

CGE EXCHANGE WITH PERU AND NORTHERN IRELAND Edgewood College has had a thriving partnership with the Universidad Católica de Santa María (UCSM) in Arequipa, Peru since 2011. We have sent five undergraduate groups there for a five-week study abroad program, and our Sustainability Leadership Program has sent four groups of graduate students for around ten days each. In 2016, UCSM sent its first group of students to Edgewood for a four-week program. In July/ August 2018 we hope to host our second group of students, taking environmental studies and English language courses.

Another enhancement of our partnership occurred in October of 2017, when we had our first faculty exchange. Professor Flor Vilches Velásquez, Director of the Psychology Program at UCSM, was hosted by Edgewood’s Psychology Department for four weeks, exchanging ideas on curriculum, pedagogy and research.

Sarah Friar and Hannah Lloyd welcome international students.

In other CGE news, three Edgewood students have been awarded placements for the fall 2018 and spring 2019 semesters in the Irish-American Scholars program. This prestigious scholarship opportunity allows students to study

tuition free in Northern Ireland for a semester. Three of the 14 placements made this year went to Edgewood students. Edgewood students are eligible for this scholarship because we participate in the British Council’s Study USA program, in which Northern Irish University students study business and management for one academic year at a religiously affiliated college in the US. Edgewood welcomes a Northern Irish student to our campus on an annual or biannual basis.

ONE OBJECT: MANY QUESTIONS A research guide entitled “History Through Material Culture� acknowledges the relationship between humans and material things. Edgewood College students and faculty from across multiple disciplines are using it to shape a multidisciplinary approach to two unique material objects: a presumably 16th-century Mexican musical manuscript from the Stream / Edgewood College permanent collection, and a French opera coverlet from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection at the UW School of Human Ecology.

Beginning with the Spring 2018 semester, students from across disciplines will research and explore these two objects through material culture theory. The culminating exhibition will feature both objects, to be held in the Stream Gallery and Atrium during Edgewood Engaged 2019. Student Research Director Shad Wenzlaff will coordinate the writing, editing, and Left to Right: David Wells, Wes Radtke, publication of a catalogue to accompany the exhibition. Material culture Claire Kittell, Collin Haas. theory brings together a range of questions from multiple disciplines in order to examine the many compelling, original, and feasible approaches to understanding material things. Students, mentored by faculty contributors, have an opportunity to contribute to this collective research project from across several diverse disciplines, including Social History, Art History, Musicology, Chemistry, and Fine Arts Performance.

BONNER TEAMS IGNITE NEW THEMES Nineteen Edgewood students are members of the Bonner Leaders program. Each member completes 220 hours of community service, including education and training focused on issues of poverty, social justice and civic engagement.

Members are eligible to receive $2000 in scholarship awards for each year of successful enrollment in the program, and their scholarship is renewable up to four years. Bonner Leaders are divided into service teams and provide weekly service throughout the academic year to one of four primary community partners: Bayview Community Center, Catholic Multicultural Center, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and Randall Elementary School.

Each semester the focus of study, reflection and action in our site team meetings will be on a particular theme utilizing: background info and statistics on the theme; multi-media presentations profiling people or communities dealing with the theme; hands-on activities or menu of service and training experiences around the theme; and presentations of unique or timely pathways to addressing the theme. This intense study allows the Bonners to have facilitated conversations about their learning and experiences in regards to the theme for the semester and speak about how this knowledge connects or disconnects from what they have experienced at their service sites, to courses they have taken, or other personal or career experiences.

In the fall, Bonners focused on health inequalities. This semester, the theme is homelessness and housing insecurity.