Join us in Auerbach Hall Room 320 at the University of Hartford or online this Wednesday, Oct. 30, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., for our next meeting of the University of Hartford Philosophy Club as Sarah Hart, Jillian Cavanna, and Paige Bray lead a session on improving culture-building practices in higher education.
To join the meeting online, click here.
This interactive session seeks to improve upon the current culturally sustaining practices of university students by engaging the perspectives and roles in the room. Everyone will work directly with vignettes of undergraduate students to address the question: What will develop young adults' ability to be agents for social change? We will investigate standards for social justice learning to build shared understanding, language, and actions. The aim is to delve deeper than introductory diversity work towards addressing systemic and local racial inequities.
Jillian M. Cavanna, PhD, is an associate professor of elementary education at University of Hartford and current president of the Association of Mathematics Teachers Educators in Connecticut. She conducts research on teaching and learning to teach mathematics. Within this work, she focuses on coherence, learning to teach ambitiously, and how teachers use evidence from their classrooms to improve instruction. (Email: cavanna@hartford.edu)
Sarah M. Hart, PhD, is an associate professor of special education. Her research and former teaching focuses on post-school transitions using a capability theory of social justice to inclusively examine the experiences of young adults with significant disabilities. (Email: sahart@hartford.edu)
Paige M. Bray is an associate professor of early childhood education and director of the Center for Montessori Studies at University of Hartford. Her teaching expertise focuses on the personal “reflexes” and professional identity transitions fostered through dynamic inquiry and the use of meta-cognitive tools. She works to address systemic inequities as a scholar activist, grounding her research in a community context and consistently emphasizing human capacity as knowledge producers. (Email: bray@hartford.edu)
The University of Hartford Philosophy Club has an informal, jovial atmosphere. It is a place where students, professors, and people from the community at large meet as peers. Sometimes presentations are given, followed by discussion. Other times, topics are hashed out by the whole group.
Presenters may be students, professors, or people from the community. Anyone can offer to present a topic. The mode of presentation may be as formal or informal as the presenter chooses.
Come and go as you wish. Bring friends. Suggest topics and activities. Take over the club! It belongs to you! Just show up!
Questions? Contact Brian Skelly at bskelly@hartford.edu or 413.273.2273.