October 11: Mellon Partners for Education Conference on Humanities Teaching for Underserved Populations
Thursday October 11, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Vanderbilt Center for Digital Humanities, 344 Buttrick Hall
Mellon Partners for Education Conference on Humanities Teaching for Underserved Populations
This event is for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the humanities considering academic jobs at institutions which serve a wide variety of diverse populations. It will address teaching approaches, curriculum planning, institutional culture, and Digital Humanities research at various types of institutions that cater to underserved student populations. Mellon Partners for Education Postdoctoral fellows and their faculty mentors from Fisk, TSU, and Berea College will be in attendance to offer firsthand accounts and perspectives on what this career path looks like.
If you wish to attend, RSVP to Angela.C.Sutton@Vanderbilt.edu, indicating which sessions you plan to attend, and your dietary restrictions for lunch.
Schedule:
9:00 – 9:30 Coffee & Pastries, Welcoming Remarks from Dean Bonnie Dow
9:30 – 10:30 SESSION 1: Teaching Humanities Writing at the Undergraduate Level (Alex Oxner, Writing Studio & CFT)
This session addresses approaches for writing education in the humanities at the undergraduate level, paying specific attention to ways in which humanities educators can make expectations for writing assignments clear, use their chosen fields and subject matter to teach humanities writing skills, and evaluation of these assignments.
10:30 – 12:30 SESSION 2: Teaching Underserved Populations (Heather Fedesco, CFT)
This session addresses teaching at institutions that serve large numbers of minority students, including racial & ethnic minorities, undocumented students, first generation students, students from low-income backgrounds and other underserved populations. We will explore educator and student identities and ways in which educators can fit into the institutional culture of smaller liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). This session will include a break.
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch Provided for all registered attendees
1:30-3:30 SESSION 3: Digital Humanities Pedagogy for Undergraduates Workshop (Derek Bruff & Kylie Korsnack, CFT)
This workshop explores the ways in which educators can incorporate Digital Humanities into their classes, and how to develop a Digital Humanities class, paying particular attention to doing such at institutions with limited resources and infrastructure. A portion of this workshop will be reserved for curriculum planning.
3:30-3:45 Coffee Break
3:45 – 4:45 SESSION 4: Developing Digital Research Projects (Mickey Casad, DH Center)
This session will discuss ways in which to carry out digital humanities research projects at underserved institutions. It will cover how to assess and fairly make use of an institution’s existing infrastructure, how to make sustainable contributions to your host institution, and how to include students in your research projects.