Last week the Center for Public Policy and Administration hosted a three-day workshop kicking off a Five College project that will develop strategies for bridging liberal arts and professional education for students who want to pursue careers in social change.
Brenda Bushouse, UMass associate professor of political science and public policy, co-directed the workshop with Molly Mead, director of the Center for Community Engagement and contributing faculty in American Studies at Amherst College. The two-year project is supported by a grant to Five Colleges, Inc., from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Ten faculty members, including representatives from all five campuses and two of the three professional schools involved in the project, participated in the workshop. Participants discussed the commonalities and differences in liberal arts and professional education, and how their individual campuses or programs currently prepare students to make a difference in the world. A panel of student and alumni social change leaders spoke to workshop participants about what in their educational experiences had helped them to become effective advocates for change.
Participants concluded their work by identifying important issues involved in effectively bridging professional and liberal arts education on the five campuses and possible collaborative activities in the coming academic year, including faculty and student development workshops around teaching and learning for social change. These activities will be broadly available to members of the Five College community.
Faculty participants in the workshop included Riché Barnes (Afro-American studies, Smith College), Carleen Basler (American studies and sociology, Amherst College), Myrna Breitbart (geography and urban studies, Hampshire College), Megan Briggs-Lyster (social entrepreneurship, Hampshire College), Brent Durbin (government, Smith College), Elizabeth Markovits (politics, Mount Holyoke College), David Mednicoff (public policy, UMass Amherst), Thomas Moliterno (management, UMass Amherst), Becky Wai-Ling Packard (psychology and education, Mount Holyoke College), and Eleanor Townsley (sociology, Mount Holyoke College).
Student panelists included Jake Hawkesworth (Hampshire College ’12, UMass Amherst ’13), Vanessa Megaw (Mount Holyoke College ’04, UMass Amherst ’13), Marcie Muehlke (Brown University ’06, UMass Amherst ’12), and Destry Sibley (Amherst College ’09).