Ethics & the Common Good Project is pleased to announce our first round of Faculty Course Development Grant recipients. Ethics and the Common Good Project (ECG) offers funding to support faculty in the development of courses that focus on conceptions and problems of ethics and the common good, as well as possible means of addressing or resolving those problems. Through these affiliated courses, ECG aims to meet the student demand for critical applied ethics courses and connect Hampshire College’s five schools with our program’s mission and vision. Together, we cultivate an interdisciplinary curriculum that challenges us to bridge divides, realizing a good we hold in common.
This year, ECG awarded $10,750 to 14 faculty developing five new courses and augmenting five existing courses. Six of these courses are being offering this semester (Fall 2017), and are tackling a wide range of topics including an investigation into the U.S. flag and symbolism through performance and history, and using local slime mold to model global economic and political challenges.
We will put out a call for proposals for another round of faculty course development grants at in the Winter of 2018. If you would like more information about these grant opportunities and ECG, in general, contact commongood@hampshire.edu or call 413.559.6247.
Spring 2017 Faculty Course Development Grant Awards
Billie Mandle (HACU) will be teaching “Community, Photography, Storytelling”, a course that connects photography students with Applewood Retirement Community residents to forge intergenerational connections and teach a practice of relational portraiture. This is an augmented course that will be offered in the Fall semester of 2017.
Chris Tinson (CSI) and Mei Ann Teo (IA) will be collaborating to create the Fall 2017 course “For Whom It Stands: Symbolism in American Culture”, this class dives into theater and history in an investigation of the US flag, performance, and symbolism.
Djola Branner (IA) will be teaching “Performing Gender in American Theater”, a course that aims to expand the canon and the conversation by creating space to celebrate gender non-conforming characters in original drama. This course will be offered in the Spring semester of 2018.
Jana Silver (IA), Natalie Sowell (IA), and Deb Goffe (HACU) will be co-teaching “Innovations for Change: Creative Interventions”, an art education, visual arts, dance, and theater collaboration course that will investigate interdisciplinary arts as vehicle for social change. This course will be offered in the Spring semester of 2018.
Laura Greenfield (CSI) will be teaching “Radical Listening”, a communication studies course that asks what it means to listen radically and to use listening to activate and transform the social field. This course will be offered in the Fall semester of 2018.
Megan Dobro (NS) will be teaching “Plasmodium Symposium/Modeling & Microscopes” a course that uses local slime mold to model global economic and political challenges, connected to philosophy and in partnership with the Library Gallery. This is an augmented course that will be offered in the Fall semester of 2017.
Rachel Conrad (CSI) will be teaching “Children’s Rights”, a tutorial investigating the rights of children through the lens of childhood studies, culminating in a collaborative book making project with children at the Early Learning Center. This is an augmented course for entering first-year students that will be offered in the Fall semester of 2017.
Jana Silver (IA), Sarah Partan (CS), and Seeta Sistla (NS) will be co-teaching the course “Innovations for Change: Innovating for the Future”. This course connects students with thinkers and scholars exploring the challenge of climate change, and invites them to bring sustainable practices into their own lives. This is an augmented course that will be offered in the Fall semester of 2017.
Sarah Rafferty (HACU) will be teaching “Ethics in Art Making”, a course that examines the ethical responsibility of the artist beyond “self-expression” and “craftsmanship”. Students will explore ethical considerations involved in making art, living life as an artist, and displaying and viewing art.
Tim Zimmerman (CS) will be teaching “Environmental Education: Foundation and Inquiries”, this course is a critical inquiry into the field and practices of environmental education, and will be expanded to include materials examining nature as a commons. This is an augmented course that will be offered in the Fall semester of 2017.