Institute Focus

The lingering impact of a global pandemic. Overdue racial reckoning. Environmental crisis. We are teaching in a moment that challenges, restores, and inspires our hope in the value of meaningful educational experiences. The recent NCHC position paper: "Honors Enrollment Management: Toward a Theory and Practice of Inclusion," recognizes NCHC efforts to "reframe[d] honors education in ways that both capture the vast diversity of honors programs and the students they serve." Moreover, the position paper highlights that equitable enrollment practices play a major role in shifting these perceptions. However, these changes must be a part of a systemic change in honors education. As Naomi Yavneh Klos, a former president of NCHC argues and is cited in this paper: 'Changing the way we invite people to honors [...] is crucial, but if our goal is to create a genuine sense of belonging, our obligations go beyond question of recruitment to address how our programs can serve the students actually sitting in our classrooms." Created within this philosophical framework, this virtual workshop, through idea generation, and applied praxis, explores how instructors can create this sense of belonging in the honors classroom through a pedagogy that invokes reflection and action as a means for empowering dialogue about contested topics of our moment. Participants will focus on the following three areas of the student experience: classroom experience; co-curricular activities; and service learning. They will be asked to refine their ideas through specific approaches such as diversifying assessment, implementing antiracist practices, and fostering difficult dialogues. The webinar will conclude with an open conversation of the opportunities and challenges of these approaches and reflection on necessary innovation and adaptation for the needs of participants' communities.

Learning Objectives

Participants will: 

• Become familiar with various techniques to hold difficult conversations in multiple settings such as classes, co-curricular groups, and service learning experiences.
• Have a theoretical understanding of why and how these approaches might be applied from various disciplinary perspectives
• Identify different approaches to encourage cultural humility and competence in themselves and their students.

Facilitators

Christine Cusick, Seton Hill University

Christine Cusick is Professor of English and Director of the Honors Program at Seton Hill University. She is a Master Practitioner with the global nonprofit Narrative 4, an empathy education organization. She has served on the NCHC Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is currently a member of the Small College Committee. In addition to directing the honors program, she teaches courses in first year writing, Honors seminar, literature courses such as "Empathy and Storytelling" and has been the recipient of the Seton Hill Liberal Arts Teaching Award. She is a member of the President's Task Force for Diversity and Inclusion and cochair of the committee for student experience in the classroom. Her research focuses on the intersections of ecology, narrative, and cultural memory. She has published numerous studies of contemporary literature on topics such as environmental justice, bioregionalism, and narrative scholarship. She has been nationally recognized for creative nonfiction and has been an invited plenary speaker at national and international conferences on topics such as undergraduate pedagogy and environmental humanities and justice.

Susan Eichenberger, Seton Hill University

Susan Eichenberger is Associate Professor of Sociology. She is the coordinator of the sociology program at Seton Hill University with areas of specialization in race and ethnic relations, stratification, Latino Sociology, gender, and the sociology of religion. Currently, she teaches a variety of courses, including Principles of Sociology; Race, Class, Gender; Contemporary Topics in Sociology: Environmental Sociology, Medical Sociology, and Marriages and Families. She is a member of the Honors Advisory Council as well as President's Task Force for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and co-chair of the subcommittee on curriculum. Her research interests are pedagogy and difficult conversations especially as they relate to inequality, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Questions? Contact the NCHC office at (402) 472-9150 or hello@nchchonors.org