Spring 2025 NCHC Portz Grant Recipient

William Paterson University of New Jersey

"Creating Transformative Experiences through Cultural Immersion for Underrepresented University Students"

Project Abstract

A one-year program that expands experiential learning beyond the classroom. The program begins with faculty development in cross disciplinary humanistic pedagogy and proceeds to implement experiential learning experiences with university students, primarily those in their first year. During the first three months of the project, the Honors College along with the Center for Teaching Excellence will train faculty from diverse disciplines to use honors pedagogies and concepts to create experiential learning experiences in local and regional sites, specifically those in Paterson, New Jersey and Newark, New Jersey, that highlight the contributions of immigrant groups to our geographical region.

Three Honors College faculty have already completed initial training in this pedagogy and can assist in leading the workshops. During the grant, faculty will jointly lead student groups on experiential learning day trips to regional cities, such as New York City, Paterson, NJ and Newark, NJ, using the techniques to develop students’ understanding of social problems and community engagement. The training, organization and implementation of the program will be housed in the Honors College and all student travel will be paid for with university funds. We seek course material for both the faculty training and the students in the courses and honoraria for local experts to join us on campus for further engagement.

The goal is to unite a humanities faculty member with a faculty member from science, business or health, or education (for example) to show students how humanistic values and methodologies can inform those disciplines in ways that promote ethical engagement and creative problem solving as well as furthering human understanding and social justice.

Content and Activities

William Paterson University is a minority-serving institution and a Hispanic-serving institution. Forty percent of our students are first-generation college students. Our need is great as a midsize public regional university, next to Paterson, New Jersey. We have students who have grown up 45 minutes outside of New York City and yet have never ventured to it. For many of our students, the life of the mind has not been part of their education at a sophisticated level. They need a way to enter intellectual conversations and get a practical hold on ideas so that they can participate in analyzing and theorizing.

In our location, next door to Paterson, New Jersey and halfway between New York City and Newark, New Jersey, there are a multitude of opportunities for cultural experiences from museums to memorials to cultural events, plays, and workshops. Students learn more about themselves and their own values when exploring the rich cultural history of the area. Seeing the history of immigration, for example, by visiting an exhibit on immigration and a current neighborhood, can make a student better understand themselves, and their own culture as well as to think holistically about the society in which they live.

For example, we will visit Hinchcliffe Stadium, one of the last remaining stadiums built for the Negro Baseball League. The history of the stadium, and the role it once played, will bring history to life and give students a deeper understanding of social inequities and the fight for social equality.

Rationale

Visiting regional cultural sites with faculty results in truly transformative learning. The experiences further cross disciplinary learning resulting in deeper, more impactful intellectual connections and more fertile ground for academic growth.

Going through a museum with a faculty member who is an expert in History or English literature is a significantly different experience than most students have had. Students gain clarity on the concepts, the intellectual history, and the events as they unfolded, giving new insight into the events social and psychological impact on individuals and the country. This is transformative learning at its best, both in the sense that it deepens the students’ critical thinking and in the sense that it moves the student into a different mode of engaged, active learning. Further, students may connect what they already know to a new body of knowledge – for example, visiting the 9/11 museum, an event of which all students have some knowledge, on a trip lead by a leading cultural expert, gives the student access to new ways of understanding their own past as well as new strategies for analyzing knowledge.

The transformative experience helps the student move from a personal perspective to a structural analysis. The student can then weave together knowledge and experience to transform it from a passive learning perspective to active engagement with an intellectual topic. Such experiences help students develop critical thinking and develop their own analyses. Ideally, they begin to understand themselves as theorizers.

Alignment with Shared Principles and Practices

Inclusive Excellence

Focus on Underrepresented Groups: The program specifically targets diverse student populations, particularly those who are first-generation college students and from minority backgrounds, thereby addressing their unique needs and experiences. This commitment to inclusivity is evident in the selection of cultural sites that highlight the contributions of immigrant groups and the historical context of social inequities.

Laboratory for Innovation

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: By pairing humanities faculty with those from the sciences, business, health, or education, the program embodies the principle of inclusivity through interdisciplinary learning. This approach exposes students to a variety of perspectives and methodologies, fostering a more holistic understanding of complex social issues and promoting ethical engagement.

Co-curricular Opportunities

Experiential Learning Opportunities: The program provides students with hands-on learning experiences outside the traditional classroom, which can be particularly beneficial for students who may not have had access to such opportunities before. This aspect of experiential learning allows students to connect theory with practice, making education more accessible and relevant to their lives.

Project Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries of the program are faculty who will be trained in City as Text and Inclusive Excellence pedagogies, and the students who will connect their cities with their Honors learning experiences.