Career & Tools
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center's 2016-17 Graduate Affiliates Program seeks four graduate students to participate in a pedagogical project in social justice as part of this year’s IHC public programming series Community Matters.
In conjunction with the UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center's (IHC) public programming series Community Matters, the 2016-17 IHC Graduate Affiliates Program (GAP) seeks four graduate students to participate in a pedagogical project in social justice.
Project Description
Working with the IHC Director, Graduate Affiliates will design and offer a ten-week correspondence course in the humanities for inmates of North Kern State Prison (NKSP). They will devote fall quarter to creating the curriculum for the course, which will consist of brief foundational readings in the humanities along with response worksheets for the participants. In winter and spring, Graduate Affiliates will offer the course to inmates in NKSP, via mail correspondence. We anticipate that each Graduate Affiliate will work with two participants from NKSP throughout winter and spring quarter.
Time Commitment
The GAP scholars will meet four to five times per quarter. In fall, they will design the course syllabus and create companion study questions for each unit. During the fall meetings, âthey will also discuss course goals and pedagogical approaches. In winter and spring, when the GAP scholars will be working with the participants from NKSP, they will meet to discuss best approaches to evaluating and responding to participants' work. âThe GAP program will also afford students an opportunity to explore issues of civic engagement and social justice. In support of this aspect of the program, Graduate Affiliates will be required to attend at least six events in the IHC Community Matters series, most of which will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursdays.
To Apply
GAP scholars will receive a stipend of $1,500 for the year. To apply, please submit a CV and letter of application expressing your interest in the project and describing any relevant prior experience to ihcucsb@gmail.com by Monday, September 26.
Please feel free to contact IHC Associate Director Emily Zinn with any questions about this program.
About the IHC series Community Matters:
What is the meaning and significance of community in the 21st century? How has community been conceptualized and created by different cultures throughout history? How are relationships between specific communities and the broader social milieu constructed and maintained? In today's global society, what provides the impetus for a life of civic engagement, built upon democratic values, goals, and aspirations? Is the "network" the next form of community, now disconnected from the preconditions of shared physical or social space? These and other questions will be explored through the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center's 2016-17 public events series Community Matters.
A primary focus of Community Matters will be the changing nature of a liberal education. Increasingly, higher education is emphasizing the cultivation of citizenship through field-based learning, collaborative community-based research and the co-creation of knowledge through community-university partnerships. Through such approaches, the goals of a liberal education are becoming refocused to align with the values of deliberative democracy, participatory citizenship and civic engagement through cooperative problem solving. Community Matters aims to stimulate reflection and transformation in this direction, inviting the campus and community to work together to develop humanities- and arts-based programs that cultivate essential skills of collaboration and that mutually engage the university and the local community through co-conceived learning opportunities and co-designed projects.