Emphasizing critical perspective and imaginative response, the humanities...foster creativity, appreciation of our commonalities and our differences, and knowledge of all kinds.
-- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Heart of the Matter
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Looking ForwardI don’t fully know what to expect this summer, but I’m definitely eager to begin my work with the Positive Youth Justice Initiative. Being a rookie in public scholarship, I will certainly learn a great deal from working with people who share goals similar to my own, who are already at-work, meeting their goals and [Read More] 06.02.2016 Jonathan Favero |
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BaggageWhen I leave campus and head into the field, I will bring a trunk with me, the baggage of the academically trained, the baggage of all that I am. This baggage contains useful tools and useless tools. Perhaps we’ve started to figure out which might be which, and that education will continue—and useful/useless will certainly [Read More] 06.02.2016 Simon Abramowitsch |
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Yucatán BoundDuring the course of this seminar, the work that we have done together visualizing and mapping out our projects through project frameworks and these blog posts, writing MOU’s and dialoging about them with our community partners, and considering the feasibility of the project has been very helpful to me. Beginning the project months in advance now [Read More] 06.02.2016 Audrey Harris |
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Into the fieldAs the quarter wraps up, it is remarkable to look back and see the ways in which all of the individual projects have developed in a relatively short period of time. For me personally, in just a couple of weeks, I will begin my first interviews with former volunteers and will be simultaneously packing for [Read More] 06.02.2016 Chelsea Escalante |
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The Best Laid Plans: Unexpected Changes at a Late DateThis quarter has been very helpful for me in terms of thinking about and organizing a community outreach program. Many of my questions and concerns have been answered and alleviated. I have, however, had some problems that I did not previously anticipate. For example, I feel confident in the curriculum I have designed, and I [Read More] 06.02.2016 Jared Katz |
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Into the FieldLooking back to our first Public Scholars seminar meeting at the end of March, I am reminded of a key question that remains important to me as I shift my attention toward the summer. When asked to consider who is the “public” of the “Public Humanities” in general and of our public-facing projects in particular, [Read More] 06.02.2016 Kendra Dority |
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Living his(Stories)Over Memorial Day weekend 2016, the community of Akwesasne gathered with local dignitaries to honor the last surviving WWII code talker with the Silver Congressional Star. Levi Oakes, aged 94, received long overdue recognition for his service to the United States following years of bureaucratic delays. The ceremony served as a poignant reminder that history [Read More] 06.02.2016 Loren Michael Mortimer |
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Uncertainty about the Public HumanitiesAs the Mellon Public Scholars seminar comes to a close, I feel ambivalent about the public humanities. I’m simultaneously more confident in what I can accomplish over the summer and uncertain about what it means to be a scholar outside of a university setting. Through this seminar, I refined my understanding of how to work [Read More] 06.01.2016 Trisha Barua |
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Locating Myself in the DebatesI really appreciate how the Public Scholars seminar has forefronted questions about what it means to work with/for various publics and the kinds of problematics that emerge at different scales of engagement. For me during this quarter, the class has also coincided with several conversations about bioethics in science and medicine. Early on in the [Read More] 06.01.2016 Stephanie Maroney |
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Packing for the fieldIn approximately 27 days I will officially start my internship with the CEC. Taking pause from writing the last seminar paper of my graduate career, grading statistics homework, and compiling comprehensive exam reading lists, I am left contemplating what questions, skills, background knowledge I will bring with me into the field on that day. When [Read More] 06.01.2016 Bridget Clark |
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Racing the Clock: managing expectations of what can be done in one summerWhile designing this outreach program, I have constantly had to remind myself that this workshop will only be seven to eight weeks long. Another important factor is that I will be working with middle school students, not college undergraduates. When designing the overall structure of the program, both of these constraints have proven to be [Read More] 05.19.2016 Jared Katz |
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Stones for MéridaBecause of low accountability, grant funds in academia are sometimes given and projects begun only to sink silently like stones in a still pond. Because this will be my last funded graduate student project, and because I know more now than I knew when I began this long process of obtaining my PhD, I want my [Read More] 05.19.2016 Audrey Harris |
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What can I do over a summer?What can I do over the summer? As I’ve progressed through graduate school I have become increasingly aware of the fleetingness of those precious months between May and September, which always begin with grand plans of productivity that end up being significantly scaled down. My Public Scholar project will be no different, I imagine, and in [Read More] 05.19.2016 Maggie Bell |
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Summer’s not long enoughI had not secured a community partner before embarking on the Mellon Public Scholars program, so I put a lot of thought into selecting and making connections with the Center for Genetics and Society in just a few weeks. After much research and several conversations, I’m now thrilled to have a diverse and robust list [Read More] 05.19.2016 Stephanie Maroney |
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What I Can Do Over a SummerThis summer I hope to get approval from Solano Community College (SCC) and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), either through the Voluntary Education Program or the Office of Community Partnerships, to administer study hall and writing and math workshops for students in California State Prison, Solano. Both SCC and the CDCR have [Read More] 05.19.2016 Lily Hodges |
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Summer of … What Am I Doing Again?Once upon a time, I used to guide the development of workplans for AmeriCorps members. The plans needed to be clear lists of discrete and do-able tasks with outcomes that were measurable in some way. For many projects, the workplan provided a meaningful guide to an otherwise fuzzy three- or ten-month project. Over the years, [Read More] 05.19.2016 Jennifer Sedell |
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For Once the Quarter System Exhibits Some Value: Or, Making the Most Out of Precious Little TimeWhat can we do in a summer? Well, as graduate students in this university we’re conditioned to accomplish quite a lot in very short flurries of activity. This conditioning, or training rather, is graciously given to us by the quarter system that UC Davis uses as its academic calendar. Within this framework we manage to [Read More] 05.19.2016 Jonathan Favero |
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What I Can Do Over a SummerDuring the past few months, my expectations for the summer Educators’ Workshop with Santa Cruz Shakespeare have been in constant flux, ranging from grand visions of what the project could be and do (i.e., lay the groundwork for a more robust arts education program at SCS and build lasting partnerships with local teachers and schools) [Read More] 05.19.2016 Kendra Dority |
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Schooooool’s Out… For Summer!School’s out for summer School’s out forever School’s been blown to pieces -Alice Cooper The question of what can be accomplished in a project of public scholarship over a summer is like asking what can be accomplished in a project of public scholarship, period. By that I mean that the answer can be and should [Read More] 05.19.2016 Simon Abramowitsch |
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What I can do over the Summer: A Month of Full-Time WorkWe’re expected to work with our community partner for 20 hours per week over two months, which is equivalent to one month of full-time employment. Based on my previous full-time experiences, after I start a new job, it takes a month for me to find my bearings. While I would like to have high expectations [Read More] 05.19.2016 Trisha Barua |