Call for Proposals
“Bridging Humanities Across Disciplines: A Little Conference for Big Ideas”
Humanities Mellon Scholars 2019 Conference
Convened by the University of San Francisco and the De Anza-Foothill Community College District
Thursday and Friday, October 24 – 25, 2019
This year's conference seeks to provide a space and encourage dialogue in support of the study of humanities across disciplines in higher education; of transfer students' experiences in higher education and completion of a four-year degree; and of fulfilling the mission of Community College grants with Mellon grantees.
The conference is designed with those needs in mind and aims to start, continue, and grow conversations about strategies, pitfalls, best practices and more! The conference will provide an opportunity to explore how the humanities are taught across disciplines in higher ed. We are inviting proposals that include innovative practices and programs for incorporating the Humanities across disciplines and for supporting the transfer of community college students to 4 year colleges.
In addition, we invite other Mellon grantees to sign up for our interactive roundtable sessions that are meant to help support one another in meeting the mission of our grants!
Submit your Proposal on Google Forms
Call for Proposals
We invite workshop proposals from faculty, staff, and administrators from community colleges and four-year colleges to address one or more of the following topics:
Innovative Pedagogies: Interdisciplinary Pedagogy and Curricula in the Humanities
- How can faculty create opportunities for partnering across disciplines?
- How do faculty teach “soft skills” in the hard sciences?
- What unique or non-traditional classroom strategies — for assignment design, assessment practices, curricular design, etc. — emerge from community college learning practices?
- What can four-year colleges learn from the innovative pedagogies generated in community college classrooms?
- How can we address the challenges of interdisciplinary curriculum and teaching?
- How can we develop working partnerships across institutions to better exchange information and effective practices?
- How can the use of technology create new opportunities in college classrooms? What challenges or barriers does it create?
Transfer and Continuity: Pathways between Community and Four-Year Colleges
- What experiences have students had with transferring between institutions, and how can the lessons learned be relayed to fellow students, faculty and administrators?
- What strategies and programs have emerged, both at community colleges and four-year colleges, to promote continuity between student experiences at different schools?
- How can inter-institutional agreements and articulation agreements get transparently communicated to (and shaped by) students?
- How can technology be used to create more continuity between two-year and four-year colleges?
Diversity and Inclusion: Learning and Life Circumstances of the “New Majority” College Student
- What kinds of inclusion and exclusion are reflected in the classes students take at community college? Who gets to define this inclusion and exclusion?
- How do assumptions about what “diversity” means shape teaching practices and the departmental policies that govern them?
- How do structures of assessment in classrooms impact recruitment and retention?
- How does technology challenge or replicate systems of inclusion and exclusion in educational institutions?
Format of Sessions
All sessions will be one hour long, and we welcome and encourage creative, participatory formats. Ideal sessions will be interactive and will provide attendees next steps, takeaways, models, or other practical implementation ideas for participants to take back to their home institutions.
We welcome submissions that include multiple presenters, particularly when the presenters represent different roles or institutions (for example, a proposal including a community college student, a graduate student from another institution, and professor or administrator from a third institution would be especially welcome). Preference will be given to submissions that include scholars of color, people with backgrounds historically underrepresented in the academy, and people with direct experience in community colleges.
Individuals are also welcome to submit presentation ideas and will be paired with others presenting on similar topics. You’re also encouraged to submit a panel presentation (4 presenters maximum).