Sherrerd Center for Teaching & Learning

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Sherrerd Center's Theme for 2020-2021: Connectivity

This academic year at Smith is one unlike any other. The vast majority of our students are away from campus, learning in remote environments, both across the US and across the world. When COVID-19 shut down our campus in the Spring of 2020, many of us thought this would be a brief break from daily life and all would return to normal soon, but instead, this has become a sustained experience for our community. During the 20-21 academic year, we plan to use connectivity as our guiding principle in our Sherrerd Center programming. With trauma from the global pandemic, the continuation of brutal racial injustices in the US, and a contentious US election cycle all coalescing, it is arguably more important than ever to feel connected to our community – and yet, it has never been harder. In the work that we do at the Sherrerd Center for teaching and learning, we hope to center anti-racism, teaching in and amidst trauma, and the best inclusive practices in the remote classroom so that we can remain connected: to our core mission, and to each other in the Smith community.

Inclusive Teaching Workshop with Viji Sathy and Kelly Hogan
Friday, November 20, 2020
12:30-2 p.m.
Viji Sathy and Kelly Hogan, award winning instructors with a combined 25+ years in the classroom at the University of North Carolina will share expertise on inclusive techniques and active learning in any size crowd (both teach courses routinely with hundreds of students). Please RSVP and Zoom details will be sent to you.

Difficult Political Conversations, Part II
Friday, November 20, 2020
6:00-8:00 pm
In this second session of the series, panelists will discuss how and when we choose to engage in difficult political conversations in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Sponsored by the Sherrerd Center and moderated by Nimisha Bhat (Libraries), panelists Valerie Joseph (Anthropologist and AEMES Mentoring Administrative Director), Loretta Ross (Visiting Associate Professor, Study of Women & Gender), Peggy O’Neill (Assistant Professor, School for Social Work), Kris Evans (Associate Director, Counseling Services), and Greg White (Professor, Government) will bring their experiences and perspectives to the roundtable to talk about how to create an environment for radical listening, facilitating conversations empathetically, and the work we all want to do moving forward.

The recording for Difficult Political Conversations Roundtable Part 1 that took place on October 23, 2020, is here.

Register.