A local and national leader in this area, GWSS situates engagement in relation to scholarship, histories, community cultures and public life. Our faculty spearhead research-based engagement from bases in Bengal, India, Germany, South Africa and the American Midwest. With our guidance, GWSS/SJUS students undertake prison education work, organize activities at the Senior Center, the Catholic Worker House, and Shelter House, lead groups at the Women’s Resource and Action Center, undertake hospice work at Bird House, and work at RVAP and DVIP with those who have experienced trauma. Students enter these spaces with support, a toolbox of practices, and time for reading, dialogue, feedback and reflective writing. Our faculty includes the PI for Humanities for the Public Good, a four-year, $1.5-million initiative designed to catalyze publicly engaged scholarly activity. In this spirit of this and other initiatives designed to enhance higher education’s mission and value, we plan to deepen and more systematically support our department’s engagement by:
STRATEGY 1. Hiring an assistant professor of social justice theory & practice, with deep expertise in enacting and supporting engagement.
STRATEGY 2. Increasing structural support for engagement by seeking funding and advocating for strong university leadership on engagement.
STRATEGY 3. Increasing the number of practicum sites by building relationships with local organizations and collaborating with Nick Benson
| Critical Tasks | Tactics – Action Items | Measures of Success |
|---|---|---|
| -Work with CLAS to identify funding sources to support and prioritize engaged projects (for example, through updated General Expense funding priorities) -Work with the Strategic Office of Communications and the Center for Advancement to publicize engaged events before and after -- emphasizing the value of the university’s labor to the state and other publics, and the state’s value to UI life. | -Increased funding and institutional support for engaged projects and programming. -Increased visibility of GWSS/SJUS engagement, and its benefits to UI and other communities |
| -Propose and prioritize new hire in SJUS theory/practice faculty member who can help model and lead engagement in GWSS and at UI. -Talk with the Center for Teaching about workshops which support engaged assignments and pedagogy for UI faculty. -Work with local organizations (the Labor Center, Outside In, Iowa Women’s Archive) to cultivate new practicum sites. Work with Nick Benson and the Provost’s office to connect interested faculty with organizations that have expressed interest in collaborating with UI faculty and students. | -Secure new engagement-focused faculty lines. -Through Spring 2021, set up at least two practicum sites each term. -Actively supported opportunities for engagement in our research and curriculum, for interested faculty. |
| -Collaborate with Assistant Professor and Center Director Daryll Heller to enable majors to take the Center’s Freedom Summer Class, a tour of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. -Collaborate with Director Heller to explore additional opportunities for GWSS certificate students to develop education and cultural programming with the Center. This could involve helping to plan the above tour. | -New summer opportunities in place by summer 2022. -Enhanced social justice/career opportunities for our graduates as a result of this experience. |
| -Collaborate with Humanities for the Public Good, the Center for Teaching, and other initiatives for diversifying and enhancing graduate education. -Propose and secure new faculty lines that prioritize engaged research and teaching. | -Submit proposal and secure engagement centered faculty lines, including assistant professor of social justice theory & practice. -Annual participation of GWSS faculty in the Obermann Center Engagement Institute, Humanities for the Public Good events, and similar programming. -Incorporation of public engagement into new and/or existing graduate seminars. |