Institute on Teaching Social Action – Sep 7-8

Posted by Bonner Foundation on July 9, 2024

We would like to invite you and your colleagues to apply to the University of Washington Institute on Teaching Social Action in Seattle on September 7-8, 2024. This Institute will run as a pre-conference to the National Sustainability Society Conference from Saturday, Sept. 7th, 8:45 am-6:15 pm, Sunday, Sept. 8th, 8;45 am-1 pm. All sessions will be led by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Director of Teaching Social Action, and Dr. Arun Agrawa, professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability. Food will be covered during the Institute. You can just attend the pre-conference, and not attend the main conference. However, please note that while we don’t charge for the Institute, the National Sustainability Society Conference is requiring attendees to pay $60 for the cost of the room on the U. of Washington campus.

Here is what Arun says about the Institute on Teaching Social Action:

I have personally gone through the Institute and found it incredibly helpful in developing a social action course, that I then taught at the University of Michigan the following semester. Teaching social action has been one of the highlights of my career, as it provides students with concrete tools with which to organize social action campaigns and actions for undertaking social action for change. I highly recommend it! It really is a fantastic, generative opportunity.

If you cannot join us in Seattle on September 7-8th, we are hosting additional Teaching Social Action Institutes at the U. of Michigan (Oct. 5-6), virtually in the Winter (Jan 6-8), Rollins College in Florida (Feb 8-9), Rhodes College in Memphis (March 8-9), and virtually in the Summer (June 9-11). You can apply to these upcoming Institutes here.

Our no cost Institutes train faculty and staff to develop social action syllabi for a course (or workshop series) that engages students in leading “policy change” campaigns. The key component of this experiential learning model of teaching social action is that students, during the semester the class is taught, choose a campaign to work on and attempt to enact a policy change on campus or in the community by making demands of a decision-maker. Students can launch their own campaign or join a community organization’s campaign and create a “student-wing” in collaboration with the community organization. Click here to see the Spring ’24 student campaigns on our updated website.