Dear faculty colleagues,
Here on the last day of classes for SP23, I want to thank you for all you’ve done this academic year. Your contributions toward our academic and service endeavors are very much appreciated.
I also want to invite you to save some space on your calendars for an upcoming series of events scheduled for August 15 and 16, the week before FA23 classes begin. UTC is bringing Dr. Cate Denial to campus to kick-off what we’re currently calling a Kindness Initiative—a dedicated, extended effort to support the well-being of faculty, staff, and students.
Dr. Denial will offer an opening presentation Aug. 15, time TBD. Additionally, she will lead some workshops and participate in other meetings to help our campus community understand what a pedagogy of kindness looks like in practice (spoiler: it’s not about being “nice”).
Additional information will be forthcoming over the summer months in the weekly campus newsletter and direct messages to this faculty list. Please watch for those announcements when you dip into email this summer.
Cate Denial’s bio is below:
Cate Denial is the Bright Distinguished Professor of American History, Chair of the History department, and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. A Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, Cate is the winner of the American Historical Association’s 2018 Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching award, and a former member of the Digital Public Library of America‘s Educational Advisory Board. Cate currently sits on the board of Commonplace: A Journal of Early American Life. Cate is at work on a new book, A Pedagogy of Kindness, under contract with West Virginia University Press. Her historical research has examined the early nineteenth-century experience of pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing in Upper Midwestern Ojibwe and missionary cultures, research that grew from Cate’s previous book, Making Marriage: Husbands, Wives, and the American State in Dakota and Ojibwe Country (2013). Cate is currently the PI on a $150,000 Mellon-grant project exploring “Pedagogies, Communities, and Practices of Care in the Academy after Covid-19.”
All best,
Lauren
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Dr. Lauren S. Ingraham
Vice Provost for Curriculum and New Program Development