To explore how the year's research and planning activities might be translated into concrete outcomes, the grant directors designed and held a variety of pilot events. The success of these small forays into implementation provide promising evidence for scaling up this work in the future. You can read about some of these events below.
In collaboration with Corey Pressman (Nursing), the grant directors hosted a creative writing event with visiting writer Naomi Shihab Nye on Sept. 12. More than 60 students and faculty from across CAS and the professional schools participated in the hands-on workshop that theorized that reading and writing poetry builds health and wellness in meaningful ways. The popularity of the event suggests a strong interest in health humanities collaborations on UP's campus.
On 9/15 the grant directors hosted a workshop to bring faculty from humanities and non-humanities fields together to brainstorm potential areas of overlapping interests and how they might translate into new interdisciplinary Core courses. Twelve faculty from 8 disciplines attended the session and participated in 3 10-minute rounds of speed brainstorming. Participants developed ideas for new courses as well as reading and discussion groups and made connections with faculty guest speakers for their courses. 100% of participants reported that they would like more opportunities to collaborate across disciplines and meet other faculty from outside their fields.
Our research shows that UP community members want more venues for connection--to address this, the directors designed and hosted a guided conversation among 15 students, faculty, and staff on the topic "Reimagining Readiness." Not only did participants report a desire for more cross-role conversations like this one, the event showcases how the practices of the humanities--such as open-ended discussion--can bridge silos on campus.
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