51茶馆儿

Experience Design & Digital Scholarship Support (LEDS) are excited to announce a year-long initiative dedicated to exploring, learning, and implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into institutional practices and educational settings at 51茶馆儿. This initiative provides faculty and staff a unique opportunity to engage with UDL concepts, fostering inclusive and accessible learning environments. Participants will learn to leverage Generative AI tools to embed UDL principles into their workflows and instructional practices, enhancing accessibility and inclusivity for campus constituencies.

Program structure:
Participants must commit to attending approximately seven to eight meetings throughout the academic year, scheduled for Friday afternoons from 2:30-4 p.m. The meeting dates for fall 2025 are:

• September 26
• October 24
• November 14
• December 12

If selected, you must be able to attend all or most of these meetings. Spring semester dates are not yet determined. Each participant will receive a $750 stipend distributed upon completion of the program as well as a subscription to ChatGPT.

Who is eligible?
All faculty and staff members at 51茶馆儿 are invited to apply! We especially encourage participants interested in leveraging technology and UDL principles to advance student-centered, inclusive practices across academic and administrative settings. You are not required to have any formal training in UDL or GenAI (we will learn together!)

Why UDL for faculty?
UDL helps faculty proactively address diverse learner needs, enhancing access, equity, and engagement. By revising content delivery, assignments, tools, and assessments, and by rethinking how content is delivered, how students demonstrate understanding, and how they stay motivated, faculty can create flexible, inclusive learning environments supportive of all students.

Why UDL for staff?
UDL extends beyond classrooms, guiding staff in designing inclusive and accessible campus experiences. Staff in all roles contribute to shaping how students, colleagues, and visitors engage with our systems, services, and spaces, and can leverage UDL and generative AI to enhance inclusivity, efficiency, and equity in their work.

How do I indicate interest?
To better curate this experience, we would like to know how conversant you are with UDL principles and AI tools (respectively), what aspects of your professional practice could benefit from integrating UDL principles, and how exploring UDL principles in concert with AI tools may support your goals for creating a more inclusive and accessible learning or work environment. Please complete by Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. We will notify accepted participants shortly thereafter.

Three learning communities (LC) will run this fall in conjunction with the 鈥淎fricana Studies and the Humanities at Skidmore: Transnational Explorations in Social Justice鈥� grant from the Mellon Foundation. Please review the options available and, if interested, contact the respective facilitator(s) directly by Friday, Sept. 5. Each LC begins the week of Sept. 15 and will have commitments of approximately two hours weekly during the semester. Faculty/staff who participate in a learning community will be compensated $750. Selections will prioritize faculty and staff with direct teaching responsibilities or who are engaged in projects/initiatives that impact diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion efforts on campus. You are welcome to apply to join a learning community as many times as you wish throughout the duration of the grant. Important note: Staff members, whether exempt or non-exempt, should contact their supervisor prior to applying to join an LC.

Black Diaspora Transnationalism and Pop Music

Meeting Time: Tuesdays, 3-5 p.m. (Weller Room, LIB 212)
Max Enrollment: 12
Facilitator: Adrian Bautista, Ph.D., Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs

Community Description:
This Learning Community (LC) examines how Black diaspora transnational pop music transcends national boundaries and serves as a powerful tool for cultural expression, activism/resistance, and identity formation. Faculty and staff participants will explore how the global flow of musical styles and artists across the African diaspora reflects the interconnectedness of Black and other communities of color. Topics that participants will examine and discuss include the dynamics of MTV and mid-1980s 51茶馆儿渃harity rock鈥� events (e.g., 鈥淟ive Aid鈥� African famine relief concert of 1985, 鈥淪un City鈥�/Artists United Against Apartheid); Black Lives Matter and transnational solidarity songs; reggaeton鈥檚 cross-cultural evolution; K-pop鈥檚 Black musical influences; and the digital circulation of world music. This LC explores how pop music both reflects and shapes transnational experiences in the 21st century. We will do all of this while listening to some great music!

Note: This LC addresses complex issues of race, culture, and identity. We will approach all topics with respect and critical thinking while acknowledging the ongoing impacts of colonialism, racism, and cultural exploitation. LC participants are expected to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with all material and perspectives.

Intended Learning Outcomes: 

• Analyze the musical and cultural elements that enable pop music to cross national boundaries
• Evaluate the role of technology, media, and industry structures in creating transnational music flows
• Examine how Black diaspora transnational pop music reflects and shapes cultural identity, belonging, and diaspora experiences
• Critically assess issues of cultural appropriation, authenticity, and power dynamics in global music circulation
• Apply theoretical frameworks from ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and globalization studies to musical analysis

To Apply: In 250 words or less, please detail the course/creative work/personal goals that draw you to this Learning Community.鈥疨lease send your responses directly to abautista@skidmore.edu  by Friday, Sept. 5. 

Shared Futures: Community Engagement through Black Studies

Meeting Time: Wednesdays, 3-5 p.m. (Weller Room, LIB 212)
Max Enrollment: 12
Facilitator: Eunice S. Ferreira, Associate Professor, Theater

Community Description
In an era marked by political polarization, rising censorship of critical race pedagogy, and backlash against diversity and equity initiatives, the need for rigorous, community-rooted, and justice-oriented scholarship has never been more urgent. This learning community asserts that Black Studies 51茶馆儿� born from struggle and grounded in collective liberation 鈥� offers not only an academic discipline, but a vital model for ethical campus-community engagement and public humanities leadership. We will explore how Black pedagogies have historically informed, inspired, and shaped models of community engagement both within and beyond academic institutions. We will draw on the powerful legacy of Black Studies as a catalyst for social change 鈥� learning from past and present movements that prioritize self-affirmation, critical consciousness, and authentic community connection. We will operationalize these traditions as guideposts for building democratic, relational, and reciprocal campus-community partnerships.

As interdisciplinary collaborators, we will pool our diverse experiences, interests, and campus relationships to critically reflect on what has been, what is, and what could be in terms of Skidmore community engagement inspired and informed by Black Studies. To enrich our conversations, we will reflect on the foundational theories of W.E.B. Du Bois, Black feminist engaged pedagogies of bell hooks, arts-based practices, and higher education case studies such as Berkeley鈥檚 Black Studies Collaboratory. Through discussions, shared readings, and creative group projects/events, participants will:

Intended Learning Outcomes: 

• Understand how the historical wisdom, practical frameworks, and community-rooted principles of Black Studies can offer essential insight for developing effective strategies for engaged scholarship and pedagogy on our campus and with community partners.
• Explore interdisciplinary and intergenerational community-centered learning frameworks and models.
• Reflect on how the Black pedagogical tradition of social responsibility and community building can be folded into our personal, professional, and public lives.
  Co-create potential pathways for transformative engagement between Skidmore and surrounding communities, grounded in trust, reciprocity, and well-being. 

To Apply: 鈥婭n 250 words, please detail the course/project/research/creative work/personal goals that draw you to this learning community. Please send your responses directly to eferreir@skidmore.edu by Friday, Sept. 5. 

Roots & Reach: Cultivating Belonging and Navigating PWI Spaces as Students of Color

Meeting Time: Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. (Wyckoff Center)
Max Enrollment: 12
Facilitators: Brooke Paradise, Associate Dean of Student Affairs for Inclusion and Engagement, and Frederick Smith, Area Coordinator, Residential Life

Community Description
This learning community is a space for faculty and staff to explore and strengthen belonging for students of color at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Drawing on critical race theory, Black feminist thought, and decolonial pedagogies, we will examine how institutional structures and pedagogical practices, often unconsciously, perpetuate forms of anti-Blackness and the afterlives of slavery, impacting the everyday experiences and sense of belonging for students of color. This will involve delving into the subtle and overt ways in which curriculum, campus culture, and social interactions can either affirm or challenge the humanity and intellectual contributions of Black students and other students of color.

Through a transnational lens, we will connect local experiences to global histories of empire, colonization, and decolonization, highlighting the interdependence of Black histories and freedom struggles. Participants will engage in shared, reflective practices that challenge bias, disrupt traditional power dynamics, and generate actionable strategies for advising, teaching, and professional work. Incorporating current events, social movements, and Skidmore鈥檚 own historical and ongoing relationship with Black culture and students of color, we will link theory to lived realities. Understanding our institution鈥檚 context can offer deeper insight into the experiences of belonging (or lack thereof) for students of color on campus. By layering national and institutional narratives, this learning community will encourage a more holistic and critically engaged approach to fostering inclusion and systemic change.

Intended Learning Outcomes: 

• Analyze the historical and structural ways in which PWIs have defined 鈥渂elonging,鈥� and how these definitions may exclude or marginalize students of color.
• Identify specific institutional and interpersonal practices that contribute to or detract from the sense of belonging for students of color on campus.
• Integrate concepts from Black decolonial and Black feminist methodologies into their daily interactions and professional roles to foster more inclusive environments.
• Develop actionable strategies for challenging existing power structures and advocating for systemic changes that enhance the belonging and thriving of students of color.
• Reflect critically on their own positions and biases, committing to ongoing intellectual growth and applying principles of racial justice in their personal and professional lives. 

To Apply: 鈥婭n 250 words, please detail the course/project/research/creative work/personal goals that draw you to this learning community. Please send your responses directly to bparadise@skidmore.edu and frsmith@skidmore.edu by Friday, Sept. 5.