Civic Life, Honors College staff lead sessions

In November 2023, Tess McRae '22, coordinator for civic design with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, joined Honors College Director Simon Stacey, Associate Director Jodi Kelber-Kaye, and Assistant Directors Julie Oakes and Kendyl Walker in representing UMBC at the 58th annual National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference, in Chicago. The conference theme was "Revolutionary Honors: Liberty. Equality. Humanity."

During the conference, McRae and Stacey led "Recognizing our shared humanity and learning how to talk about it: Two civics courses grounded in students' everyday experiences." The session highlighted courses that McRae, Stacey, and Center for Democracy and Civic Life Director David Hoffman, Ph.D. '13, design and co-teach through the Honors College: HONR 200 Talking Democracy and HONR 300 Be Your Best Self in Real Life. 

Talking Democracy is designed to help students become critically aware of the interplay among communication styles and techniques, democratic values, and the civic health of communities. Be Your Best Self in Real Life investigates how human beings can collectively and individually thrive in some institutions, and how they must sometimes change institutions in order to do so. In both courses, McRae, Stacey, and Hoffman support students in engaging in deep learning about their civic roles and contributions by closely examining their lived experiences both beyond and within the classroom. 

During their session, McRae and Stacey provided an overview of the pedagogy and teaching approach they infuse into both courses and led participants through an activity about social norms that students in the courses experience. McRae, who took Talking Democracy and Be Your Best Self in Real Life when she was an undergraduate at UMBC, personally attested to their perspective-altering impact.

Kelber-Kaye and Walker led the roundtable conversation, "Pipeline to Honors: High School and Community College Partnerships with University Honors Colleges," during which they described UMBC's relationships with local high schools and community colleges and how those relationships and partnerships are important methods for recruiting students to honors colleges. This roundtable provided a robust conversation where other institutions shared how their partnerships serve as a method of recruitment and provided inspiration for other institutions as they seek to create similar pathways.

Walker presented the session, "A Self-Authorship Approach to Developing Your Role as an Honors Advisor." She described the components of self-authorship and talked about the ways that academic advisors can use self-authorship practices such as an advising philosophy to both support the students they advise and enhance their own professional development.

Oakes and Kelber-Kaye co-led the roundtable discussion, "Honors College Abroad: Thinking Through Internalizing Honors Education." They told the story of how UMBC's Honors College has created opportunities for international learning and engagement by developing faculty-led study abroad experiences, and shared some insights and reflections about the lessons Honors College staff and faculty have learned from the process. The roundtable provided the opportunity for the attendees to share their experiences and insights as well.