A message from the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning

Welcome to a new semester! For those students and colleagues new to Skidmore College, the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning (CLTL) partners with faculty, staff, and students on campus to promote excellence and innovation in teaching and learning through inclusive, evidence-based, and student-centered practices. For more information, visit our website. Here are upcoming events, news, and reminders. 

Featured Events

Supporting Students: Understanding their Academic and Socio-Emotional Needs During Another COVID-19 semester

Sept. 22, 3 - 4 p.m. via Zoom

As we begin another COVID-19 semester, students are entering our classrooms with ongoing (and new) challenges - first-year students might be under-prepared for college-level work after 18 months of disruption in high school; some second year students are on campus for the first time; other students might be struggling with anxiety or experiencing panic attacks as they enter in-person masked learning; some might be displaying differing behavioral issues; and, others are feeling socially isolated after being fully remote last year. In this panel, our colleagues will share information about the range of ways students are entering Skidmore this year, and how faculty might best support them.

Science Faculty Discussion Group Meeting

Sept. 21, 12:35-1:35 p.m.

Science faculty, please contact Madushi Raththagala at mraththa@skidmore.edu for the Zoom link

Decolonizing Pedagogies; Transforming Teaching: Creating Expanded Capacity for our Classrooms with Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza

Oct. 18, 3 - 4 p.m. via Zoom

Historically, our educational system relies on passive learning, instead of a more collaborative and collective approach. We are all subjects of a colonial system and conscripted into that system, and we can be decolonial agents when we re-imagine the classroom as a third space. When we re-imagine the classroom as a space and place to decolonize our pedagogies, we also participate in the transformation of teaching. This results in accelerates the ongoing building an expanded capacity for those who make up our classroom spaces. Teaching is more than a data dump; it is a process of tending to all the threads of instructional design and when we leave room for embodied awareness and expanding our capacity through a somatic lens, we not only connect the dots and deepen our shared, collective analysis, but we also become aware of our embodied capacity.

When we intentionally bring these two together, we effectively participate in decolonizing practices that helps us all make a hard pivot out of hierarchies that accelerate harm and diminish transformative learning. Please register in advance to receive the Zoom link.

Scholarly and Creative Endeavors (SCE) Weekly Lunch Meetings

• Mondays with Lia Ball from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m. via Zoom
• Tuesdays with Ruth Hernandez from noon - 1 p.m. via Zoom

Featured Faculty/Staff

Anita Jack-Davies

Dr. Anita Jack-Davies brings over 20 years experience in the field of education to the role of Deputy Chief Diversity Officer and Director of The Center at Skidmore College. She earned a PhD in urban teacher education from Queen’s University, with a concentration in Cultural and Policy Studies.

After graduation, Dr. Jack-Davies taught undergraduate courses in the Departments of Geography and Urban Planning and Gender Studies as Adjunct Assistant Professor and in 2011, launched a workplace diversity consulting firm aimed at leading government and not-for-profit organizations through DEI strategic planning and change management projects. Clients included the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Global Affairs Canada.

As part of her consulting business, Dr. Jack-Davies launched Badges2Bridges, a law enforcement education and training program aimed at teaching police officers how to work with low income and minority communities.

She is currently the Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Urban Planning in the Faculty of Arts and Science at Queen's University and has appeared on the CTV National News and the CBC Radio discussing workplace inclusion. In spring 2021, Dr. Jack-Davies began her role at Skidmore virtually. She and her family moved from Canada to the United States and Dr. Jack-Davies is currently working with units and colleagues on Center tours aimed at showcasing how the space can be used by students, faculty, staff, alumni, university partners and members of the Skidmore community. Dr. Jack-Davies is the author of the upcoming memoir, Lawrencia’s Last Parang: On Loss and Belonging as a Black woman in Canada (Inanna Publishing, Fall 2022).

Featured CLTL Student

Aliza Nazir '23

Hi, I’m Aliza Nazir, a junior from Short Hills, New Jersey. I’m a double major in psychology and sociology and a Periclean Honors minor. I wear many different hats around campus, as I'm very involved within multiple aspects of campus life. This semester I’m a research assistant for two different psychology professors, a part of the CLTL Student Advisory Council, a Peer Health Educator, a Peer Academic Coach for the sociology department, and a student worker in Atrium.

I spent my summer interning for a special needs camp, which left me intrigued to explore the field of school psychology within my future, and continue my work with the community this winter. Outside of my academic life, I’m usually listening to music, going on walks, and just spending time with my friends.

Student Voices

"Coming to Skidmore put a lot into perspective for me. Before college, I never critically thought about how my positionality as a British/South-Asian Muslim woman intersects with the power dynamics of our society. After educating myself, I have come to look at my experiences through an intersectional lens and recognise the power of taking control of my voice in certain narratives. However, I continue to struggle with speaking up and taking space in classes, due to how my voice is utilised in certain conversations. I recognise that I am a minority around campus – I have come to terms with that, but I never knew how alone I would still feel in classes where talks of diversity and inclusion are the main focus. I’ve experienced times where my voice is a tool, or my experiences are tokenised and pushed to the side. I may feel a certain way in the classroom, but I’m thankful for the education, as it’s allowed to me have dialogues outside of academia where I feel comfortable to share and enlighten others."

News and Resources

• Join the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity.

In accordance with our liberal arts mission, Skidmore College’s Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning (CLTL) partners with faculty, staff, and students on campus to promote excellence and innovation in teaching and learning through inclusive, evidence-based, and student-centered practices. [read more]

Contact

Kristie Ford

 CLTL Director

(518) 580-5425

Skidmore College

 815 North Broadway

 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

 518-580-5000