CTLM Student Fellows Present at AAC&U Conference on Diversity, Equity, and Student Success
Student fellows from Arcadia University’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring (CTLM) presented at The 2023 American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)’s Conference on Diversity, Equity, and Student Success, which took place virtually March 9 – 11.
The student/alumni presenters were Tobi Tella ’22, an English Education alumnus and high school English teacher; Tessa Wrice ’23, an International Business major; and Emily Doorbejai ’25, a Criminal Justice major. Dr. Ellen Skilton, CTLM faculty director and professor of Education, played the role of discussant during the panel. Roksana Cerne ’22, a former CTLM student fellow, co-authored the proposal with Dr. Skilton.
The presentation itself was centered around the experiences of BIPOC students’ work as pedagogical consultants, mid-semester feedback participants, LOVE (Living Our Values Experience) co-facilitators, and newsletter writers at CTLM. These student employment roles created co-learning opportunities for students, faculty, and staff alike. These collaborations created opportunities for BIPOC students to have support as they co-lead initiatives that affect their day to day experiences at Arcadia.
Dr. Skilton noted, “A core idea is that their lived experiences give them crucial kinds of expertise about designing meaningful inclusive and antiracist learning environments. Our capacity to compensate student workers who are co-leaders, co-learners, and co-researchers in institutional change efforts is an important dimension of the kinds of internship-like experiences we can and should offer on campus.”
CTLM plans to continue building upon these values and advancing student-centered, antiracist, and innovative teaching methods to enhance learning experiences across campus. Says CTLM: We hope that faculty will join us for the May Workshops we are organizing on May 16-17 and May 23-24 entitled Professors as Learners: Embracing Innovative, Antiracist & Inclusive Pedagogies to continue to learn together about enhancing teaching, learning and mentoring on campus.
