M. Shawn Copeland, Ph.D., says that she rarely lectures in her own classroom. She instead practices the Ignatian ideal of accompaniment, in which the teacher serves as “a more creative and collaborative companion in learning.”

Copeland, associate professor of theology at Boston College, was the speaker at the second annual Distinguished Guest Lecture in Jesuit Pedagogy, sponsored by Fordham’s Center for Teaching Excellence on Feb. 12 at the Lincoln Center campus.

The Center supports Fordham’s faculty in their goal to improve as teachers.

Copeland said Ignatian pedagogy informs her work with Boston College’s PULSE program, a yearlong philosophy and theology course that incorporates sustained service in a fieldwork placement.

She said the model of a teacher accompanying students on a journey of discovery development, rather than simply presenting a body of knowledge, is rooted in the basic tenets of Ignatian philosophy.

“Ignatius and his disciples very much wanted to help people in the manner of Jesus, to be available to people as they were and where they were, to constantly devise new ways of making the gospel meaningful,” Copeland said.

Similarly, good teachers meet a student “where they are” and gently guide them along a journey of personal and intellectual transformation.

“Teaching accompanies the student as he or she is and nurtures growth,” she said.
The PULSE program’s intensive service learning often takes place in the Greater Boston area in communities that are different socio-economically and racially from most students’ hometowns. Copeland said that the program is transformative for many students, opening their eyes to the Jesuit ideals of solidarity and justice.

While the program has a rigorous academic component and fulfills Boston College’s philosophy and theology requirements, Copeland said that students’ learning happens just as often on public transportation—the “bus”—and in unfamiliar interactions with the people they serve. She referred to this educational model as “books, buses, and bodies.”

“I teach persons, not topics,” she said. “PULSE is about people, but coming to know other people is never easy.”

Her key objective for her students is development, which she defines as a complex, multifaceted tension between limitation and self-transcendence.

Some of the areas in which she hopes to see her students develop include a more nuanced understanding of theology; developing a more realistic perspective of the world without growing cynical; and a more complex understanding of the interlocking systems of racism, sexism, and social privilege.

Guiding students toward such profound growth using the gentle model of accompaniment carries a risk, Copeland said. There is no guarantee they will apprehend the lessons.

“This is the accompaniment, because I can’t tell them. I need to assist their discovery in as many ways as I can muster,” she said.

Good teaching, Copeland suggested, is not just the transmission of knowledge and skills. It involves honesty, perseverance, and service to an ideal—components that ultimately imbue students with the ability to continue the journey of growth throughout their lives.

“Good teaching entails a cluster of attitudes, skills, methods, and activities aimed to make the student independent of the teacher,” she said.

Wednesday, 28 September 2011 | 6 to 8 p.m.
12th Floor Lounge, Lowenstein Center | Lincoln Center Campus

Professor Mailloux’s lecture will explore the earliest traditions of Jesuit rhetoric and of Jesuit educational theory, beginning with the Spiritual Exercises and the Ratio Studiorum, as well as the place of Jesuit rhetorical arts and pedagogy today.

Professor Mailloux is the author and editor of six books, including, most recently, Disciplinary Identities: Rhetorical Paths of English, Speech, and Composition. He is currently at work on a history of Jesuit rhetoric.

Sponsored by The Center for Teaching Excellence of Fordham University
Reception to follow lecture

RSVP by Monday, Sept 26, to: www.fordham.edu/ctelecture.

You could say that Anne Mannion, Ph.D., associate professor of history, knows a thing or two about teaching. She has influenced countless young minds in the more than 50 years she has taught at Fordham.

The director of the honors program at Lincoln Center, Mannion was appointed director of Fordham’s Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) when it opened two years ago. We sat down with Mannion to learn what has been going on at CTE, which provides resources for faculty members.

How does the center dovetail with Fordham’s core curriculum?
The center basically was born coterminous with the new core curriculum. When you take a look at the core, at least four courses are Eloquentia Perfecta, or EP seminars. There are two in the freshman year, a third in one of the middle years, and the fourth is a values course in the senior year. One of the distinguishing characteristics of EP courses is that 20 percent of class time must be devoted to writing and public speaking.

The piece I was always so adamant about is oral presentations. It has always bothered me that so many college graduates struggle to give a strong oral presentation. Some have high GPAs and have earned their degrees in challenging majors, so it’s obvious that there is nothing wrong with their brain or critical thinking skills. But when you ask them to get up on their feet and make a formal presentation or speak extemporaneously, you might as well have asked them to jump off a roof. I have seen enough over the years to think we ought to do something to strengthen that component.

How does the center help faculty with EP courses?
Professors have to submit a syllabus that demonstrates how they are going to incorporate writing and speaking skills into the nuts and the bolts of their EP courses. Part of our job is to convince the faculty that teaching speaking skills is not the same as teaching an old-fashioned elocution class.

CTE came online two years ago to train the first group of EP teachers in history, theology, philosophy, English, classics and comparative literature through mentoring and workshops. The natural science group, led by Grace Vernon, Ph.D., put together a dazzling EP model. Slowly but surely, almost every academic department or program has a representation in the EP programs. Altogether on both campuses, we’ve “certified” roughly 130 faculty members.

Will these workshops continue?
At Rose Hill in particular, there are a large number of post-doctoral students and graduate teaching assistants who teach entry-level classes. Their departments are sending them to us. History, for example, used to have a program to train its own instructors, but now it’s probably easier for us to do it. For the foreseeable future, as long as there continues to be a supply of post-docs and TAs, that subculture will always be with us and we’ll always be there for them.

Is the center most helpful for post-doctoral teaching assistants and new faculty?
Some of the best players in the workshop are people who have been at Fordham for 30 years. I find that when you get a reasonably experienced teacher, he or she loves to talk about this kind of thing. When do you sit down and talk about teaching? It seems like never. So the idea that you could sit down for an hour and a half to talk about our craft, it’s great. You’ll hear, “What do you do with this kind of a situation?” and people chime in. Somebody in the room has a thought and it starts a group conversation.

How has the center grown?
In addition to the EP workshops, we have a good connection with the Office of Student Affairs and we’ve collectively devised something called “Students in Crisis.” We have a public presentation on all of the campuses each semester. It’s really a conversation.

What are the goals of CTE?
What I like most about the center is that it cuts across all schools. It has to. It was born in the undergraduate liberal arts colleges because that’s where the teaching business goes on, but if you’re going to reach out to other constituencies, I can see us getting phone calls from all of Fordham’s schools.

We’ve been getting involved with individual faculty members who feel they want some extra help with aspects of classroom instruction. They look at us like a “help desk,” if you will. This is about teaching and we’re here to help. Our mission is basically the art and science of teaching. To the degree that we can be of help, we’re here. It’s as if we have this kind of magnet quality because there is a teaching component to so many things people do at a university.

The center, designed by a planning committee of faculty and administrators, was created to help propel Fordham to greater national prominence among higher education institutions, said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer.

“This is not a center that was given to us. It’s something that we wanted, that we asked for over time,” Freedman said. “It’s a place for us to grow together as colleagues and in which all of us can integrate our work.”

The CTE will provide three main resources for the University’s faculty:

• A website that faculty can use to find information on topics as diverse as writing a syllabus to using a Smart Board in class.
• An ongoing series of discussions and symposia about different aspects of teaching pedagogy. The first discussion, on students in crisis, is planned for next month and will be led by John J. Cecero, S.J., Ph.D.
• Individual consultation designed to help faculty share best practices and classroom techniques.

The center also will support the upcoming revision of the core curriculum as well as the expansion of Fordham’s service learning initiative; reflect the University’s position at the crossroads of globalization; and support its mission to infuse teaching with Ignatian pedagogy, Freedman said.

“We’re starting with a small step here, but as we envision the center, there is no end in sight,” he said. “My vision for the center is of a place where faculty can share the best of what they do for our students and continue to develop in the art of teaching—something Father Robert R. Grimes, S.J., stated in the center’s mission, that teaching is the heart of the University’s life.”

Anne Mannion, Ph.D., associate professor of history, has been tapped as director of the new center, which has two physical locations—room B27 in Keating Hall on the Rose Hill campus and room 416 in the Lowenstein Center on the Lincoln Center campus.

“This goes to the core of what we’re about at Fordham,” Mannion said. “We’re talking about the idea of how you go about the art of teaching. We’re helping faculty find their own voices and get out of their comfort zones.”

Mannion said she envisions the center as a place where first-year faculty members could consult with their more-experienced colleagues, and vice versa.

“Newer faculty, too, have something to add,” Mannion said. “The profession has to regenerate itself. It’s about advice; mentoring.”

Christopher Toulouse, Ph.D., visiting assistant of political science, will serve as the program coordinator for CTE.

“Technology has clearly changed teaching,” Toulouse said. “We’re aware of our students’ expectations and we’ll be helping faculty make connections with the facilities and technology that the University provides.”

Faculty members who may be interested in developing team and individually taught interdisciplinary courses will be able to find assistance through CTE. Those interested in developing integrated service learning courses also will find help at the center.

“This is a statement from the University that it is committed to faculty, and through its faculty, to its students,” said Frank Werner, Ph.D., associate professor of finance, who was a member of the CTE planning committee.

Ongoing guidance for CTE will be provided through the center’s advisory committee, which will include faculty members and academic administrators from across the University’s 10 schools.