First Community of Scholars event finds success
Posted March 31, 2009
The entire Lesley University community today took a break from traditional classes to share and enjoy and explore each others work, research and ideas.
A Community of Scholars - an all-day academic event - saw more than 100 separate presentations, ranging from musical performances to art shows to dissertation presentations to panel talks and beyond.
Each of Lesley’s three main campuses - on Oxford Street in Cambridge, at University Hall in Porter Square and at The Art Institute of Boston (AIB) in Kenmore Square - participated. Shuttles ran between the campuses all day ensuring that School of Education students could attend workshops at AIB if they wished, and vice versa.
“This was a success, no question,” said Martha McKenna, Provost at Lesley University. “It started as a simple ‘What If?’ and expanded to something that hundreds of people, including our neighbors, took part in. Add in the beautiful weather we had and I couldn’t be happier with what is happening here.”
“I think it’s an exciting day for the University as all faculty, staff, administrators and students come together to learn from one another, giving everyone an opportunity to explore exciting subject matter one might not encounter through their course of study,” McKenna added.
The day bustled from the start, with University Hall activities kicked off by a performance from Harmageddon, Lesley’s a capella group. Afterward, the second-floor atrium filled with presentations from three Lesley College classes covering oceanography, Reggio Emilia-inspired learning and the use of quantitative information to solve problems.
Meghan Anderson, an AIB sophomore who had prepared a presentation board examining energy use variables to predict the Earth’s temperature in coming decades, said she was looking forward to an afternoon of art school presentations in Boston.
“We get to actually have a chance to go see artist talks or student presentations that we couldn’t see if we had class,” Anderson said.
Ann Goldberg, a Lesley College sophomore who created a similar presentation, was pleased to bring her work outside the relatively enclosed classroom environment.
“We do all this work in class,” Goldberg said. “It’s nice to be able to show it off and show that we’re working toward something.”
In addition to presentations from faculty, students and staff, A Community of Scholars featured two walking tours of Cambridge. The morning tour examined the unique and historical architecture of the historic Lesley Quad Campus and the Porter Square neighborhood. It was led by McKenna, Dean of Faculty Sharlene Cochrane, Campus Planner Will Suter and Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission.
The second, held in the afternoon, explored Harvard Square and the Brattle Campus which Lesley shares with the Episcopal Divinity School through a partnership established last year.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood since 1959, and yet I learned things today in a one hour tour that I’d never known before,” said Fred Meyer, a neighbor from nearby Hammond Street who attended the morning tour.
The day caps off with a 7 p.m. showing of Who Does She Think She Is?, a documentary film about art, motherhood and work, directed by Lesley alumnus Pamela Tanner Boll, who submitted the experience making the film as the thesis for her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. A Community of Scholars officially began Monday night with a showing of the Academy Award-winning documentary Born Into Brothels, which Boll executive produced.