An Annis Water Resources Institute researcher is helping Muskegon County focus on sustainability to help its economic growth. Faculty from engineering, biology and marketing hosted “World Day” to teach participants what it’s like to live on $1 a day. A liberal studies professor had her classes construct a Habitat for Humanity house.
These are a few examples from a yearlong project, “Conversations on Poverty and Economic Justice,” sponsored by the College of Interdisciplinary Studies with support from many campus departments.
Susan Mendoza-Jones, director of Integrated Learning, said the idea behind the theme sprung from events already planned. For example, the campus community reading book is The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls’ memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional family. Grand Valley’s theater department will perform “Nickel and Dimed,” Joan Holden’s production of life stories of the working poor and based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Many faculty members have embraced the project. Melissa Baker-Boosamra, liberal studies faculty member, planned several work days for her classes to help build a Habitat for Humanity house in Grand Rapids.
“I hope through the work days, they see how connected we all are,” she said. “They’ll see first-hand that there are people struggling as a result of economic and political systems and hopefully then feel compelled to become involved.”
Paul Lane, professor of marketing, was among a trio of faculty who planned World Day and took students to a Holland camp where they organized into teams and learned to live for a day on just pennies. The project stemmed from several study abroad trips to Nicaragua.
“It’s more than just play acting,” Lane said. “We want students to think about how to develop products and services that would be sustainable and accessible for all economic classes.”
John Koches, AWRI associate research scientist, is a member of Sustainable Muskegon Metro, a committee dedicated to developing a sustainable strategy for greater Muskegon. He and others spent the summer drafting and researching indicators for a prosperity index.
Mendoza-Jones said these projects, and others, are excellent resources for student, faculty and staff participation, one of the goals of the Conversations series.
“We hope that throughout this year we can demonstrate the importance of intersectionality between the disciplines by exploring questions, wading into the difficult dialogues, and moving through our discussions into scholarship and action,” she said.
A schedule of events focusing on poverty and economic justice is online at www.gvsu.edu/cois (click on the conversations button).
- Tuesday, September 11
Donna Guy, History, Ohio State, "A Theory of Child Welfare in Argentina", 204 Kirkhof Center, 2:30-4 p.m., Coordinated by Latin American Studies
- Monday, September 17
Teresa Rodriguez, Author of The Daughters of Juarez, 4 p.m. Holland Campus Conference Room & 7 p.m., Cook Dewitt Center, Coordinated by Women's Center
- Tuesday, October 16
Jonathon Kozol, "Advocating for Equity: Looking Beneath the Curtain of No Child Left Behind", 4:30-6 p.m., 2nd Floor Eberhard Center, Coordinated by Integrative
Learning, Multicultural Affairs, College of Education, and the College of Interdisciplinary Studies
- Jed Horne, author of Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the
Near Death of a Great American City, Wednesday, October 24, 2007, 4-
5:30 p.m., Grand River Room KC - Sustainability Week Lecture
(Coordinated by Sustainability and Integrative Learning)
- Thursday, November 1
Viewing and discussion of the film, Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class, 7-9 p.m., 250 Kirkhof Center, Madela-Parks Lecture Series, Coordinated by African and African and American Studies in partnership with the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy.
- Monday, November 12
Poverty Simulation, Presented by the local non-profit ACCESS, 250 Kirkhof Center, 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Coordinated by Women's Center, RSVP required.
- Thursday, January 17
Felice Yeskel, Engaging Classism in our Work, 9 AM-12 p.m., Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, part of the Excellence Series, RSVP required.
Felice Yeskel, Learning through Memoirs: A Primer for The Glass Castle. 7-8:30 p.m., Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center Coordinated by the Community Reading Project.
- Friday, January 18
Felice Yeskel, Teaching about Classism and Economic Justice, 9-12 AM, Pere Marquette, Kirkhof Center, Coordinated by Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center.
- Wednesday, March 19
2008 Community Reading Lecture, Jeannette Walls, Author of The Glass Castle, Coordinated by the Community Reading Project
- Wednesday, April 2
Community Reading Project Faculty Panel, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Pere Marquette, Kirkhof Center, Coordinated by Community Reading Project
- March 14-15
LAS Symposium, "Persistent Divides: Marginalization and Social Exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean," Eberhard Center, Coordinated by Latin American Studies
- April 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. and April 6 at 2:00
p.m.
"Nickel and Dimed" by Joan Holden, GVSU Theater Mainstage Series.
