The tumult across the political landscape continues to place institutions of higher education in an uncertain position. Backlash to equity and justice-oriented pedagogical and research projects have complicated the work of students and teachers seeking to negotiate the meanings of doing education in this climate. The panelists on this plenary will share research and testimonials about what they are seeing as the implications of this tumult in pedagogies across disciplines, including Writing Studies, Sociology, and Psychology. Specifically, panelists will investigate this pedagogical moment as it relates to teaching about race and racism, historical and contemporary social movements and student activism, and teaching writing in environments openly hostile to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Audience members will be invited to reflect on and share their own experiences teaching and learning in today’s tumultuous political climate. 
​​

Cyndi Kernahan
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at UWRF
Cyndi Kernahan is professor of psychological sciences and director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. A social psychologist, Cyndi’s expertise is in the psychology of prejudice and racism. Her scholarly work is focused on teaching and learning about racism and prejudice and how racial bias and prejudice influence student learning and student success. Her book Teaching about Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor was published in 2019 as part of the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series of West Virginia University Press.
​

​Ryuto Hashimoto
Graduate Student at MN State - Mankato with Expertise on Education and Social Movements
Ryuto Hashimoto (he/him) is a researcher, educator, and community organizer. While pursuing his master’s degree in Sociology: College Teaching at Minnesota State University, Mankato, he works with local stakeholders to advance community engagement and action network in Mankato and beyond. His research interests include sociology and education, higher education policy, curriculum design/evaluation, intercultural competence, and social movement.



Liane Malinowski
Assistant Professor of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Liane Malinowski is an assistant professor in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities, where her research and teaching focus on rhetorical history, feminist rhetorics, and public writing. In her research, Liane uses archival and historical methods to investigate rhetoric about social justice, place-making, and protest. She recently completed a book manuscript titled City Housekeeping: Women’s Labor Rhetorics and Spaces for Solidarity, 1896-1911, which will be published by Parlor Press in May 2025. Prior to moving to Minnesota in 2024, Liane was an assistant professor at the University of North Texas. Currently, she is working on essays that reflect on teaching writing and rhetoric in environments hostile to equity and inclusion.
"Navigation Aids for Turbulent Waters"

​Saturday Plenary
Cultivating the Learner During Turbulent Times
During the pandemic, faculty at Century College expressed concerns for rising challenges that online students face regarding stress and other life issues impacting student completion and success. There is evidence in the literature that interventions can be helpful, but most are implemented through in-person options. Using Quality Matters principles as the foundation, we integrated holistic learner development and wellness touchpoints within the course design to guide students through actions and reflections which develop their subjective experience of what they were learning.  Participating faculty executed courses with both experimental and control sections.  Michele will share some highlights of the project in general and Yanmei will share specific information about her experience in the project and the impact on her students.
Michele Jersak
Counselor and Certified Yoga Instructor
Michele Jersak is a counselor at Century College and has worked in the Minnesota State Colleges and University system for about 25 years.  In addition to meeting with students one-on-one and in groups, she has taught classes in career development, leadership development and first year experience. She currently serves as department chair,  secretary in local faculty leadership, and has been involved in several campus initiatives for supporting students holistically. Michele earned her B.A. degree in psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities where she also completed her M.A. degree in Educational Psychology: Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology. More recently, she earned an M.S. in Maharishi AyurVeda and Integrative Medicine through Maharishi International University where she is now a PhD student in Physiology and Health. Her professional interests include using innovative approaches to help students cultivate their ideal personal, educational, and professional lives.  She is also a trained Poverty Coach through Communications Across Barriers, Certified Consciousness Advisor, Certified Yoga Instructor, and Certified Transcendental Meditation teacher. 
Picture
Yanmei Jiang
English and Gender Studies Instructor
Yanmei was raised in a small village near Mount Tai in Shandong Province (China) during the Cultural Revolution by her maternal grandmother, a woman with a pair of bound feet and without a name of her own. Yanmei learned how to hold a pencil at seven, say her ABCs at twelve, and communicate in English at eighteen. Urged by Grandma to “learn all the words in the world and come back to teach people like me,” Yanmei set her mind on becoming a teacher at seven. Yanmei started her teaching career at Shanghai International Studies University, where she earned a master’s degree in linguistics. Driven by the desire to study literature in a native-speaking environment where her interpretation of literary texts would not be restrained by ideological biases or preferences, she came to the U.S. for more graduate studies in literature, rhetoric and composition, and gender studies (at Winona State University and University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) while working as a graduate instructor in the freshman writing programs. Now a faculty member in the English Department and Gender Studies program at Century College, Yanmei considers it a privilege to learn with and from students from diverse backgrounds, with wide-ranging academic skills, and on various career paths. While teaching during the pandemic awakened Yanmei to the glaring inequities in education, she also witnessed her students' incredible strengths—through their resilience, perseverance, and stoic optimism. This realization engendered her determination to advocate for community college students' equitable access to success, especially in Developmental Education.
Calming Students
What can calm students immediately? Scientists have conducted hundreds of experiments on deep breathing. Most studies show it lowers blood pressure, decreases the heart rate, and in general has a calming effect. What is one student problem? According to a Microsoft Canada study, “Overall, digital lifestyles deplete the ability to remain focused on a single task, particularly in non-digital environments.” Researchers found that 8 seconds was “the average human attention span in 2013,” changed from 12 seconds in 2000. In the intervening years, digital phone addiction happened. Asking students to breathe deeply for a minute or two can improve their focus, sometimes dramatically. It helps break the daily casual chaos of poor attention, provides energy, and prepares students to listen and work better. New studies confirm it can decrease anxiety. Richard also will lead everyone in a brief breathing activity for use with students.
Richard Jewell taught composition, literature, humanities, and religion at St. Cloud State University and elsewhere as an adjunct, worked as a full-time composition specialist at the University of Minnesota, and, before retirement, spent eighteen years tenured in English and Humanities at Inver Hills Community College. He earned three master’s degrees from St. Cloud State University and San Francisco Theological Seminary; published about a hundred articles, stories, scholarly essays, and poems; and gave several dozen presentations at MLA, CCCC, and regional and state conferences. He is co-founder and General Coordinator of MnWE and is at www.richardjewell.org.
Richard Jewell
Composition, Literature, Humanities, and Religion Instructor (retired)

Narrative and Capability in Learning Centers
This presentation calls for a renewed attention to narrative as an important aspect of learning integration and student academic support. I discuss patterns of student disengagement from an academic support viewpoint and suggest ways that attention to narrative might lead students to greater depth of understanding and commitment to learning. The presentation draws on semi-structured interviews with students who worked closely with a writing fellow. 
Picture
Mark Kjellman
Director of the Academic Skills Center
at UW-Eau Claire
Mark Kjellman is the Director of the Academic Skills Center at UW-Eau Claire. In addition to teaching academic success courses, he oversees the university’s supplemental instruction, peer tutoring, and academic coaching programs. His current research focuses on scaffolding typologies in tutoring sessions and thirdspace models of academic support. He was previously Director of Academic Support at Saint Paul College. Before transitioning to a career in academic support, he taught first-year and advanced writing courses at Northeastern University.