Friday, March 31
Re-Envisioning Developmental Education Reforms
It is widely reported that the pandemic led to grim educational outcomes and significant learning loss, exacerbating existing disparities among students from under-resourced and marginalized communities. Researchers state the urgency of addressing, through recovery and interventions, the dire consequences of learning loss.
Given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on community college students at MinnState and other colleges, it is time for us to reevaluate developmental education reforms so that we can re-envision models supported by sound research, centered on community needs, and validated by educators. Only such reevaluation will meet the wide-ranging academic needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Panelists will discuss current debates in developmental education—particularly whether to keep stand-alone remedial courses as options—in the context of post-pandemic community college education.
Given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on community college students at MinnState and other colleges, it is time for us to reevaluate developmental education reforms so that we can re-envision models supported by sound research, centered on community needs, and validated by educators. Only such reevaluation will meet the wide-ranging academic needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Panelists will discuss current debates in developmental education—particularly whether to keep stand-alone remedial courses as options—in the context of post-pandemic community college education.
Dr. Alexandros M. Goudas is an Associate Professor of English at Delta College, Michigan and is author of CommunityCollegeData.com. In addition to publishing, speaking, and writing about community college issues, he authored an OER writing textbook and has taught reading and writing developmental education courses and composition for nearly two decades.
Dr. Jesse Mason has over 18 years’ experience in higher education. As a first-generation high school and college graduate, he understands the power of how education changes lives. His personal mission “is to create transformative experiences for students, the community, and employees that will lead to success and a better quality of life.” Prior to joining the MinnState (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities) system office, Dr. Mason served as Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at North Hennepin Community College, Academic Dean at Century College, Department Chair of Psychology at Clark Atlanta University, and as faculty at both community colleges and universities. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology [Cognitive and Biological (Brain) Sciences] from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Morris Brown College.
John Schlueter received a PhD in English Literature from Loyola University Chicago in 2006, taught at community colleges in Chicago, and has been an English instructor at Saint Paul Community and Technical College since 2016. He has published in several journals and magazines, most recently in Inside Higher Ed, Academe and Radical Teacher. He has been teaching developmental English courses and involved in developmental education reforms since beginning at SPC.
Saturday, April 1
Community Engagement as Necessity: Is the School a Part of Community or Is Community a Part of the School?
What does it mean to have community engagement? This audience-oriented plenary will discuss how and why schools are a part of community. During our 75 minutes, after the open discussion, the audience will be invited to participate in a facilitated experience with the goal of expanding our understanding and need for community engagement as we consider education and equity as a whole.
Dr. Taiyon J. Coleman is a writer, scholar, and educator. Her research focus includes U.S. American and African-American and African Diaspora literatures and cultures; film; gender and women’s studies; college composition and rhetoric; developmental writing; creative writing; education; assessment; and DEI consulting. Coleman’s book, co-authored with colleagues, Working toward Racial Equity in First-Year Composition, from the Routledge Research in Higher Education Series, was published in 2019. Dr. Coleman earned a BA in English Literature and a MA in English (Phi Kappa Phi and Ronald E. McNair Scholar) from Iowa State University, and she holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature and Culture with a minor in African American and African Diaspora Studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities as an Archie Givens Collection of African American Literature Research Fellow. Dr. Coleman is Associate Professor of English Literature and Women’s Studies at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and she is a University of Minnesota Libraries' Mapping Prejudice National Think Tank Affiliated Scholar. Her book collection of critical essays, Traveling without Moving, is forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press.
Ryuto Hashimoto is a senior undergraduate student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, majoring in an Interdisciplinary Studies Bachelor of Science: Multicultural Education, Nonprofit Leadership, and Communication Studies emphasis. While navigating the nontraditional degree, which covers both academic and practical knowledge, Ryuto has been an active student leader working with a local student advocacy nonprofit and the university community. He is also an undergraduate research assistant at the College of Education. In his work there, he is focusing on the intercultural competency of undergraduate students.
Dr. Carla-Elaine Johnson, MFA, PhD is an educator, scholar, and writer. Her research and teaching interests include Developmental Writing; Creative Writing; Graphic Novels and the Comic Book; Literary Translation; Silver Age, African American, and American Literature; Motherhood in Media and Literature; 19th and 20th Century Russian Literature; and Biblical Images in Literature. A past Givens Fellow and Loft Mentor Series Finalist, Johnson’s essays have appeared in the anthologies Bringing Race to the Table, Shades of Ritual: Minority Voices in Practice, and Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical. She is a frequent Minnesota State Arts Board Judge and Minnesota Book Awards Judge. A past mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Project, she is a current reviewer for Facing North and a monthly columnist for The Wild Hunt. Johnson earned an A.B. in International Relations and French at Randolph-Macon Women’s College (currently Randolph College), and C.A.S. in Translation from S.U.N.Y. Albany, a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota, and. a Ph.D. in Russian Literature and Language from the Ohio State University. She is a full-time English faculty member at Saint Paul College, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Ryuto Hashimoto is a senior undergraduate student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, majoring in an Interdisciplinary Studies Bachelor of Science: Multicultural Education, Nonprofit Leadership, and Communication Studies emphasis. While navigating the nontraditional degree, which covers both academic and practical knowledge, Ryuto has been an active student leader working with a local student advocacy nonprofit and the university community. He is also an undergraduate research assistant at the College of Education. In his work there, he is focusing on the intercultural competency of undergraduate students.
Dr. Carla-Elaine Johnson, MFA, PhD is an educator, scholar, and writer. Her research and teaching interests include Developmental Writing; Creative Writing; Graphic Novels and the Comic Book; Literary Translation; Silver Age, African American, and American Literature; Motherhood in Media and Literature; 19th and 20th Century Russian Literature; and Biblical Images in Literature. A past Givens Fellow and Loft Mentor Series Finalist, Johnson’s essays have appeared in the anthologies Bringing Race to the Table, Shades of Ritual: Minority Voices in Practice, and Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical. She is a frequent Minnesota State Arts Board Judge and Minnesota Book Awards Judge. A past mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Project, she is a current reviewer for Facing North and a monthly columnist for The Wild Hunt. Johnson earned an A.B. in International Relations and French at Randolph-Macon Women’s College (currently Randolph College), and C.A.S. in Translation from S.U.N.Y. Albany, a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota, and. a Ph.D. in Russian Literature and Language from the Ohio State University. She is a full-time English faculty member at Saint Paul College, in St. Paul, Minnesota.