Community Colleges and the Future of the Humanities

Centers for Teaching and Learning play significant roles in the academic and administrative lives of campuses across CUNY and beyond. They support new and experienced faculty, advise departments on curriculum and evaluation, work closely with students and staff on a range of projects, and help envision, articulate, and enact administrative priorities for the campus. They are regularly the locus of experimentation and community around instructional practices, and the most effective and responsive Centers are built in dialogue with the varying constituencies that they serve. As such, these Centers often combine a common set of core services with unique characteristics that reflect how they are positioned on their specific campuses.

In this session, the directors of five CUNY CTLs — three community colleges, one senior college, and one graduate school — will discuss the structures and activities of their Centers, with specific attention to how their work supports instruction in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. They will then think together and with attendees about how specific trends at CUNY, such as Pathways, investments in educational technology and open educational resources, and evolving understandings about accessibility and inclusion necessarily impact the work they do.