Professional Development
HECUA specializes in an experiential, learner-centered approach that connects students, faculty and institutions of higher education with communities.
HECUA provides faculty and staff development on a contract basis to institutions seeking to expand their visions of higher education and democracy. HECUA has experience in delivering high quality professional education programs in a variety of areas such as foundations of experiential education, diversity and higher education, civic engagement and community collaboration, student-centered teaching, transformative pedagogies, service-learning and social justice, arts and social change, humanities and experiential education, public art, and environmental sciences and experiential education. HECUA offers professional education in the Twin Cities, Ecuador, Norway, and Northern Ireland.
HECUA can work with individuals, campus offices, or specific departments to develop programs specifically for both faculty and larger institutions. Recent programs have included multi-day workshops on integrating community-based experiential education into existing or new courses; a two-week immersion in one of our sites; and multi-year, multi-faceted efforts to develop curriculum and support for diversity, civic engagement, service learning or other institutional needs.
Examples of Professional Education Programs
Professional Development Seminars
University of St. Thomas
Over multiple days in the early summer, these HECUA workshops engage faculty and staff in conversation with community leaders and organizations.
2011: "Hungering for Justice in the Twin Cities." Food, hunger, and justice, and ways to connect with communities and community organizations working on a spectrum of issues related to food, including food access, sustainable and local food production, and hunger relief.
2010: Stewardship of the Commons: Reclaiming the "We." The land, water, and cultural spaces we share: how to help students think about how to be stewards of what we hold in common--both the depletable resources of our planet and the cultural resources of communities.
2009: Social Entrepreneurship and Justice in the Twin Cities. Individuals and groups making change, from small businesses in the East African community to groups seeking to ensure the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit project serves all.
2007 and 2008: Exploring the Intercultural in the Twin Cities. Ethnic communities, race and racial dynamics in the Twin Cities.
Macalester Urban Faculty Seminar
In collaboration with Macalester faculty and staff, HECUA provided multi-day seminars in 2005 and 2006 to introduce faculty to a variety of methods of community engagement and to provoke discussion of ethical and epistemological considerations about how faculty, staff, and students from an elite institution can enter communities.
Teaching and Learning in the City
St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College and HECUA worked in partnership on a three-year project designed to develop first-year seminars that explore the role of experience in education, provide first-hand experience with issues of diversity and make connections between global and local. The core of the work is the development of a series of courses for first-year students that give students direct experience with a wide range of people, cultures and issues. HECUA facilitates the "urban immersion" experiences in the Twin Cities as part of the courses and works with faculty ahead of time to design courses with intentional experiences and social-justice frameworks.
Service-Learning for Social Justice in Northern Ireland Gustavus Adolphus College
A group of faculty and administrators from Gustavus Adolphus College attended a week-long seminar entitled "Service Learning for Social Justice" at HECUA¹s site in Northern Ireland (UNESCO Center). HECUA program directors worked closely with Gustavus faculty in a retreat-like setting exploring issues in Northern Ireland and developing service-learning courses. Participants also focused on creating a seminar to continue conversations back on campus toward better connecting students and courses to social themes using experiential and service learning as a tool for teaching.
Best Practices of Experiential Education
Williams College
Following the Williams-HECUA J-Term "Experiencing Guatemala" in 2001, HECUA has provided two one-day faculty development seminars at Williams. The first was a short seminar on the best practices of experiential education and theories of learning that guide best practices of teaching. The second seminar focused on experiential education and curriculum design funded through the campus-based Gaudino Scholars money. Similar programs have been conducted by Augustana College, Macalester College and the University of Minnesota.
Group Wheels: Exploring Public Art and Social Change
St. Catherine University
HECUA provided a one-day urban immersion program to the School of Social Work. This art tour highlighted public works in the Longfellow, Capitol Hill, and West Side neighborhoods of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The program was funded through a Bush Foundation grant focused on community collaboration and issues of diversity on campus and focused on the use of public art as a vehicle for social change.
Diversity and Democracy: Can it Work?
Lutheran College Consortium, Teagle Foundation Grant
A summer workshop designed and led by HECUA staff included a "mobile workshop" that guided participants in learning to read the urban landscape. It included field experiences and interaction with a variety of community artists and organizers. Faculty, staff and students from St. Olaf, Luther, Concordia-Moorhead, and Gustavus Adolphus Colleges took up important questions of diversity and higher education. This workshop was part of the Lutheran College Consortium work on diversity.
