College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter

Volume 2, Number 12, December 2014

Geraldine Gamburd's Commitment to Learning

Michele Gamburd, Anthropology Professor and Chair at Portland State University, learned many life lessons from her mother, the late Geraldine Gamburd. Geraldine, UMass Dartmouth's Professor Emerita of Anthropology, taught Michele to be kind and firm. "My mom was kind and confident," Michele said. "And she was confident enough to know she didn't have to win every battle."

There was one battle that Geraldine did win. At UMass Dartmouth, Geraldine played a role in decentering authority within the classroom. The Circle of Learning, found outside the Liberal Arts building, was built as a symbol of community, connectedness, and equality. It reminded the community that authoritarian power should not exist within the classroom. "My mom was someone who had a passion for what academic knowledge can do," Michele said. "She wanted to make the world a better place."

Before her death, Geraldine and her daughter discussed the possibility of establishing an endowment fund in the Professor Emerita's honor. "We thought it would be a good," Michele said. "My mom was committed to the idea."

After her mother died, Michele established the Geraldine Gamburd Memorial Student Endowment Fund in Umass Dartmouth's Sociology/Anthropology department. The fund will be used to help support the academic journey of deserving Sociology/Anthropology students. "The perfect recipient would be a student who is deeply interested in the making the world a better place," Michele said.

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Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad

As a former buckeye, UMass Dartmouth's History Professor,

Timothy Walker, was unaware of the rich history hiding in New Bedford, Massachusetts. But his involvement with the "Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad" summer program changed all of that. "I'm not from here, so it is a huge learning process for me to master this," Walker said. "It gives me great pride to teach New Bedford's story."

Indeed, New Bedford has a unique story to tell. The city is well-known for its whaling and maritime industry. However, little is known about the city as a safe haven for runaway slaves. In the nineteenth century, fugitive slaves sought freedom, and they found opportunities aboard New Bedford's whaling ships. "The city today focuses on the whaling past," Walker said. "They do not focus on this particular dimension."

In 2015, "Sailing to Freedom" will again focus on teaching New Bedford's secrets. For the third time, the program has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. Directed by Professor Walker and organized by Lee Blake, the program runs two weeklong workshops for K-12 teachers. Local curators, archivists, and librarians provide the teachers with extraordinary archives that help tell New Bedford's untold story as a historical landmark for Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad. As the teachers learn, they share. "They act as seeds," Walker said. "They share the knowledge."

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Uncovering Potential Through Research

Cedric Houtman's grandmother has a scrapbook filled with the usual paper mementos. But it also has something a little unusual - an award-winning research paper. Houtman, a senior Sociology major, wrote a research paper about the emotional value of his grandmother's house for his seminar course, "Objects of Desire, Commodities of Consumption." And his paper won the Kingston-Mann Student Achievement Award for Student Contributions to Diversity and Inclusion. "I was shocked that I had won," Houtman said. "I never thought of myself as a competitive learner before."

The Kingston-Mann Student Achievement Awards acknowledge students who expand on current ideas and experiences and connect them using interdisciplinary approaches and analysis. Each year, the Kingston-Mann Awards choose three winners from eight area universities. "The first people I told when I won were my mother and grandmother," Houtman said. "I had no idea what a big deal it was."

The award turned out to be a really big deal. Before winning the award, Houtman saw himself as a quiet, reflective learner. He didn't think he was the type of student that would be noticed for his work. But now it has left his family and himself very proud. "This award has displayed my shining light within," Houtman said. "It has also left my family extremely proud and has left me proud of myself."

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