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Dear Colleagues,
I look forward to seeing all of you at the college meeting this afternoon, where we will begin our conversation by refocusing on our mission.
This agenda item was prompted in part by what we heard from our Student Advisory Board at our first meeting with them last week. The 40-student group expressed their pride in their college and their deep appreciation for the faculty and staff. They also came with a desire to make a positive impact on the CHSS student experience. Course scheduling was a major theme. The second theme was their desire for much more active intellectual and social engagement.
Paradoxically, as they wanted more engagement, they pointed to the high number of events as a challenge. They find it difficult to choose which event to attend and are disappointed and a bit out of place when the events they do attend are very lightly attended.
This struck a chord with me because it touches on the very essence of the promise of a university: a place where students engage with the most consequential issues in an environment where their curiosity is nurtured, their thinking challenged, their imagination stretched, and their worldview expanded. In his memoir, Nicholas Dirks uses "City of Intellect" (also the title of the book) to describe this somewhat utopian view of the university. This is what I heard our students wanting and wanting more of.
I see two facets of the students' concerns that are actionable. The first is the number and specialized nature of our events. We have vibrant intellectual activity in this college, but when it's distributed into many smaller specialized events, we may be diluting our collective impact. Dirks warns that a "preoccupation with the professionalized trappings of disciplinary knowledge only [makes] the university less intellectually adventurous than it should, and could, have been." We can all benefit from coming together across disciplines and across areas to tackle the issues our students feel most urgency for.
The second facet, a consequence of the first, is our presence and participation. I know how busy you all are, attending events, mentoring students beyond class time, creating community. And I know that workload pressures are very real. We face the same dilemma as our students: we cannot be everywhere. This is an invitation to think strategically about how we spend our limited time and energy to maximize our collective presence and impact. It's an opportunity to examine whether our current patterns of engagement, both in how we organize events and how we participate in them, are serving our students as well as they could.
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We speak with our feet.
When we are collectively absent from events that are strategic expressions of our mission and our university, even when we have very good reasons, we send a subtle but unintended message about what we value and what we prioritize. If we want our students to believe that this community is a "City of Intellect," that values what it advertises, we must be very deliberate and find ways to be present in its public squares, even amidst competing demands.
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I don't have all the answers, but I want to explore these questions with you and see how the dean's office can actively support you in creating fewer but larger, more vibrant moments of engagement. How can we ensure that when our university gathers to address matters of public purpose, the CHSS community is there in force, leading by example?
See you all this afternoon.
Best regards,
Fatma
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English Department Welcomes Author Mira Jacobs
Mira Jacob will offer a few words about the importance of literature in our contemporary moment before reading from her new book. A Q&A will follow the reading. Mira is the author of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing (2014) and Good Talk (2019) as well as the forthcoming We Killed Anji Alexander. Good Talk was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and it was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Time, and other prestigious publications.
Date: Tuesday, February 10, from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., SBUS Room 140
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Psychology Lab Open House
The event is open to undergraduate and graduate students at Montclair and Bloomfield, and it gives students the opportunity to obtain more information about our labs/clinics and explore what they actually do. This is also a great opportunity to see which labs/clinics they may want to work with and which are hiring additional research assistants. Share with your students!
Date: Wednesday, February 11, from 12:00-3:00 p.m.
Students can register in Handshake
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Being Multilingual is my Superpower
Join us in celebration of International Mother Languages Day. Enjoy, panel discussions, networking opportunities, activity tables and opportunities to speak your mother language. If you have any questions, please contact Maisa Taha or Antonella Calarota.
Date: February 18, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 1st Floor Reading Room, Sprague Library
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4th Annual Legislative Breakfast Addressing Human Trafficking in New Jersey: Law, Policy, and Practice
Hosted by the Global Center on Human Trafficking, the Legislative Breakfast unites policymakers, advocates, survivor leaders, and community stakeholders to drive meaningful dialogue and action on human trafficking law, policy and practice. This year’s theme, “Human Trafficking at the Intersection of Sports” highlights the urgent issues hidden behind the spectacle of global sporting events like the FIFA World Cup. From labor exploitation in stadium construction and hospitality to increased sex trafficking during major tournaments, the convergence of sports and trafficking demands both urgent attention and policy-driven solutions.
Date: Friday, February 20, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., University Hall 7th Floor
Register to Attend
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This event is ideal for graduate and undergraduate students seeking jobs and internships in: Counseling, Child Advocacy, Justice Studies, Social Work, Political Science, Psychology and so much more!
Date: Tuesday, February 24, 3:30 - 6:30 p.m
Share with your students!
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After a decade in photography and fashion, Sociology major Horatio Wauchope is channeling his artistic background into a more focused second act, powered by financial support and Uber shifts between classes.
Read More
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To mark the beginning of Black History Month, the campus community gathered at the Student Center flagpole on Wednesday, February 1, celebrating with an opening program that included a flag-raising ceremony and presentations about historical Black leaders. At the program following the flag-raising, Professor Leslie Wilson discussed the origins of Black History Month and Professors Saundra Collins and Sandra Lewis were among many who presented information about Black leaders through history.
Celebrations continue throughout the month with a series of events and programs including art and museum exhibits and film screenings and discussions on a variety of social justice issues supported by the African American Studies program, the African American Caucus, the Black Alumni Advisory Council and a coalition of campus partners.
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James Woodard (History) contributed to an article for Jacobin about military dictatorships in South America.
Francesca Laguardia (Justice Studies) is quoted in this Talking Points Memo article about how the Department of Justice has changed how it uses the terrorism statute under the Trump Administration.
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CHSS Dean Search: Your Input Needed
The Search Committee and WittKieffer team invite your feedback to help shape the leadership profile for this search. Your input will guide the development of the public profile used to attract and evaluate candidates. We look forward to your insights as we seek the future leadership of our college.
Faculty Upskilling with Coursera
This past summer, the university partnered with Coursera to provide supplemental learning resources for our courses. As part of this agreement, Coursera has allocated a limited number of licenses for faculty to access their full catalog for professional development, referred to as “faculty upskilling.”
This is a great opportunity to explore topics such as AI, project management, data analytics and visualization, and more. If you’d like access to this extensive catalog for your own learning, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/xDofPhrXhQqtp2u2A.
Licenses are limited, so we encourage you to apply soon!
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Join an AI Reading List
AJ Kelton is curating a living document of articles on AI in the humanities, social sciences, and/or pedagogy. The document is searchable and each entry includes a citation and a 150-word AI-generated synopsis, organized by topic headings.
If you’d like access to view the document, please complete this form.
Those with access receive a brief update on Fridays listing new articles added that week, including the citation and a 50-word summary.
CHSS Resource Guide
This guide is designed to support our faculty, instructors, and staff by providing quick access to the tools, policies, and information you need to carry out your work effectively. Inside, you’ll find resources on office operations, administrative processes, technology support, and campus services all in one place. Whether you’re new or a tenured colleague, this guide will help you throughout the academic year. If you have a question and cannot find the answer in this guide, or don’t know who to contact, start with the Administrative Services Team.
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