Faculty from five ACM colleges will get an inside view of the ACM off-campus program in London, plus seats at the Globe Theatre for a performance of The Tempest, during a faculty site visit on April 29-May 2.
The group will also join the students currently on the program as they explore the city with instructor Andrew Kennedy in the London as Visual Text course and view a theatre history exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and will meet with program staff and the spring 2013 Visiting Faculty Director, English professor Mark Z. Muggli from Luther College.
Students visiting the Globe Theatre in London.
Photo courtesy of Kelsey Hall
On the London & Florence: Arts in Context program, students split the semester between the two cities as they take interdisciplinary courses focused on the arts and history. Frequent on-site classes and field trips are supplemented by a wide variety of theatre performances in London – part of the Visiting Director’s course – and a home stay and conversational Italian class in Florence.
The faculty participating in the site visit are:
- Nancy Barry, Professor of English, Luther College;
- Terry Boychuk, Associate Professor of Sociology, Macalester College;
- Bridget Draxler, Assistant Professor of English, Monmouth College;
- Kenneth Hill, Professor of Theatre, Ripon College; and
- Karen Marsalek, Associate Professor of English, St. Olaf College.
The visitors will contribute to the program’s curriculum, as well, with each leading a class presentation and discussion on a topic that ties in with what the students have been studying in London. Hill and Marsalek will discuss aspects of Shakespeare’s works, since the students will have seen The Tempest, Macbeth, and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s As You Like It, and Draxler will talk about London theatre during the 19th century theatre. To complement the students’ writing assignments, Barry plans to lead a session on creative non-fiction, and Boychuk will focus on ways that students might apply a sociological viewpoint in their study of British art, architecture, and theatre.
To round out their visit, the faculty, several of whom have led student groups to London, will discuss the pedagogy of supporting experiential learning in a session titled “The Professional and Pedagogical Impact of Leading Study Abroad Programs: Testimonials and Speculation.”
Steven Marc Weiss, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Coe College, will join the site visit as part of his preparation to serve as ACM’s Visiting Faculty Director in London next spring.
The Faculty Site Visits Program is designed to facilitate faculty development, particularly in making professional contacts at program sites and engaging with ACM off-campus programs. Each semester, the program sponsors a trip to one of the consortial program sites, which include Chicago, Botswana, Tanzania, Costa Rica, India, Italy, and the U.K. Faculty at ACM colleges who are tenured, tenure-track, or in other continuing appointments may apply for the program. ACM covers expenses for transportation, lodging, and meals.
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