Featured Stories

During summer 2020, Professor Shaohua Guo worked on two projects exploring digital media in China. “Streaming China in Times of Precarity” focused on live streaming and short form videos and the conflicting narratives they inspire in China, while “Chinese Classical Tales” explored modern adaptations of classic Chinese tales. While working with two student researchers, Professor Guo not only examined culture and connection in digital media, but also experienced firsthand how digital media can helped foster a sense of connection, particularly in the midst of a pandemic.

In recent years, Carleton has seen an enormous growth in the offerings of Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) classes from across the curriculum. In order to ensure responsible, reciprocal, and productive relationships with community partners and our community at large, the Public Works Initiative sponsored a team of Carleton faculty and staff, who gathered (virtually) in early June to discuss how community and civic engagement at Carleton can be improved and deepened to further student success and learning. They attended the Association of American Colleges & Universities 2020 Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success: Enhancing Institutional Capacity for Quality, Equity, and Student Engagement.

Carleton’s Clara Posner ’22 (Psychology) is a recipient of the 2020-2021 Imagining America/Joy of Giving Something, Inc. Fellowship. Posner is one of eight undergraduate recipients from Imagining America member institutions…

Professor Thabiti Willis is embarking upon an ambitious new project, titled “Birmingham, the Johannesburg of the South: Visualizing Historical Geographies of Race and Demographic Change in the United States and South Africa,” that utilizes a transnational approach to explore racial geographies with a team of domestic and international collaborators.

In a conversation with Kou Okada ’22 for Carleton Now, 2Fik discusses his life, his residency, his identity, Northfield, and his thought-provoking and often controversial artworks.

Can you teach the history of the US-Mexico borderlands in a southern Minnesota community? For History 275: US-Mexican Border History, Professor Elena McGrath combined traditional classroom learning and community-based student research. Focusing on local issues of inequalities in housing, healthcare, and education, students made connections with residents and local organizations to create maps and other resources on these issues. While a history course focused on the US/Mexico border may not immediately present itself as a candidate for academic civic engagement, for Professor McGrath it was not only possible but an important aspect of her own goals as a scholar and educator.

Over the past two years, assistant professor of music Andrea Mazzariello has facilitated artistic collaborations between Carleton students and young people from the greater Northfield community.

During Winter 2019, multiple grant awardees including Kelly Connole (Studio Art), Ross Elfline (Art and Art History) and Andrea Mazzariello (Music) conducted art collaborations that involved local artists as much as students on campus.

During her twelve years at Carleton, Associate Professor of Dance Judith Howard has observed the dynamic conversations around understanding gender, and has witnessed gender become something more than political. For many in our community, gender has become publicly personal. Through her dance piece Central Supply, Professor Howard invites the public to explore the idea of gender, conceptions of identity, and what it means to find refuge in and from our society.

In her course Songs of Love, State, and Self, Professor Megan Sarno invites students to share their musical knowledge and creativity through public-facing podcasts. She has built her course around traditional music analysis and academic research, while also integrating digital tools and a web platform for students to share their work, making this class a good example of Digital Humanities across campus. Through research, reflection, and experimentation, students in this course will produce thoughtful and entertaining podcasts about music.