The Critical Skills Classroom was founded forty years ago. This approach to classroom teaching pulls together experiential learning, cycles of action and reflection, and the cultivation of emotional intelligence. But today’s guest, Laura Thomas, says that the Critical Skills Classroom is still in some ways a secret—a good idea that more people should know about. That’s part of why she is marking the anniversary by releasing a 400-page book about the approach: The Complete Guide to the Critical Skills Classroom. In this conversation we talk with Laura about why the approach is more relevant today than ever, why cycles of action and reflection are so important, and what she sees for the future of this approach—and public education as a whole.

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Learn more about the Critical Skills Classroom at the Critical Skills Classroom website. This resource contains free lesson plans, e-books, an FAQ, and more.

The book Laura edited is The Complete Guide to the Critical Skills Classroom. It is available on Amazon in hardcover, softcover, and e-book editions.

If you enjoyed this episode, consider listening to our 2022 Seed Field Podcast interview with Laura Thomas, “To Grow Emotional Literacy, a Classroom Must Become a Community.”

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This episode was recorded June 24, 2025 via Squadcast and released July 30, 2025. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Producer: Karen Hamilton

Work-Study Assistants: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner.  

Additional Production Help: Jen Mont, Amelia Bryan, Melinda Garland, and Laurien Alexandre.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

Surveys show that almost half of bisexual folks report experiencing moderate to severe psychological distress in the last year. These rates are roughly double that of straight, gay, and lesbian populations. So why isn’t it being treated as a crisis? In this conversation with the psychologist and researcher Rachel Chickerella, we discuss this mental health crisis; the many factors leading to it; how everyone, and especially mental health professionals, can be bi-affirming; and why it’s important both to face the crisis and, at the same time, to celebrate bi+ joy.

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Visit Antioch’s website to learn more about the PsyD in Clinical Psychology that Rachel teaches in. 

You can read our recent profile of Rachel on Common Thread, “PsyD Core Faculty Helps Students Challenge Power Structures and Bi+ Stigma.”

Rachel’s recent publications include “Is It Worth It? A Grounded Theory Analysis of Navigating the Decision to Come Out as Bisexual,” “Predictors of Psychological Distress for Bi+ Individuals during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” and “Janelle Monáe vs. Katy Perry: Depiction of Bi+ Identities and Relationship to Depression and Stigma.” You can read Rachel’s faculty bio to find more of her scholarship.

Rachel’s own podcast is Reality Test. She co-hosts it with her fellow PsyD faculty member Kate Evarts. (Learn more about Evarts in our Common Thread profile, “For Kate Evarts, Relationships Are ‘The Key to Working Toward Social and Racial justice’”)

This episode was recorded April 10, 2025 via Squadcast and released May 14, 2025. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Team: Jen Mont, Amelia Bryan, and Jonathan Hawkins.

Work-Study Assistants: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Melinda Garland, and Laurien Alexandre.

To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

Today, Antioch University is announcing our next President: Lori Erica Varlotta. In preparation for this announcement, we sat down with Lori for a wide-ranging conversation about what makes Antioch special, her experiences and wisdom drawn from decades as a leader in higher education, and the challenges and opportunities that she, as our next university leader, sees for our institution during a time when colleges and universities across the U.S. are being pressured and threatened in unprecedented ways.

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To learn more about Lori, visit the Incoming President webpage on Antioch’s website, where you’ll find the announcement and welcome video, press release, a brief bio, her CV, selected publications, and a form where you can leave a note for the Incoming President. 

The two essays referenced in the episode are “Lipstick Leadership in Higher Education” at the Chronicle of Higher Education and Lori’s blog post on “Experiential Adult Education: Living and Practicing Democracy in Higher Learning.”

This episode was recorded April 28, 2025 via Squadcast and released May 7, 2025. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Assistants: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner. 

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton, Melinda Garland, and Laurien Alexandre.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

Our society places high value on advanced degrees. So what happens when students are able to claim the growth experiences that naturally occur in the course of a human life—from a career change to an experience of oppression—and bring it into their graduate studies, not just reflecting on what they learned but also earning credits towards their degree? This practice, known as Prior Learning Assessment, has transformative potential, says today’s guest, longtime Antioch faculty member Joe Cronin. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the nuts and bolts of Prior Learning Assessment, examples of how students have used this in their studies, and the educational philosophy that disrupts the teacher-student hierarchy.

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Visit Antioch’s website to learn more about the Individualized Master of Arts program. You can also read our page about Prior Learning Assessment. And you can read the profiles of two IMA alums here: “A Champion for Peace,” which is about President José Ramos-Horta, and “For Emma Lombardi, Individualized Study Meant Listening to Her Ancestors.”

This episode was recorded March 24, 2025 via Squadcast and released April 16, 2025. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Assistants: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Melinda Garland, and Laurien Alexandre.

To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

Therapy is so often based around conversation and storytelling that it’s been called “the talking cure.” But recently, mental health professionals have been finding healing power in asking their clients to write down their stories. Can keeping a journal, writing a memoir, or otherwise engaging in “expressive writing” help heal the wounds in our minds? In this conversation with Stephen Southern we talk about trauma, complex PTSD, and whether expressive writing” might offer effective treatment that not only heals past wounds but protects against future ones.

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Visit Antioch’s website to learn more about the programs Stephen teaches in: the low-residency MA in Clinical Psychology, the full-residency MA in Clinical Psychology on our Los Angeles campus, and the MA in Clinical Psychology based on our Santa Barbara campus. You can also explore the PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision based out of our Seattle Campus. 

You can find Stephen’s latest paper, “Trauma Autoethnography as a Therapy Process” in the Journal of Loss and Trauma.

This episode mentions somatic therapy, a concept expanded on in a previous episode of the Seed Field Podcast: “Using Somatic Therapy to Understand the Trauma in Our Bodies” with Rachele Moskowitz.

This episode was recorded March 26, 2025 via Squadcast and released April 2, 2025. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Assistants: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Melinda Garland, and Laurien Alexandre.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

When people mention Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—DEI for short—it’s often in the context of political fights and high-stakes arguments about what universities should and shouldn’t be allowed to do. But what if we backed up and asked, What is the positive case for DEI in higher education? For this episode, we talk to Stephanie Helms Pickett, a scholar and administrator who currently serves as Antioch University’s Vice Chancellor of Equity, Belonging, and Culture. The conversation includes a definition of terms, why universities have an obligation to help all students have a fair chance to compete, and a story about Stephanie’s shocking experience meeting her first college roommate.

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Visit Antioch’s website to learn more about the Office of Equity, Belonging, and Culture. 

Read Jasper’s interview with Stephanie from last year on Common Thread. 

Stephanie’s latest academic paper is “Say It Loud: Rhythms of Resistance in a Climate of Compliance: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Identity Based Student Center Staff Amid an Anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Legislative Climate,” in the Journal of College and Character. 

This episode was recorded February 25, 2025 via Squadcast and released March 19, 2025. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Assistants: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Melinda Garland, and Laurien Alexandre.

To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

Five librarians discuss questions of democracy, censorship, libraries, and books. The panelists—Antioch’s Jen Sturge and Miranda Doyle, incoming AASL President Becky Calzada, 2023 Maryland School Librarian of the Year Sheri Anita Massey, and U of Baltimore librarian Allison Jennings-Roche—discuss how librarians can best serve students in the current political reality, the duty to present a wide variety a viewpoints, and best practices in resisting attempts to destroy public libraries entirely. “This is actually the first time that it's been criminalized for librarians and library workers to do their jobs,” says Jennings-Roche. “This is the first time we have ever been under threat of going to jail for providing access to materials.”

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To learn more about this event and the larger Antioch Works for Democracy initiative, visit the Antioch Works for Democracy libguide. You can also watch a full-length video recording of the event on our YouTube channel.

If you enjoyed this conversation, you may want to listen to our interview with Jen Sturge and Christie Kaaland, “S6 E10: Facing Book Bans and Budget Pressure, School Librarians Show Their Importance”

This panel discussion was recorded as part of the Antioch Works for Democracy speaker series on September 24, 2024 via Zoom. It was released on December 4, 2024. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University.

Guest Host: Nastasia Green

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Interns: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Grace Kurfman, Dani LaPointe, Liza Wisner, Natalie Obando, and Diana Dinerman.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Amelia Bryan, Adrienne Applegate, Jamila Gaskin, Harold Hale, Margaret Morgan, Laurien Alexandre, and Melinda Garland.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

For both Judy Richardson and David Goodman, 1964 was a pivotal year. That year, Judy moved to Mississippi to help organize “Freedom Summer,” the famous drive to register Black voters in the heart of the Jim Crow South—work that led her to a career as a civil rights-focused activist, filmmaker, and educator. Meanwhile, 1964 touched David’s life in a more tragic way: during a trip to Mississippi, his brother Andrew and two fellow civil rights activists were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. David has spent much of the intervening decades working to honor his brother’s memory and fulfill American democracy’s promise through the Andrew Goodman Foundation. In this conversation, moderated by Janet Dewart Bell, Judy and David talk about their experiences, their decades of activist work since, and the lessons that today’s activists can draw on. As the U.S. grapples with the outcome of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election and what this will mean for civil rights and democracy, this conversation offers hard-won wisdom—and reasons for hope.

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To learn more about this event and the larger Antioch Works for Democracy initiative, visit the Antioch Works for Democracy libguide. You can also watch a full-length video recording of the event on our YouTube channel.

This panel discussion was recorded as part of the Antioch Works for Democracy speaker series on October 21, 2024 via Zoom. It was released on November 15, 2024. 

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Interns: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Grace Kurfman, Dani LaPointe, Liza Wisner, Taiwana Shambley, Natalie Obando, and Diana Dinerman.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Amelia Bryan, Adrienne Applegate, Jamila Gaskin, Harold Hale, Margaret Morgan, Laurien Alexandre, and Melinda Garland.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

Black women have long stood at the crossroads of democracy and liberation. Their voices, advocacy, and resilience have driven progress toward equity and justice, yet the full acknowledgment of their contributions remains elusive. In this wide-ranging conversation, three formidable leaders—Judge Ashleigh Parker, Judge Faye R. Chess, and Cassandra Stokes—come together to share their experiences and wisdom in a conversation moderated by Stephanie Helms Pickett, Antioch’s Vice Chancellor for Equity, Belonging, and Culture. They discuss the challenges and rewards of fighting for our democracy despite facing stereotypes, patriarchy, misogyny, and misogynoir.

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To learn more about this event and the larger Antioch Works for Democracy initiative, visit the Antioch Works for Democracy libguide. You can also watch a full-length video recording of the event on our YouTube channel.

Visit Antioch’s university news website, Common Thread, to read our interview with Stephanie Helms Pickett.

We invite you to listen to some of our previous conversations with Black leaders at Antioch: 

• S5 E4: Centuries of Oppression Built the Racial Wealth Gap. Can Black Entrepreneurs Heal It?
• S3 E5: We Need to Face Racism. Womanism Offers a Path Towards Healing.
• S6 E7: School Counselors Play a Vital Role, Schools Need to Let Them Do Their Jobs

This panel discussion was recorded as part of the Antioch Works for Democracy speaker series on September 17, 2024 via Zoom. It was released on October 23, 2024.

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor and Guest Host: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Interns: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Grace Kurfman, Dani LaPointe, Liza Wisner, Taiwana Shambley, Natalie Obando, and Diana Dinerman.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Amelia Bryan, Adrienne Applegate, Jamila Gaskin, Harold Hale, Margaret Morgan, Laurien Alexandre, and Melinda Garland.

To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.

How do we make art in times of oppression? Do artists have a responsibility to explore questions of democracy, censorship, and human rights? In this conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen talks with poet and Antioch faculty member Cathy Linh Che about their experiences of democracy as Vietnamese American immigrant writers whose work engages vistas of American democracy amidst the legacy and representations of the Vietnam War. Listen to this edited version of their live conversation in the Antioch Works for Democracy speaker series to hear their ideas about immigrant identities, the after-effects of war, and the role of artists and writers inside of our societies.

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To learn more about this event and the larger Antioch Works for Democracy initiative, visit the Antioch Works for Democracy libguide. You can also watch a full-length video recording of the event on our Youtube channel.

Visit Antioch’s website to learn more about the MFA in Creative Writing program that Cathy Linh Che teaches in. 

To hear more voices from the Antioch MFA, you can listen to our roundup episode, Big Idea: How Creative Writers Work, and our interview with MFA Chair Lisa Locascio Nighthawk, S5 E9: Creative Writing Offers a Chance to Take Yourself Seriously.

We invite you to read the books mentioned in this episode, including An Asian American A to Z: A Children's Guide to Our History and Split by Cathy Linh and The Sympathizer: A Novel and A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

This conversation between Viet Thanh Nguyen and Cathy Linh Che was recorded as part of the Antioch Works for Democracy speaker series on September 5, 2024 via Zoom. It was released on October 9, 2024.

The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University

Host: Jasper Nighthawk

Editor: Nastasia Green

Web Content Coordinator: Jen Mont

Work-Study Interns: Stefanie Paredes, Lauren Arienzale, Grace Kurfman, Dani LaPointe, Liza Wisner, Taiwana Shambley, Natalie Obando, and Diana Dinerman.  

Additional Production Help: Karen Hamilton,  Amelia Bryan, Adrienne Applegate, Jamila Gaskin, Harold Hale, Margaret Morgan, Laurien Alexandre, and Melinda Garland.

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To access a full transcript and find more information about this and other episodes, visit theseedfield.org. To get updates and be notified about future episodes, follow Antioch University on Facebook.