The Wabash Center's Dialogue On Teaching

Eric Lewis Williams, Ph.D. is Director of the Office of Black Church Studies and Assistant Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School. 

Williams quotes Zora Neale Hurston, "I was born with God in my house." Hear a scholar's story of having been raised in a Pentecostal household, mentored into the scholarship of religion with no contradiction, and working as a professor, museum curator, and higher education administrator. Williams' journey is one of curiosity, boldness, and creativity.

Adam Bond, PhD is Associate Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Baylor University. 

Adam Bond, PhD is Associate Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Baylor University. 

Teaching to unlock new abilities to see. Imagining new futures, building new worlds, seeing new possibilities can be incorporated into our classrooms if teachers can unshackle their own creativity. Bond reflects on a recent Wabash cohort experience which challenged participants to move past nostalgia and toward the challenge of shaping of new futures.

Sailaja V. Krishnamurti, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Gender Studies  at Queen's University.

Sailaja V. Krishnamurti, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Gender Studies  at Queen's University.

A sabbatical provides precious time but also points to exploitation, exhaustion, and rage. What is a generative sabbatical, especially when resisting dehumanizing patterns of productivity? What kinds of synergies are needed for a healthy work rhythm that resists burnout? How do sabbaticals assist with returning us to classrooms when we are feeling more rested, more centered, more ourselves? 

Sharon Higginbothan, PhD is the Founder and Principle of the Higginbothan and Associates LLC where they do coaching, group facilitation, and consultation. She is also Adjunct Professor of Liberation and Womanist Theology at Chatham University. 

For those who feel disillusioned by the professorate - even when having had accomplishments, for those who have invested in individualism over and against community, for those who cannot see the violences inherit in grind culture - this conversation is for you. The key is reconnection to community. 

Sarah Farmer and Rachelle Green are Associate Directors for the Wabash Center. 

If teaching is not about control, what approach is better? How do you create an environment for learning which takes into consideration the entire experience of the student? What is the prerequisite of learning for adult students? What does it mean to create an arc of learning across an entire semester? What kind of intentionality is needed to foster impactful learning experiences? 

Dr. Shatavia Wynn is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. 

Sharon Higginbothan, PhD is the Founder and Principle of the Higginbothan and Associates LLC where they do coaching, group facilitation, and consultation. She is also Adjunct Professor of Liberation and Womanist Theology at Chatham University. 

When we work until we are physically, mentally, and spiritually sick we are participating in being exploited by grind culture. When is enough enough? Sabbath (ceasing) might be a practice to lower fear, anxiety, and rage. What happens when you do not have the bandwidth to get through the day or the semester? What help is there for surviving grind culture? 

Dr. Shatavia Wynn is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. 

Our communities form us, but effort (to say nothing of time and distance) may be required to understand how. Wynn's folks taught through care, deep listening and storytelling. Wynn discusses the realization of just how formative those relationships are to current teaching approaches now and into the future.