Dear Campus Communities,

Thank you for attending the 15^th Annual Provost's Summit on Teaching and Learning.  We welcomed community members from all three campuses as well as those who chose to attend via livestream. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. conceived of activism and societal transformation as leading to a “beloved community” within which poverty, violence and racism and other identity-based hatreds would find no home. Currently, students are dreaming of just such a community.

Bringing together national, state and local experts, this panel explores what students are demanding of Universities and the strengths and values they are bringing with them from their cultures. Speakers will also focus on the many challenges facing students in these dangerous times of assaults, bans, detentions and deportations, and threats to fundamental human rights.

The panel will provide insights into the supports, resources and tools that 21^st century students are looking for and ways our community can ensure their safety, success and sense of belonging.  

Focusing specifically on students of color, trans and nonbinary students, and immigrant and refugee students, our experts will promote new ways of approaching today’s students to ensure the opportunities we offer them match their rightfully audacious dreams.

Hmong students who endured racist attacks in the Spring responded by calling for a more inclusive campus and for non-Hmong students to be educated about Hmong ways of knowing, culture and history. One way students’ vision has been answered is that a group of students, staff and instructors who have been collaboratively working together since 2018 to develop the Hmong Studies Certificate have been given the green light to implement the program on campus. To meet student activists’ call as well as their own vision for the campus, the leaders of the Hmong Studies Certificate invite you to increase focus on the Hmong in your course or develop a brand new course centered on the Hmong.

Dr. Chia Youyee Vang, renowned historian on the Hmong experience in Laos, Thailand, and the United States, will lead this workshop. In this workshop, you will discover resources and build your understanding of issues and ethics related to infusing into your courses the histories, cultures, contemporary issues, experiences and perspectives of Hmong people.

On student panel after student panel over the last five years, a wide range of students have called on our campus community to create a more welcoming climate. They shared their experiences of having their identities, cultures and/or needs excluded on campus. They asked us to make visible the experiences, histories, and/or cultures of people like them both on campus and in the classroom. And, they dreamed of our teaching them in engaging, accessible and culturally responsive ways.

This campus roundtable discussion answers that call. Leaders on inclusive and equitable practices and pedagogies will share their best ideas for transforming the student experience, ones that you'll be able to implement the next day. Students themselves will tell stories of classroom innovations that inspired and motivated them. And, we ask that you, too, bring your own best tips to share on how to create radical inclusion and equity!

Join Dr. Ulrich Rosenhagen and Student Interfaith Fellows from the UW Madison Center for Religion and Global Citizenry for a discussion on how we can engage with religion and religious differences in the 21st Century.

We live in a world where religious illiteracy is widespread. A February 2019 Pew Research survey found that the average American scored a 43% on a basic religious literacy quiz. One of the most disturbing consequences of this religious illiteracy is that it can lead to prejudice, bias, and even violence. The November 2018 FBI Report on Hate Crime Statistics reported a double digit increase in hate crimes based on religious bias for the third straight year.

Many of our students and instructors feel unprepared with the basic skills and knowledge for navigating religious pluralism and confronting prejudice based on religion. We want to create inclusive spaces for individuals of all religious traditions as well as those who practice no religion, but feel unprepared to do so. In this workshop, participants will share their experiences with interfaith dialogue and engagement on a public university campus. They will share how giving our students and ourselves the opportunity to discuss the complex and powerful role that religion plays in human experiences can build empathy, appreciation for difference, and better prepare us to confront bigotry and promote inclusion.