Panhia Lee

Faculty and Staff Writing Retreat Sees Record Participation

Roger Williams University’s latest Faculty and Staff Writing Retreat drew record participation on May 23-24, bringing 28 people together at the University Library to devote two full days to uninterrupted writing and editing.

Robert E. Shea, RWU’s Associate Provost for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning, said this marked the fourth retreat in which RWU faculty and staff have worked from early in the morning until late at night on book projects, research papers and other writing projects. The retreats take place in January and May.

In all, participants dedicate more than 20 hours to their writing tasks, benefitting from research assistance by two librarians, taking advantage of feedback from RWU Writing Center writing consultants and pausing to refuel with coffee and food in the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center.

“The things they like the most are the time, the pampering and the consultation on demand,” Shea said.

This time around, the participants included Nicole Dyszlewski, a Research/Access Services Librarian at the RWU School of Law, who was working on a section of a book titled “LGBTQ and the Law: An Annotated Bibliography.”

“It’s nice that the institution supports our scholarly research,” she said.

Deborah Johnson, the law school’s Director of Diversity and Outreach Coordinator of International Programs, sat nearby, working on an article about cybersecurity insurance and the law that she plans to submit to a law journal.

Johnson said she was glad to have time to focus on the project. “On a day-to-day basis, I just don’t have the time,” she said.

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A Convergence of Computation + Culture

As people increasingly turn to computers and smartphones to run their lives, tech firms and other businesses create a seemingly endless array of tools designed to streamline digital activity. And although we benefit from these innovations, there is much about them that runs counter to the artistic imagination. Recognizing the growing desire of artists and designers to exploit the creative potential of new technologies, this spring RISD launched Computation, Technology and Culture (CTC), an undergraduate concentration that invites students to experiment with digital devices, programs and languages, and integrate them into their diverse studio practices.

Experimental and Foundation Studies (EFS) Programs Head Shawn Greenlee 96 PR, who administers the new concentration, says a central goal is to foster more versatile makers by limiting dependence on proprietary hardware and software. “We want students to resist using technology the way creators think they’re supposed to use it,” the electronic media and sound artist explains. Through the new 15-credit undergraduate concentration (which is like a minor at other colleges), students learn to write code, develop software and build programmable machines while also coming to better understand how these things are transforming art, design and the world at large.

Greenlee began leading efforts to establish a CTC concentration once the interest and need became increasingly apparent in recent years. In co-teaching a course called Experimental Data Visualization, he realized that students were searching for ways “to engage with [digital] code as a medium and material.” Soon he and fellow faculty members Carl Lostritto and Clement Valla MFA 09 DM began applying for various grants and other sources of funding to plan a cutting-edge curriculum suited to the needs of emerging artists and designers.

CTC “creates pathways for students to specialize” in many areas of digital art and technologically-informed making, says Greenlee – from programming for music and sound design to creating virtual-reality and immersive environments. Concentrators can also take related courses in diverse departments – from Sculpture studios on robotics to Liberal Arts courses on the history of technology – to build a highly individualized, interdisciplinary experience. Designed for those at all levels of experience with programming and code, the concentration is expected to attract roughly 50 students a year as it continues to grow.

Initial courses
In addition to the core Introduction to Computation studio, this year’s innovative CTC courses explored various aspects of our increasingly programmed world, from internet-age art and architecture to sonic sculpture and, in a Wintersession travel course to Argentina, the intersection of digital and artisanal cultures. Through spring studios like Ambient Interfaces: Activated Objects, taught by Assistant Professor Alejandro Borsani, students made use of conceptual approaches and learned practical strategies for integrating electronics into their work.

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JWU Hosts First New England Edition of Picademy

JWU Providence’s College of Engineering & Design recently hosted the first New England-based edition of Picademy, a free training intensive designed to give educators the tools to teach computing with confidence and creativity.

Picademy is the flagship teacher-training initiative of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK-based charity that “works to put the power of digital making into the hands of people all over the world.”

The Foundation partnered with JWU for this free training to promote teaching, learning and making. More than 80 K-12 educators from the US and abroad took part in the sessions, which took place in the university’s new John J. Bowen Center for Science and Innovation.

Previous Picademies in the United States have been held in Mountain View, California; Baltimore, Maryland; and Austin, Texas.

JWU’s Commitment to STEM Education
“Johnson & Wales University’s commitment to education and its enthusiastic support of our mission made them a natural partner to help upskill educators locally and from all over the country,” said Matt Richardson, executive director of Raspberry Pi Foundation North America. “The Picademy workshop is our premier educator training program and is an opportunity for the most enthusiastic and engaged educators to get hands-on with computers and digital making. We’re looking forward to … a continued collaboration with Johnson & Wales University.”

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Brown honors 20 Providence high school grads with college scholarships

The awards, from Brown’s Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence, will go to college-bound students from the city’s public high schools.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Twenty high school seniors from Providence public schools were honored with college scholarships from Brown University’s Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence at an event held at the home of Brown President Christina Paxson on Monday, June 12.

Paxson commended the students for their hard work and perseverance in high school and acknowledged that some of them had contended with difficult life experiences, noting that many come from families new to the United States and are the first in their family to attend college. She encouraged them to view those experiences as strengths.

“As you head to college, know that you bring unique talents and perspectives to campus,” Paxson said in addressing the scholarship recipients at the event. “Trust that your life experience will be valued and welcomed. And when you get there, be your remarkable selves.”

Other speakers included Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and Doris De Los Santos, executive director of partnership and engagement for Providence schools, who presented the awards. Chris Maher, superintendent of Providence schools, attended along with families, teachers and college counselors of the honorees.

Elorza encouraged students to use their college experience to provide opportunity to others.

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