Public Engagement Fellowship
ACADEMIC PEER LEADERSHIP PROGRAM FOR NONTRADITIONAL UNDERGRADUATES
Partners: Adult Bachelor's Program, The New School; Annette Diefenthaler, IDEO
In 2010, I became the Executive Dean of a new division at The New School in New York City. The New School For Public Engagement (NSPE) brought together an array of graduate and undergraduate programs around the mission of engaged, practice-based, interdisciplinary learning. Areas of study included media studies, international affairs, urban policy, nonprofit management, environmental studies, among others. (For more about NSPE and my work as Executive Dean, read here.)
Adult education is central to The New School's traditions of public engagement and experimental pedagogy, and NSPE included an adult bachelor's program. The students oriented my focus on democratizing higher education in a new direction. They were diverse in background and level of preparation. But they shared a resilience, a commitment to their studies, a belief in the social purposes of learning, and an impatient curiosity that was inspiring. They voiced excitement about their teachers and classes, but they also made clear when we didn't adequately attend to their needs. I thought that they were often right--and that tapping their energy and creativity would make our program better.
And so the Public Engagement Fellowship was born: in exchange for tuition aid, a cohort of Fellows would serve as peer leaders in a range of academic, advising, and co-curricular roles--and as advocates and change-agents for the adult bachelor's program as a whole.
I co-created the Fellowship with Annette Diefenthaler, a gifted educational consultant from the New York studio of the design firm IDEO. For two years Annette and I team-taught the Public Engagement Fellows in a yearlong seminar. The "PEF's" (nine the first year, fifteen the second) reflected on their educational experiences, both positive and negative, at The New School. They investigated the larger changes in American higher education to which the Fellowship was a response, especially the rise of nontraditional students as the majority of U.S. college-goers. They produced a video about the goals of the Fellowship (see below right). They developed action plans in such areas as student advocacy, peer advising, community engagement, and career and alumni networking. Along the way, Annette introduced us all to the practice of design thinking. The seminar was in effect an extended charrette on redesigning college to meet the needs and aspirations of adult, nontraditional students.
For two years Annette and I team-taught the "PEFs" in a yearlong, weekly seminar. The Fellows (nine the first year, fifteen the second) reflected on their educational experiences, both positive and negative, at The New School and more generally. They investigated the larger changes in American higher education to which their Fellowship was a response, especially the rise of nontraditional students as the majority of U.S. college-goers. They journaled and produced a video about the goals of the Fellowship (see below right). They developed action plans in such areas as student advocacy, peer advising, community engagement, and career and alumni networking. Annette trained us all in the practice of design thinking. The seminar was in effect an extended charrette on redesigning college to meet the needs and aspirations of adult, nontraditional students.
The Fellows brought to this work a passion, commitment, and intelligence that were electric, and they ended up reshaping my own interests. I had spent much of my career trying to democratize the how of higher education through civic engagement and community partnerships. The Fellows posed the challenge of democratizing the who: of extending the promise of great, engaged education to the nontraditional majority.
In the end, the Public Engagement Fellowship was more transformative for me (and, I hope, the Fellows) than for The New School. I was not able to secure the resources to institutionalize it (and, more generally, to grow adult education) as a key priority.
Above: Annette Diefenthaler leading the Public Engagement Fellows seminar
Below: the Fellows' video, describing their background and goals
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