Apply Today to Become a DeeP Faculty Fellow!

The DCI invites all full-time faculty members who teach undergraduates to apply to participate in the fourth year of its Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Collaborative. Applications to join the Collaborative are welcome from faculty in all departments at both Davidson and other higher education institutions who wish to enhance their ability to embed more deliberation about questions and issues involving important disagreements in their classes. With the generosity of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the DCI is able to provide a stipend of $2000 for participants who complete the expectations of the Fellowship. Review of applications will begin on Monday, April 22 and will continue until all spaces are filled.

DeeP-Collaborative-2024-Poster

So far over 40 faculty members from Davidson and 18 other colleges and universities — from UNC Charlotte and Alamance Community College to Swarthmore College and Southwestern University — have participated in the Collaborative. Collaborative members spend an academic year learning about and discussing deliberative pedagogy theory and techniques, embedding them into their own course plans and syllabi, and then actually teaching courses that are infused with deliberation in a multitude of ways. They have come from a wide range of social science, humanities, and natural science disciplines, including Africana studies, anthropology, archaeology/classics, biology, management, chemistry, communications, dance, economics, education, English, environmental studies, gender and sexuality studies, German studies, Hispanic studies, history, mathematics, philosophy, physics, political science, public health, sociology, and more.

Check out the comments from some of the Collaborative’s members below:

• Luis Gonzalez-Barrios (World Languages and Cultures, Spelman College): “The planning process of the course was very interesting, since it not only made me think about the new DeeP materials, but also about the way of organizing the sessions, the periodization of the modules, and of course the forms of evaluation. I mean, it made me rethink my entire pedagogical approach…Experiential learning and democratic deliberation seem to me necessary pedagogical approaches in times of constant “noise” and polarization.”

• Rachel Pang (Religious Studies, Davidson College): “One of the best things about participating in the DeeP Collaborative was the chance to engage with a group of experienced and creative pedagogues at Davidson and other ACS institutions.”

• Caleb Stroup (Economics, Davidson College): “Overall, I think students benefited greatly from structured deliberation aimed at developing their abilities to reach collective agreement about competing values embedded in scientific research conclusions.”

• Emily Sydnor (Political Science, Southwestern University): “Overall, I found the deliberative discussions and affiliated assignments achieved my course goals and were interesting and engaging for both me and the students. In their reflections on deliberation, several participants commented that in spite of their initial anxiety about talking politics with their peers, they had found the discussions to be a positive experience.” 

You can learn more about the Collaborative experience by watching a panel of four faculty members who have been DeeP Fellows in earlier Collaborative cohorts. Check out the recording below…

You can also learn more by reading the blog posts by these and other faculty members about the courses they developed as members of the Collaborative that are posted on the DCI Blog and listed below:

• Rachel Pang (Davidson; Religion): “Student-Driven, Curiosity-Focused Deliberation in a Chinese Religions Course”
• Luis Gonzalez-Barrios (Spelman; World Languages and Cultures): “’Seeing Many More Angles than Usual:’ Deliberative Pedagogy in a Spanish Course on Feminism, Democracy, and Utopia”
• Anthony Kuchera (Davidson; Physics): “The Fusion of Nuclear Technologies and Policy in a First-Year Writing Course”
• Melissa Gonzalez (Davidson; Gender and Sexuality Studies/Hispanic Studies/Latin American Studies): “Deliberation across Disciplines: Lessons from a Course in Gender and Sexuality Studies”
• Camille Lewis (Furman; Communication Studies): “From the Big Picture to Micro-Deliberations: Argumentation Meets Deliberative Pedagogy” 
• Joshua Yesnowitz (Davidson; Writing Program/Political Science): “Writing Deliberatively”
• Kata Chillag (Davidson; Public Health): Conversations about Cases: Integrating Deliberation into a Public Health Ethics Seminar
• Nathan Nobis (Morehouse; Philosophy): A “Fair and Balanced” Approach to Deliberation in a Philosophical Ethics Course
• Dan Aldridge (Davidson; Africana Studies/History): From Imperialism to Civil Rights: Debating and Discussing American History in HIS 142
• Kyra Kietrys (Davidson; Hispanic Studies/Global Literary Theory): Deliberating about Collective Memory in a Hispanic Studies Course on the Comics and Graphic Novels of Spain
• Robert Vander Poppen (Rollins; Art and Art History): Saving the Republic: Re-Enacting and Learning from a Key Deliberative Moment in Roman History
• Caleb Stroup (Davidson; Economics): Mapping Arguments and Weighing Values in an Economics Seminar
• Emily Sydnor (Southwestern; Political Science) Psyching Ourselves Out: Applying Political Psychology to Deliberative Discussion
• Greg Snyder (Davidson; Religion) “What does the Bible Say?” Deliberating Across Difference in a Course on the Bible and Modern Moral Issues
• Jessica Worl (Davidson; Environmental Studies): The Political Classroom in Practice: Roleplaying Deliberations in a Political Ecology Course
• Eric Anderson (Furman; Philosophy) Hot-Button Issues in Three Acts: Promoting Deliberation in a Social and Political Philosophy Course
• Bassil El-Zaatari (Davidson; Chemistry): Catalyzing Pollution Solutions: Deliberation in a Polymer Chemistry Course

Blog posts from our 2023-24 Collaborative members will be published this summer (you can sign-up for updates on the DCI’s website). You can learn more about the 22 members of this cohort of the Collaborative here. More on the background, goals, and expectations of the Collaborative is provided in embedded PDF invitation below and on the DCI’s “Deliberation Across the Curriculum” webpage. 

DeeP-Collaborative-Invitation-2024-25

The 2024-25 cohort will also include faculty from both Davidson and other institutions of higher education – if you know someone who might be interested, encourage them to apply – all faculty are welcome! More on the background and goals of the Collaborative and DCI’s Deliberation Across the Curriculum is available here. If you have any questions about the Collaborative, please reach out to the DCI’s Faculty Director, Graham Bullock (grbullock@davidson.edu), or any of the Collaborative’s current or former faculty fellows.