Creating Experiential Learning in the Classroom: Perspectives from the BridgeBuilders Program
This presentation panel offers valuable insights from the BridgeBuilders Program, showcasing perspectives and experiences in creating experiential learning opportunities within the classroom. Participants will explore innovative approaches and practical strategies for implementing hands-on, immersive learning experiences to enhance student engagement and retention.
Joe Harris (Moderator), Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences
Joseph Harris is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. He conducts comparative historical research that lies at the intersection of sociology, political science, and global health and is author of Achieving Access: Professional Movements and the Politics of Health Universalism (Cornell University Press, 2017). In 2017, he received the Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching, the college’s highest teaching award, and was subsequently named a Hub Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow. He serves as Faculty Director of BU’s MetroBridge program and is a recent graduate of the Provost’s Mentor Fellows program.
Seth Blumenthal, Senior Lecturer of Writing, College of Arts & Sciences
Seth Blumenthal is a Master Lecturer in Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences Writing Program. His research focuses on the history of the Republican Party since WWII and conservative politics in the 20th century. Blumenthal’s first book, Children of the Silent Majority: Youth Politics and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1968-1980 was published 2018, and won the New England Historical Association’s James P. Hanlan Book Award. His work has appeared in the Journal of Policy History, The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. In addition, his service-learning course, titled “the Educated Electorate,” requires his students to volunteer with political campaigns, nonprofits, and other groups, and then present a research paper on the issue at hand related to students’ own experience in political activism. In 2020, Seth was recognized with Boston University’s Metcalf Award for Teaching Excellence.
Sheila Cordner, Senior Lecturer of Humanities, College of General Studies
Sheila Cordner is the author of Education in Nineteenth-Century British Literature: Exclusion as Innovation (Routledge 2016) in addition to scholarly articles and a children’s book introducing young readers to a diverse range of classic authors. She is Senior Lecturer of Humanities at the College of General Studies, and also teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences Writing Program and in Kilachand Honors College.
Christina Michaud, Master Lecturer of Writing and Associate Director of ELL Writing, College of Arts & Sciences
Christina Michaud is a master lecturer and the associate director of English language learning in the CAS Writing Program. Her research interests include antiracist pedagogy, generative AI and multilingual writers, and experiential learning.
Yesim Sungu-Eryilmaz, Assistant Professor and Program Director of City Planning and Urban Affairs, Metropolitan College
Yeşim Sungu-Eryilmaz trains the focus of her urban and regional planning research on sustainability—particularly those factors that influence the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of cities. A seasoned professional with more than 15 years of experience and research contributions in the field of city planning and urban affairs, she has served as a consultant for numerous public and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Sungu-Eryilmaz first joined Boston University in 2011. She has taught at Brown University, where she was recognized with the Engaged Scholars Award in 2016, and has been a visiting scholar at Tufts University and a research associate at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Mass. Beyond urban sustainability, she specializes in planning for equity, urban economics, geographic information systems, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Sungu-Eryilmaz teaches in the Metropolitan College City Planning and Urban Affairs program, where she incorporates geographic information systems to city and regional planning lessons.