BU Hub

At the Crossroads of Theory and Practice

Featured Course

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The BU Cross-College Challenge (XCC) is the Hub’s signature interdisciplinary project-based, 4-credit elective course open to juniors and seniors from all of BU’s undergraduate schools and colleges. The XCC engages students in team projects that address a real-world problem or an enduring human question. Students who are especially passionate about a particular subject matter and prepared to be active participants in a rigorous team-based experience are highly recommended to register early as seats are limited.

Each section is co-led by two faculty members from different disciplines. Student teams work with their faculty as well as with a variety of campus and community partners on a substantial, research-based challenge while building their knowledge and skills in 4 key Hub areas.

All of the XCC courses satisfy the Intellectual Toolkit Hub units in Creativity/Innovation, Research and Information Literacy, and Teamwork/Collaboration. The fourth Hub unit addresses Communication in written, oral, and digital forms, and varies by course number.

Note: These courses are not repeatable for credit.

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Spring 2023 Sections and Projects

HUB XC 420 A1

Kimberly Shuckra (CAS) and Willie Rodriguez (WED)

Unheard Voices: Deconstructing The Dominant Narratives By Inclusion

Given the racial injustice and the current pandemic challenges society faces today, it is imperative that higher education institutions create equitable spaces and opportunities to include the voices and experiences of marginalized communities that feel secondary and peripheral in a dominant discourse. Little attention has been paid over the years to exploring the lived experiences and expressed viewpoints of other ethnic communities. The feeling of invisibility and watered-downed identities are delegitimized further by the absence of presence and cultural compartmentalization by race and color, in a society that prides itself ironically enough, as one that values equity
and democratic principles.

Our project is to create a series of podcasts that share knowledge and thoughts from communities that often feel marginalized and invisible in the national equity and democratic discourse. To bring together some of the unheard voices and intersectional groups (E.g. Asian, Latinx, LGBTQ and Deaf cultures) to talk about their experiences and how they feel about equity and democracy and how it impacts their daily lives and experiences. Under faculty supervision students will develop, facilitate and host a series of conversations that cover several topics on equity and democracy. Working with our Community Partner, Wheelock EDI Committee, we will focus on bringing in speakers inside and outside of Boston University (including students) to share their experiences and perspectives and hold a series of conversations with experts and constituencies representing communities who are concerned about their exclusion in this dominant narrative.

Through these podcasts, students will continue to help Boston University cultivate an environment that fosters critical dialogue, social inquiry and ethical reasoning where communities feel respected, included and legitimized. More importantly, by sharing the knowledge and experiences of those often marginalized communities, students can work at solutions that will provide a more effective legitimization of these voices into the conversations and narratives that are currently absent in our national discourse in American society.

T 3:30PM-6:15PM

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