Magellan Circle Goes Virtual!

May 27, 2021
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Magellan Circle graphic

This April, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences hosted its Magellan Circle reception on Zoom. Thank you to all our Magellan Circle members for investing in the college and to our Magellan Circle patrons for providing scholarships to 61 students, especially during the pandemic when many of our students were facing additional hardships.

The past year has been a testament to the resilience of our students and the dedication of our faculty. To highlight that, three SBS professors shared the challenges and opportunities presented by remote teaching.

Proffesors

English Assistant Professor Lauren Camille Mason said that when she taught on Zoom, she had to focus on one face, one voice at a time, and spent less time trying to manage the dynamics of the physical classroom and more time listening. Diana Daly, assistant professor in the School of Information, concurred. She “flipped” her classroom, having students watch her lectures on their own schedule, and used synchronous class time to “make eye contact” and talk to the students.

Stefano Bloch, assistant professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment, said he had to be aware of students’ technology and space challenges online and quickly realized that not all young people are tech savvy. He emphasized that college students have various opinions but “they all want to feel mutual respect, and they want to feel that you are delivering information in a way that makes them better thinkers, regardless of what their perspective might be.”

Capping off the event were two videos of our Magellan Circle Scholars answering questions and thanking their patrons.

“We’re really grateful to all of you for supporting our students. It’s been a rough year for them,” said John Paul Jones III, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “This scholarship helps students financially, it looks great on their resumes, and many of them establish long-lasting friendships with their patrons.”

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This story was included in the Summer 2021 Developments newsletter.