Sandra Nelson became a teacher after one of her college
professors suggested that profession was her future.
Cecelia Infante was indoctrinated into the profession as
a child, often tagging along with her father, a math professor
at Brown University. And her mother's social activism contributed
to how she would conduct her classroom.
Although their roads to teaching were different, colleagues
and students alike noticed their professional dedication
this past year. As a result, the two were recently named
recipients of the Fourth Annual Full-Time Lecturers Outstanding
Teaching Award.
The award, bestowed by Academic Affairs, requires documentation
showing a lecturer's commitment to the education of students
and their ability to facilitate student learning from effective
teaching.
The two will be honored at a dinner Wednesday, Feb. 15,
5:30-7:30 p.m., at University House. Each will receive
a $1,000 honorarium and a plaque.
This is the third consecutive year in which two EMU lecturers
(the award was originally intended for one lecturer) won
the award. Rick Rogers, a history and philosophy lecturer,
earned the honor during its inaugural year.
"It is very humbling," said Nelson, who has been a lecturer
at EMU since 2000. "This is exciting, a little overwhelming.
I've only been teaching here five years. To have that kind
of recognition in that short of time is a real honor.
Infante was just as excited.
"I was dumbfounded and profoundly honored," said Infante,
who has been a lecturer of English language and literature
at EMU since 2002. "It
just feels great. It also reflects the culture of this
department. I adore it. I wouldn't want to teach anywhere
else."
Sandra Nelson
Nelson was a junior at Minot State University in North
Dakota when one of her professors steered her toward teaching.
At the time, Nelson had already switched her major from
biology to theatre.
"She said, 'you really need to be a teacher.' I said, 'really?' She
said, 'yeah,'" Nelson recalled. "She steered me toward
theatre and then steered me toward education. So, I blame
her for that."
 |
DRAMA QUEEN: Sandra Nelson, a lecturer
III in communication and theatre arts,
was one of
two EMU lecturers honored
with the Full-Time
Lecturers Outstanding
Teaching Award. She will
be honored Feb.
15 at University House. Nelson
will receive
a $1,000 honorarium and a plaque
for her
achievement. |
Today, Nelson, a full-time lecturer III in communication
and theatre arts, teaches with a philosophy of letting
young adults and children be heard.
"Everyone needs to have a voice. High school kids become
adults so quick in life," Nelson said. "They don't always
have their own thoughts or express their own thoughts.
When I came here to teach, I knew that had to be explored.
If no other place, it had to be my classroom."
Nelson uses a unique teaching innovation when she focuses
on the subject of the Holocaust in her "Drama and
Play in Human Experience" course. She tapes out 4-by-6-foot
squares on the floor for each of her students. Each student
is given five index cards, which represent food. Five students
are called and told they cannot step out of their square.
Students can choose to eat all of their food at one time,
eat some and ration some, or not eat their food at all.
"I explain the situation is a matter of life and death,
and then turn off the lights," Nelson explained.
The students stand in the dark for five minutes, confused
by their situation. After five minutes, Nelson turns the
lights on and asks five more students to stand in the squares,
making for an even tighter situation. The students with
food can choose to keep it for themselves or share it with
the newcomers. The lights are turned off for another five
minutes. The students discuss what's happened.
From the dark, they hear, 'Nazi soldiers have just found
your hiding place. You are now all captured,'" Nelson said. "Instantly,
the students are shocked, are emotionally distraught and
amazed at how they feel. We talk about this activity afterwards
and how they felt after they had found out what the square
represented. We discuss how someone might feel if they
lived in this situation for two years, such as what happened
to Anne Frank and her family."
Nelson said this could be used as an introduction to students
before starting a unit on "The Diary of Anne Frank."
"This gives students an opportunity to see how theatre
can explore serious things," she said.
"Her co-curricular work, like her class work, is flawless," said
Jessica "Decky" Alexander, an associate professor in CTA
who, along with Ann Hammerberg, an EMU Theatre staff member
and EMU student, nominated Nelson for the award. "CloseUp,
which I founded and continue to direct, would be less of
a program and campus institution without her support, dedication
and innovation."
Undergraduate courses she has taught include: "Drama and
Play in Human Experience," "Fundamentals of Public Speaking," "Introduction
to Theatre," "Touring to Young Audiences-Instructor/Director," "Improvisation
and Role-Play," and "Technical Theatre for Middle and High
School Directors." She also has taught the latter three
courses at the graduate level.
In addition to her teaching, Nelson has participated in
numerous campus events where theatre was a prominent component.
These include new student orientation, SummerQuest, Family
Day, EMU's Drama/Theatre for the Young and CloseUp Theatre
Troupe.
Nelson received her master's degree in drama/Theatre for
the Young from Eastern Michigan University and her bachelor's
degree in communication and theatre arts (secondary education)
from Minot State University in North Dakota.
Cecelia Infante
Infante has lectured at EMU since 2002. "Renaissance Literature" and "Writing
About Literature" are courses she currently teaches.
 |
LOVING LITERATURE: Cecelia Infante, a
lecturer of
English language and literature, is
one of two EMU
lecturers who has won a Full-Time
Lecturers
Outstanding Teaching Award. She will
be honored
during a ceremony at University House
Feb. 15.
Infante will receive a $1,000 honorarium
and a
plaque for her achievement. |
She bases her teaching philosophy on three principles -- reciprocity,
relatedness and respect -- stressed by philosopher
Nel Noddings. Noddings is well-known for her work centered
on the ethics of caring.
Infante said she tries to create a culture, in her classroom,
of what America could be. To her, that means "a group of
diverse individuals all working together to discover knowledge
and actualize themselves. Also, you have to have the highest
standards possible because students always rise to them."
Infante was introduced to such standards by her father,
a math professor at Brown University, who won several teaching
awards and also served as a dean and provost at the Ivy
League school.
"My familiarity with universities was so early. It never
occurred to me that it (my career) wouldn't be teaching," Infante
said, describing herself as "a chip off the old block."
But she was quick to add she knew she wasn't going to
be breaking down algorithms for students.
As a freshman at the University of Minnesota, Infante
recalled walking through the humanities building. She simultaneously
heard someone playing Mozart, another person speaking French
and the smell of chalk dust and textbooks.
It was then that she realized she wanted to teach early
Renaissance literature.
And the way that she teaches, with a strong sense of social
conviction, is influenced by her mother.
"My mother's lifelong activism in civil rights, human
rights and environmentalism profoundly shaped the framework
of social justice that I bring to my work," Infante said.
Infante stressed that literature in history is crucial.
The creation, dissemination and study of texts contributes
to the perpetuation and/or transformation of a culture's
beliefs and values system, and the forms of political and
social organization that depend on those ideologies for
legitimacy, she said.
"It's the same thing today. Human beings aren't that original.
The language of the state and the ideology of the power
(then) is not really much different than what we have in
place today," Infante said. "We are subject to history.
And literature, in principle, is an agent in perpetuating
power dynamics."
Infante said that language itself is imbued with the biases
and assumptions of culture.
"I present Renaissance drama as if the art's response
to its state and religious ideologies had immediate and
determining power over my students' lives now," Infante
explained. "It is crucial to their understanding of, and
control over, their lives now to see themselves in the
conspicuous pronouncements and tangible silences of their
literary inheritance."
"When I've had students in my courses who have
had Cecilia for earlier classes, they consistently cite
her as the best teacher they've had at EMU," said Linda
Adler-Kassner, associate professor of English language
and literature, who was one of three professors who nominated
Infante. "Not one of the best, but the single best one.
She pours her soul into her work and the results are (unsurprisingly)
fantastic."
In addition to her teaching, Infante has assisted in the
development and implementation of a data collection process
to assess the success of EMU's English Department Writing
Program.
Infante received her doctorate of philosophy in English
language and literature and her master's degree in English
language and literature, both from the University of Michigan.
She received her bachelor's degree in English language
and literature from the University of Minnesota and University
of Paris, France.
