Spring CPPSET Newsletter 2023

CPPSET is committed to developing the knowledge, mind-set, and skills necessary for values-based problem solving and making positive (social, political, economic) change on campus, in our community, and across the globe.

Since 2007 our Center has been developing, facilitating, supporting, and promoting Guilford's unique approach to values-based engagement known as Principled Problem Solving (PPS). Building upon the college's transformative practical liberal arts educational experience and, as Guilford's Mission Statement states, a desire to "promote positive change in the world", we have offered teaching, learning and engagement opportunities designed to make a difference in the world. And perhaps equally as important, the Center takes the long view in helping individuals, programs, and organizations to equip themselves for making positive change across time and wherever they happen to be.

I often get asked what CPPSET is up to. Well, the Center's work includes not only a focus on PPS but also our newest concentration, Ethical Leadership, and our Excellence in Teaching initiative that builds on Guilford's legacy as a place where teaching is honored and supported. And, unlike some academic centers, our work embraces values-based teaching, learning, and engagement in ways that thrive in the classroom, across the campus, and in the real world. The Center's work does not belong to the Center alone, of course, because we largely work with and through our affiliated faculty, students, and staff, and community members. This work includes hosting or co-sponsoring individual events, credit bearing courses and our PPSE minor, extended programming, two student scholarship programs, student internships, faculty seminars, faculty development, research initiatives and more.

As we draw near to the end of this academic year--CPPSET's 16th year of operations!--I hope you will read through our newsletter and be reminded of the excellent and meaningful work being done by so many Guilfordians. I also hope the newsletter will also suggest to you ways CPPSET might support you in your work going forward. Clearly, our world needs ethical actors and effective problem solvers more than ever.

Sincerely,

Mark

• Announcements
• Selected Activities
  
• Grants To Support Your Work
• Ethical Leadership White Paper Call
  

• People, Programs, and Updates
  
• About CPPSET

Inaugural PPS Master's Thesis Award

Christy Elder has been selected by the Justice and Policy Studies and CPPSET to receive a $5,000 tuition and thesis support award. This award is granted to a Criminal Justice Master's student developing a thesis that draws on Principled Problem Solving in a constructive and creative manner.

The PPS Scholars Program Returns for 2023-2024

The PPS Scholars Program will launch in the spring of 2024 in a new, abbreviated format, with an added study abroad/away component. Students will be invited to apply in the fall for the PPS Seminar that includes a 2 credit course in the 14 week session and a 4 credit course in the 3 week session. The 2023-2024 PPS Scholars Program Seminar will be taught by Sonalini Sapra and Zhihong Chen and include a study abroad trip to India focusing on women and social entrepreneurship. Look for more details next fall.

The PPS/EL Internship Program Launches in 2022-2023

A new internship for students undertaking internships with a Principled Problem Solving or Ethical Leadership focus will begin next year. Supported by the PPS Endowment, students from any major or area of interest will receive financial and mentoring support as they explore personal and vocational interests while advancing PPS or EL priorities. PPS Internships have previously been connected with the PPS Scholars Program but will now be available to students across the campus. Check out the list of PPS internships undertaken by Guilford students over the last 15 years. More details to follow!

Fall '23 Initiate Course on Wicked Problems

"Wicked Problems, Wicked Solutions," a new Initiate first year seminar will be taught by Mark Justad next fall. This "first college course" will explore complex social, political, and economic problems, how to analyze and understand them, and how they might be engaged effectively.

CPPSET 2023-2024 Faculty Fellows Selected

Four individuals will be CPPSET faculty fellows for the coming year: Diya Abdo, Professor of English, will continue her work as Faculty Director of Every Campus a Refuge at Guilford and guiding the PPS Experience Minor in Forced Migration and Refugee Resettlement Studies; Selena Wolf Berkley, Assistant Director of the Learning and Writing Center will undertake a project developing and reorganizing the Writing Fellows program in ways consistent with the college's commitments: Christian Matheis, Professor of Justice and Policy Studies, will serve as the CPPSET Inclusive Pedagogy Fellow, and Brad Stewart, Professor of Policy Studies, will develop a leadership curriculum focusing on ethical leadership in criminal justice.

• Students as Partners in Humanitarian Action Conference in Waterloo, Canada -- ECAR Program Coordinator & Outreach Specialist, Kathleen Herbst, GOCI Interim Director, Cathryn Bennett, and CPPSET Associate Director Sonalini Sapra accompanied 7 students to a student-led Humanitarian Action Conference hosted by International Students Overcoming War (ISOW) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. Through our participation in the conference, we were able to engage in thoughtful, research-informed conversations with students, staff, faculty, and practitioners from all over the world. Three of the seven students also presented a participatory action research project they conducted as part of their Community and Justice Studies capstone project. This trip was made possible with generous funding from CPPSET, the GOCI office, and the President’s office.

• CMJS Research Capstone -- Beginning in Spring 2022, the Community and Justice Studies (CMJS) Capstone research team with financial support from CPPSET began the work of planning, developing, and conducting an IRB-approved study to help determine the priorities that should guide higher education institutions to become resettlement campuses. Resources for newcomers and refugees in the United States are extremely limited, yet colleges and universities have many resources to offer newcomers. Hence there is an urgent need to establish more resettlement campuses nationwide, if not also worldwide. The results of the study are being used to inform the creation of AHLAN: A Manual for Establishing Resettlement Campuses Together (AMERICA-Together). The study is guided by the following questions: What do institutions of higher education do as partners in a resettlement ecosystem, and what could colleges and universities do to play a greater role in refugee resettlement? Which priorities should guide personnel in higher education as they seek to transform their institutions into resettlement campuses? This course is being team taught by Cathryn Bennett, Christian Matheis, and Sonalini Sapra.

• CPPSET Director Mark Justad accompanied 13 students and Guilford's Garrett Collins on a 13 day trip to walk a section of the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago in the Galacia region of northwest Spain. An offering of the Guilford Honors Program, this "fantastic journey" complete a trip begun last fall but was stopped stateside due to travel complications.
  

• Mark Justad developed and offered a new PPS course on Social Innovation taken by 14 students in the fall 2022 3-week session. Featuring theoretical frameworks and case studies, this course offered students an intensive look at how individuals in various contexts and countries found new and effective ways to engage significant cultural, economic, and political problems.
  

• Parag Budhecha, Director of Guilford's Writing Program and Faculty Member in English, is guiding a CPPSET Excellence in Teaching project supported by the PPS Endowment that is being undertaken to gain insight into our students reading habits. Over 500 surveys have been completed by Guilford students and that data will be analyzed for further study and use in shaping teaching and learning at Guilford.
  

The Ethical Leadership focus continues to develop across our campus and in our community outreach. One key component of this is drawing our academic programs into the work of Ethical Leadership in a manner consistent with disciplinary and departmental priorities. To help us encourage this, CPPSET is offering stipends for individuals or departments interested in writing white papers to explore the following:

• How the history, method, content, or problems of your particular discipline might enhance Guilford students' understanding, goals, and practices related to ethical leadership.

• How a more intentional focus on ethical leadership in your discipline might inform and advance the work of the discipline itself.

Any teaching faculty or educational support faculty member can write a white paper for their department or for an academic program they are affiliated with (including interdisciplinary majors, as well as minors). A stipend of $1000 will be awarded to an individual author. If there is a team of authors for a white paper, the lead author will receive the full stipend and affiliated authors $500. The paper should be around 10 pages long, though it can be longer.

This is a rolling invitation with deadlines arranged with the author upon completion of a brief proposal.

CPPSET staff and, when possible, the Faculty Development and Excellence in Teaching and Committee, will evaluate all applications and respond with an explanation of any approved funding. Please note that decisions are based on the specifics of each project, as well as the overall budget situation of the funds we manage. In an effort to spread funding to more individuals, we take into account how much each individual has received in the past couple of years.

The EL White Paper application can be found here.

Recipients of are required to submit the final white paper to CPPSET. It is recommended that recipients also share the white paper with their department.

• Internal grants for educational development are available for all teaching faculty. A complete list of the funding sources and their respective application criteria can be found here. The online application can be found here. The last date for submitting educational development grants for this year is April 30th. Applications made over the summer will routinely be included in the Sept 30th grouping of requests for review and approval. Please reach out to us if you have a need that you believe needs more immediate attention and we will attempt to address it.

• The PPS Endowment continues to offer Principled Problem Solving, Ethical Leadership, and Excellence in Teaching grants for faculty and staff for work that advances values-based teaching, learning, and engagement. Support for individuals, departments, or programs are described on the Center's Grant Applications page.

• New Summer Research Grant Opportunity! Summer 2023 Community Engaged Research Grant Building on the Principled Problem Solving (PPS) model that guides and assists individuals and organizations seeking values-based solutions to complex problems, CPPSET is delighted to announce its inaugural Community-Engaged Scholarship Grant Program.

  Community Engaged Scholarship (CES) is centered on a mutually-beneficial collaboration between the university and a community partner outside the academy. The purpose of the collaboration is to bring together the specialized knowledge of the university with the specialized knowledge of the community to generate new knowledge that is applied to solve critical issues of interest to both (Higher Education for the Public Good: A Report from the National Leadership Dialogues).

  
  CPPSET will fund up to TWO faculty projects this summer. Strong applications articulate how the initiative is mutually beneficial (achieves the goals of each faculty and community partner) and reciprocal (recognizes, includes, and values the potential contributions of all members).
  
  The application deadline is 11:59 pm on Monday, May 1. For more details please go to:

  2023 CPPSET Summer Community Engaged Research Grant Opportunity

The FDET Committee and CPPSET have received over 80 applications for Educational Development, Excellence in Teaching, Principled Problem Solving and Ethical Leadership support to date this year. Upwards of $85,000 in funds have been awarded to faculty, staff, and students.

CPPSET staff and the Faculty Development and Excellence in Teaching committee have been busy this semester. Here are some selected activities.

• We’ve hosted 9 educational development workshops this semester on topics that range from developing intercultural humility in study abroad programs to strategies for resisting microaggressions in the college classroom.

• We’ve hosted several book club meetings to discuss pedagogical strategies in two books: The New College Classroom by Cathy Davidson and Cristina Katapodis and an edited book titled Ungrading by Susan Blum.

• We are hosting a “Teaching Wicked Students” course design institute in mid-May where faculty will work collaboratively to design courses that provide students the competencies necessary to solve wicked problems in their fields, i.e., problems that are complex and that require interdisciplinary collaboration and new ways of thinking.

• We have been busy with one-on-one consultations with faculty on emerging pedagogical issues in the classroom and in relation to Guilford's new calendar and curricular developments.

This Spring, Ethical Leadership has been busy;

• We hosted the first Ready for Work Mixer on March 22nd with 12 employers representing thousands of jobs our graduating seniors would be great for, 8 alums, and dozens of seniors and juniors seeking their first careers.

• Launched the new Ethical Leadership in Practice speaker's series with our first event focusing on the moral concerns and ethical dilemmas in the world of genetic counseling.

• $9795 for Ethical Leadership was raisded through Guilford Madness. Our first year EL students recorded their own video about why the EL Fellowship is so important to them.

• We interviewed over 20 out of about 50 applicants for Ethical Leadership Fellows Scholarship, and have a great 2024 class of Ethical Leadership Fellows joining us next fall.

• We continue to develop new and diverse ways of expanding the framework for Ethical Leadership at Guilford in consulation with students, staff, faculty, and CPPSET partners.
  

GOCI and our new Interim Drector, Cathryn Bennett, have been busy this spring as we begin to navigate study abroad and study away in the post-covid era. Here is some information to give you an idea of what our students, faculty, and staff have been up to. Our trips included:

• 122 participating students

• 14 faculty/staff leaders

• 9 destinations

• 2 study away

• 7 study abroad

Our destination and faculty and staff leaders included:

• Transnational Memories (Waikiki, Hawai’i) - a 3-week course developed by Naadiya Hasan, Hiroko Hirakawa, and Zhihong Chen and led by Naadiya and Zhihong
  

• Mexican Childhoods (Oaxaca, Mexico) -- a 3-week course developed and led by Rachel Riskind and Karen Spira
  

• Medical Shadowing (Teruel, Spain) -- a 3 week course developed and led by Anne Glenn
  

• Disney’s Enchantment (Orlando, Florida) -- a 3-week course developed and lead by Jill Peterfeso
  

• International Model of Sport (Western Europe) -- a May travel course developed and led by Michael White and Wonjun Choi
  

• El Camino (Portugal & Spain) (Spring Break) -- guided by Garrett Collins and Mark Justad
  

• Students as Partners Conference Waterloo, Canada (see selected activities above for details)
  

Every Campus a Refuge in cooperation with CPPSET and Opening Universities for Refugees (OUR) launched a new certificate program, "Advancing the Role of Community Stakeholders in Refugee Integration". This certificate will enable individuals from all sectors to gain valuable knowledge, skills, and professional development in refugee-centered diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, as well as community engagement.The program covers essential topics such as the history and policies of refugee resettlement in the U.S., how to creatively leverage local resources to support refugee resettlement and integration, and best practices in engaging refugee resettlement in ways that center dignity, agency, and privacy of affected populations. The first two cohorts of the Certificate will be May 26-28, 2023 virtually and August 11-13, 2023 in-person at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.

• Maria Amado (SOAN), Co-Chair
  
• Sonalini Sapra (CPPSET, Political Science), Co-Chair
  
• Sarah Estow (Psychology)
  
• Cynthia Nearman (English and Creative Writing)
  
• Mark Justad (CPPSET, Religious Studies and Ethics)
• Liz Wade (Hege Academic Commons)
  

The FDET Committee guides faculty development and support efforts undertaken in cooperation with CPPSET staff and affiliated faculty.

• The Center for Principled Problem Solving and Excellence in Teaching develops and promotes the knowledge, mind-sets, and skills necessary for values-based problem solving and significant positive social, political, and economic change.

• CPPSET is a unique academic center that creates and supports both credit-bearing and co-curricular efforts with an engaged teaching and learning focus. The Center and its affiliated faculty develop innovative programming guided by a commitment to academic excellence, the college's core values, and Guilford's Quaker heritage.
  

• The Guilford College PPS Endowment supports focused efforts in the areas of Principled Problem Solving, Ethical Leadership, and Excellence in Teaching.
  

• To find out more, visit our website or email us at cppset@guilford.edu.