The Division of Undergraduate Studies is hosting Sarah Rose Cavanagh, author of Mind Over Monsters: Supporting Youth Mental Health with Compassionate Challenge, on the Forest Grove campus this Wednesday, September 17. There will be multiple in-person and zoom opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to engage with Dr. Cavanagh and her work on "compassionate challenge" in the college classroom. Please join us for one or more of the day's three events: morning keynote, afternoon implementation and calibration workshop, and/or classroom visit!
RSVPs are strongly requested as they will help up prepare the rooms and snack break order. .
Keynote: Hope in the Time of Monsters
10:30am - 11:35am (C Block)
Forest Grove MPR & on Zoom
Teaching is a vocation. When supported with resources and security, it is a constantly renewing source of excitement and richness. The last several years of disruption, uncertainty, and overburdened workloads have exhausted teachers and students alike. Monsters have reared their heads, and we have understandably shrunk from them. Faculty are burnt out—sacrificing their own mental health, phoning it in out of desperation, or leaving the profession entirely. Students are experiencing an epidemic of mental health problems, especially of anxiety.
As instructors, we can support and encourage student mental health through pedagogies of care. A pedagogy of care involves high-touch practices like frequent communication, flexibility, inclusive teaching practices, learning new technologies and techniques, and being enthusiastic and passionate. All these practices involve both a heavy investment of time and a high degree of emotional labor. How can we support our students without burning ourselves out? How can we revive our sparks? In this interactive keynote, Sarah Rose Cavanagh will present research and food for thought based on her Mind Over Monsters book on how higher education should respond to both faculty depletion and the student mental health crisis.
What Happens After the Keynote?
Following the keynote there are two additional opportunities to engage with Dr. Cavanagh:
"Yes, But What Does It Actually Look Like?" Implementation and Calibration Workshop
11:45am - 12:50pm (D Block)
Forest Grove MPR
This faculty and staff workshop will give participants an opportunity to keep working with Dr. Cavanagh on the realities of implementing compassionate challenge in higher education settings. We will gather at hosted topic tables (e.g. 100 level STEM classrooms, student worker supervisors) to discuss the challenge and opportunities presented by our unique campus settings. When you RSVP, you will be able to select or suggest a table topic that interests you.
“Compassionate Challenge” in the K-12 Classroom
2:15pm - 3:50pm (Q Block)
Boxer Pause
Ƶ professor Christy Sellers is hosting a conversation with students interested in implementing "compassionate challenge" in their own future classrooms and workplace settings. To attend this portion of the day's programming, please email Prof. Sellers directly.
We look forward to seeing you on the 17th! Please don't forget to and if you have questions or concerns please reach out to Jeane Canon.