Our first Summer Institute was held on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the summer of 2006 with selected faculty participants from different colleges and universities around the country. The results from these meetings continue to far exceed our original expectations.
In the following academic year (2006-2007) and with our support, the faculty participants developed and taught college courses that incorporated aspects of our student-centered approach to classroom discussion. As a result of this effort, many of the faculty members have changed their approach to student discussion for all their courses. Additionally, most of these faculty members later conducted (and some are still conducting) off-campus Public Discussions with our Discussion Reports. One of these faculty members later joined the Foundation as a full-time Fellow, another has become a Trustee for the Foundation, and we are continuing to collaborate with others on a variety of projects and research related to public discussion and dialogue, civic engagement, facilitation, and student-centered classroom discussion methods.
The 2006 Summer Institute faculty members and their respective IF-sponsored college course for the 2006-2007 academic year are listed in the table below.
2006 Summer Institute Faculty
IF-Sponsored College Courses
Scott Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Religion & the State
Alan Freitag, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and a Trustee for the Interactivity Foundation
Facilitating Corporate Social Responsibility
Facilitating Citizen Discussion (summer 2010)
Emily Horowitz, Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice at St. Francis College, Brooklyn Hts., NY
Sociology of Minority Groups
Suzanne Goodney Lea, now a Fellow and Education Coordinator for the Interactivity Foundation. In 2006, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
Juvenile Delinquency
Benjamin Pryor, Associate Professor & Chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Toledo
Proseminar in Law & Social Thought
Kevin Schilbrack, now a Professor and Head of the Philosophy and Religion Department at Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC. In 2006, a Professor of Religion at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia
New Religious Movements
Timothy Steffensmeier, Assistant Professor & Division Head of Communication Studies at Kansas State University
Communications & Leadership
Dianne Sykes, now an Associate Professor of Sociology at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. In 2006, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.
Problems of American Institutions
Morris Taylor, Associate Professor of Public Administration at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
2006 Summer Institute
Our first Summer Institute was held on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the summer of 2006 with selected faculty participants from different colleges and universities around the country. The results from these meetings continue to far exceed our original expectations.
In the following academic year (2006-2007) and with our support, the faculty participants developed and taught college courses that incorporated aspects of our student-centered approach to classroom discussion. As a result of this effort, many of the faculty members have changed their approach to student discussion for all their courses. Additionally, most of these faculty members later conducted (and some are still conducting) off-campus Public Discussions with our Discussion Reports. One of these faculty members later joined the Foundation as a full-time Fellow, another has become a Trustee for the Foundation, and we are continuing to collaborate with others on a variety of projects and research related to public discussion and dialogue, civic engagement, facilitation, and student-centered classroom discussion methods.
The 2006 Summer Institute faculty members and their respective IF-sponsored college course for the 2006-2007 academic year are listed in the table below.