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Just Imagine…Innovating to Meet a Need (for Groceries)
Clarence Saunders had less than two years of formal education, but his innovation changed the way we shop for groceries. Growing up as the son of sharecropper in the late 1800s, he was largely self-taught. During his teens, Saunders worked at a number of blue...
Just Imagine…Genius and Discrimination
Emmy Noether was born to a Jewish family in Erlangen, Germany, in 1882. Her father was a professor of mathematics at the University of Erlangen. She passed exams in French and English, qualifying her to embark on a teaching career at girls’ schools in Germany. She...
Just Imagine… Innovating Discipline from Chaos
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was destined to have a military career. He was born in a fortress town in what was then Prussia in 1830. His father was an officer in the Prussian army and von Steuben was a volunteer in his father’s military command at the age of 14....
Think About…11 Topics on Course Design for Collaborative Discussions
I wrote a "Think About" series of messages that were designed for educators who want to engage students in more active learning using collaborative class discussions. These messages have been released weekly since May 2020 and to date have had over 80,000 views on...
Feeling Through to One Another: Films & Conversations Exploring our Connections and Disconnections
It's late on a cold winter night on the city streets when Tereek, a young man with no place to sleep, comes across Artie, a deafblind man, who is looking for help to make his way home. The short film Feeling Through tells the story of their encounter and of the...
LGBTQ+ Experiences of Prom Over 7 Decades
Session 3 of a Film & Conversation Series on LGBTQ+ Generations On November 18th, we watched Take Me to Prom, a short film about LGBTQ+ experiences of the adolescent milestone of prom through personal stories spanning 70 years. After the film, we split into...
Just Imagine…Good Trouble
Imagine Good Trouble, Not Bad Mimi Jones, born Mamie Ford, was the thirteenth of fourteen children born to her parents in rural Georgia in 1947. She worked on the family farm until her mother took a job in a nearby town. She and her sister moved to town with their...
Managing our Perceptions
“Would you get out paper and pen? I’m going to ask you some questions to begin class today.” So began Professor Ben Hopkins. “You might not know the name of Francis Bellamy, but all of you are familiar with something he wrote. Let me read what he wrote: I...
Just Imagine…Mandating Innovation in a Democracy
George Cayley is often referred to as the father of aviation. Most of us have probably never heard of him. But it’s likely that we frequently use one of his innovations, even if we rarely fly. Cayley developed the first seat belt to hold pilots in place as they...
Gender, Sexuality, and Fatherhood
Session 2 of a Film & Conversation Series on LGBTQ+ Generations On November 12th, we watched Tell-By Date, a short film about a trans father who struggles with telling his young son that he is not his biological father and finds that he must also confront his...
