Leslie Madsen, associate professor of history and director of the IDEA Shop, gave a keynote address, “Teaching in the Age of Disaster: Designing Liberal Arts Education for Inclusivity – and Survival,” at the University of Mary Washington.
Her talk emphasized how, in the face of climate change, gun violence, mass migrations and other challenges, liberal arts education is more essential than ever, and it addressed how liberal arts faculty might better prepare students for the Age of Disaster. Madsen suggested the answer lies within a diverse constellation of practices, among them designing for inclusivity in courses and programs, rooting out subtle and not-so-subtle institutional white supremacies, and developing students’ maker competencies.