The Engaged Learning Series (ELS) is a university-wide series of events and programs designed to engage students, faculty, staff, and community in discussion, debate, dialogue, learning, and action around an issue of public concern.
The 2022-2023 ELS theme focuses on boundaries. What constitutes a boundary? How are they used socially, personally, globally, or physically? What does going beyond boundaries look like when we remove or redefine them? Why examine boundaries and how they impact (positively, negatively, neutrally) culture, economics, education, environment, health, and politics. Please consider these questions as well as your own as you think about how to implement this theme into your services, classes and programs for the year!
Check here often to see what is coming up and/or what faculty and staff are doing in their spaces throughout the semester.
Share Your Experience(s) with Us!
We would love to hear what your experiences were like with the Engaged Learning Series, and how they affected you as a student, faculty member, or member of the greater Weber State University community.
Please emailusany pictures you took, use #WSUELS on social media, or write us an email describing the event you attended!
This theme provides the audience with an opportunity to delve into what it means to connect* with things, people, ideas, etc. The asterisk in connect* suggests that we look beyond just the word "connect" and find ways to "re"connect, "dis"connect, "inter"connect, find connect"edness," and beyond.
WSU 1450: Visual Art Gallery - students in the Intersections of Art & Communications course created virtual representations of how they interpreted the theme. Explore these amazing 25 projects of each student’s interpretation.
This theme encompasses telling your story from the first-person perspective. It suggests finding other perspectives to stories that may otherwise be untold or underrepresented.
“From Climbing Mountains to Climbing Stairs” - a Storytelling Festival event with Shane Farver who shared his recovery journey after breaking his back and learning how to walk again after being told his chances were slim.
“In My Shoes: Stories from the Library” - a panel discussion with faculty, staff and students who read excerpts in their native languages from their favorite books, then shared why they chose to read from that particular book.
This theme challenges people to think critically about fact and opinion, credible sources, how to articulate fact and why science, logic and history matter.
Utah Congressional Debate - students from the Signpost, a Communication class and a Political Science class helped fact check this debate live while posting their findings on social media for the community to follow along.
"Matter of Fact? with Bill Nye the Science Guy” - a moderated discussion with Professor Stacy Palen focuses on why science and facts matter in a world where so much information is available at our fingertips.
This theme encourages individuals to dive deeper into what the word "civility" means and what that looks like when interacting with others and the environment.
Civility Quest - a civility challenge encouraging participants to practice behaviors related to civility from kind gestures to hard conversations.
This theme encourages folks to identify what privilege is, what it means to them, and how it can be positive and negative.
"(Dis)Ability: Redefining Possible” - a panel discussion with WSU’s Center for Students with Disabilities and Gigi’s Playhouse to help redefine ability, empower individuals, and share how folks navigate an able-bodied and privileged world.
This theme asks individuals and communities to consider what is waste, what we waste every day - time, resources, people, etc. - and how can we minimize our waste?
“America’s Changing Attitudes on Wasting Time” - a lecture by Alexis McCrossen, a professor of U.S. social and cultural history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, explored how previous generations have grappled with wasted time.
"Confetti & Distress/ Honey & Suspicion” art exhibition by Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor. Combining both the comfortable and uncomfortable, Confetti & Distress / Honey & Suspicion repurposes discarded and found items to create breathtaking anthropomorphic sculptures. O’Connor utilized items purchased at yard sales and thrift shops such as blankets and cushions alongside discarded ropes and cloth to create her sculptures.
This theme looks at the impact of food on our daily lives and the environment, where it comes from, and the ethics of food availability.
WeberCAN, a friendly competition among teams of WSU individuals who utilized cans of food to create structures representing food. All cans used in the structures were donated to the Weber Cares Food Pantry.
This theme examined the complex relationship humans have with water and focused on the delicate balance water plays in the lives of all living things.
Internationally recognized ecologist, author and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber explores the links between human rights and the environment with a focus on chemical contamination. She takes a personal and scientific look at these issues and offers insights into how to protect people and the environment.
Sculptor Andy Dufford shared his life’s passion and discussed his new work of public art on display along the Ogden River Parkway during “Envisioning Water,” a convocation hosted by Weber State University.
Contact Us
Want to join the committee or do you have questions regarding ELS?
Students who attend Engaged Learning Series events are likely to see how their learning extends beyond the classroom and may be able to network with others who share similar interests with them. These relationships can be beneficial because they spur creative thinking and reflection on important topics, but they may also be helpful as students prepare for their careers after graduation. In addition, students have the opportunity to design and host events as part of classes or clubs that are related to the Engaged Learning Series. Doing so is a great way to demonstrate one’s ability to take an idea from conception to fruition, and can flesh out a resume.
In addition to using the calendar section on this site, we encourage you to use GivePulse located in your WSU eWeber Portal. This will allow you to search “Engaged Learning Series” to add to your list of opportunities you would like to participate in. Go explore now!
Faculty
Faculty can take advantage of the Engaged Learning Series as a way to improve their tenure and promotion file. They could do so in multiple ways (and are likely to think beyond what we’ve described here!). One, they might demonstrate how they build their courses around campus events, and show how they create an assignment where students attend an Engaged Learning Series event and write a reflection about how the event connected to their classroom learning. Two, they might develop and host an event related to a class they teach that then becomes part of the Engaged Learning Series. The Engaged Learning Series has resources that can support faculty in developing an event. In both cases, the faculty member would be able to describe how they are connected to the university and how they are connecting their students to the university and the larger Weber State community.
