Breaking Down Silos:
Lamott Endowment for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Curricular Innovation Dr. Bruce Lamott in the late 80s
By Sarita Cannon ‘94 Book art by Jane Knoll ’14
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ne of my most vivid high school memories was taking the yearlong course Western Civilization: History of the Arts. In this uniquely UHS rite of passage, I learned about the connection between sonata form in Mozart symphonies and composition in neoclassical painting. Under the dynamic instruction of Dr. Bruce Lamott and Prudy Kohler, I understood how Picasso’s Cubist innovations and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring marked the rise of modernism. The interdisciplinary approach and broad historical sweep of the class challenged and engaged me in equal measure, and the imprint of Western Civ is evident in my own teaching practices in the literature classroom. The desire to provide more opportunities to engage in this kind of collaborative, multidisciplinary work has led to the creation of the Lamott Endowment for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Cirricular Innovation. Named after Dr.
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Bruce Lamott, who retired in 2016 after 36 years of teaching at University, this endowment will support the creation of interdisciplinary courses that facilitate dialogue between academic disciplines. This endowment was established to respond to a growing interest among UHS faculty to collaborate across departments. Dean of Faculty Nasif Iskander notes that the endowment provides the time and resources to “break down the silos of the program” through the creation of innovative courses that draw upon multiple methodologies. Interdisciplinarity already exists in the UHS curriculum; but the Lamott Fellowship gives instructors time to collaborate with their colleagues to generate courses that are grounded in interdisciplinary exploration. Students who take these classes also benefit. Iskander asserts that interdisciplinary learning gives students a “stronger sense of
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agency” because they are able to synthesize information in a more realistic way. Moreover, says Iskander, students witness the power of lifelong learning when they see their teachers “putting themselves in an explicit learning stance.” Indeed, watching teachers position themselves as learners has immense value for students. The History of Whiteness, the first class funded by the Lamott Fellowship, was offered in Fall 2017 and provided students with both Human Development and History credit. Taught by Human Development instructor Mollie Crittenden and history instructor Justin Morgan Johnson, this course “examined the origins and history of white as a racial category and whiteness as the mechanism to establish and perpetually assert imagined cultural norms.” Because of their shared interest in equity issues, Crittenden and Johnson developed this course to give students an intellectual
and affective understanding of whiteness. Says Crittenden, “We structured the course so that students were learning concepts and practices related to their way of being, which went beyond an intellectual framework.” Drawing upon readings about whiteness, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence as well as techniques that Crittenden has used in her work as a teacher with UNtraining of White
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