A New Partnership with an Extraordinary Scholar-in-Residence By Renata Cioth Mulder P’17 A grant from the prestigious E.E. Ford Foundation made possible the launch of a new exciting program in the 2020-21 academic year. Despite the burdens of the pandemic, at Ursuline learning for the 21st Century has evolved in new ways. At the start of the second quarter, on November 24, 2020, Adria Armbrister, PhD, ’94 was named as the school’s inaugural Scholar-in-Residence. Adria was excited and honored to return to Ursuline, and was enthusiastically welcomed by Eileen Davidson. “Dr. Armbrister is sharing with students her international expertise in economic development, global health, and ethnic equality,” said President Davidson. “We are extremely fortunate that Dr. Armbrister has both realworld understanding as an international project manager in Latin America as well as academic experience at the college level. Her involvement will enrich our academics, lift up understudied perspectives, and help Ursuline as we strive for a more inclusive academic experience. And we
Dr. Armbrister led a discussion with our Global Scholars on Venezuela’s current socio-economic difficulties.
are grateful that this Scholar-in-Residence program is made possible by an E.E. Ford Foundation grant.” Collaboration Across the Curriculum Dr. Armbrister partnered with teachers in the Social Studies and English departments. Notably, she also worked with students examining global problems and solutions through our signature Global Scholars program. One topic was an exploration of the many reasons for Venezuela’s current socio-economic difficulties. Our unique Personal Development program also benefitted from this partnership with Dr. Armbrister. And, although the focus of her work was with our high school, Dr. Armbrister made time to meet with two Middle School Personal Development classes. Her dynamic yet welcoming approach immediately put the classes at ease and lively discussions ensued. Dr. Armbrister’s conversation with our Model United Nations club included sharing her experience of living in Peru and Colombia and discussing the obstacles to improvement of the quality of life in South America. Dr. Armbrister congratulated our students on their involvement in Model UN, noting that it helped them to see the reality of 48
