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Cornell poet’s play “Trap Door” opens an aperture into Ithaca history
May 14, 2021 — “Trap Door,” a “headphone walking play” that opens May 20 in downtown Ithaca, invites audiences to notice the streets they travel, said Cornell poet Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon.
“Meandering these streets, one might happen upon a landmark site or a name easily recognized. But how many stories go untold? Which ones have slipped into gaps in history? What place do such silences hold in shaping a community?” said Van Clief-Stefanon, associate professor of literatures in English and lead writer of the play. “‘Trap Door offers an aperture: one the walking play format encourages us to pass through, allowing us to see our surroundings in a new light.”
“Trap Door” is the theater’s third headphone walking play, a form pioneered in this region by The Cherry. The project, partnering with Tompkins County History Center and Cherry Arts, received an Engaged Research Grant.
Students capture oral histories of Ithaca leaders in new book
Children and farmer learn together on a farm
Local youth learn about sustainable farming at Rocky Acres Community Farm with Cornell Civil Leaders Fellow Rafael Laponte.
May 10, 2021 — Ithaca’s community organizers, activists, Black farmers and more have transformed the community in ways big and small. And they have stories to tell.
A new book “13 Leaders: Stories of Community Building for Systemic Change” published by Cornell students honors the journeys and life’s work of 13 Cornell Civic Leader Fellows, who are grassroots leaders that have played critical roles in developing resilient communities in and around Ithaca. For the past five years, undergraduate students majoring in development sociology in the Department of Global Development documented the oral histories of local community leaders as part of their senior capstone course.
Read the full article on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences website.
Engaged learning spotlight: beyond incarceration
May 3, 2021 — Difficult questions planted the seeds for Professor Anthony Ong’s latest course, the three-credit Positive Psychology: Inside Prison (and Out). A partnership with the Cornell Prison Education Program (CPEP), HD4390 was funded by an Engaged Curriculum Grant. To accommodate ongoing pandemic social distancing requirements and tech constraints within the prison system, Ong embraced a Zoom-based format and homed in on how positive psychology informs the post-incarceration transition. Cornell seniors and CPEP alumni now living across the U.S. were invited to enroll.
Read the full story on the College of Human Ecology website.
Joanna Papadakis ’21 honored for town-gown innovation
Joanna Papadakis ’21, top row, second from right, displays her Cornell Campus-Community Leadership Award during a virtual ceremony April 23.
April 26, 2021 — Joanna Papadakis ’21 has received the 2021 Cornell Campus-Community Leadership Award, an annual honor given by the Division of University Relations to a graduating senior who has shown exceptional town-gown leadership and innovation.
“Over the last year, in concert with the Master of Public Health (MPH) program, Joanna has focused on development of a coordinated worst-case emergency plan for Tompkins County, in collaboration with the Tompkins County Health Department and Office of the Medical Examiner,” said Joel Malina, vice president for university relations. “It’s not a happy topic, but basically needed ‘what if’ scenario-building that has been very much appreciated by off-campus professionals.”
The collaboration between graduate and undergraduate students was supported by the MPH program, an Office of Engagement Initiatives’ Engaged Opportunity Grant and the Cornell Community Work Study Program.
Registration open for June community-engaged learning faculty institute
April 23, 2021 — Registration is open for the annual Faculty Institute on Community-Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT), where Cornell faculty come together to understand the foundations of community-engaged learning (CEL), bounce ideas off one another and share how they’ve used CEL to deepen student learning and connect with community needs.
Usually a two-day, in-person event, the 2021 CELT is a series of four online Community Conversations, held weekly June 1–22, from 1 to 1:50 p.m.