Six professors from St. Joseph’s College attended seminars at New York University’s Faculty Resource Network Summer 2019 Program June 10–14, gaining knowledge that they look to apply to their classes come fall.
“This program offers faculty the opportunity to participate in many wonderful programs led by top-notch scholars,” said Thomas Petriano, Ph.D., professor and chair of St. Joseph’s Department of Religious Studies. “This was my seventh summer participating.”
Dr. Petriano, along with Associate Professor of Philosophy Michael Burke, Ph.D., attended the seminar “Teaching for Social Justice Through Comics and Graphic Novels.”
“I wanted to get some ideas about how to incorporate comics and graphical novels into the course I teach on social justice, and I have gotten a plethora of ideas for how to use comics (and movies) like ‘X Men’ and ‘Black Panther’ for courses,” Dr. Petriano said. “I have discovered that the Marvel universe is filled with social justice themes.”
Dr. Burke, who teaches at SJC Brooklyn, plans on using the topics of race, sexual orientation and neurodiversity as they appear in different comic books and graphic novels to teach ethics in an honors concentration for the Honors Program.
A Renewed Appreciation
Mirella Landriscina, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology, attended the seminar “Violent Energies: Extractivism and Women’s Struggles in the Americas” because she wanted to learn more about the social impacts of the environmental degradation of communities and how people are mobilizing against it.
“I gained a renewed appreciation for the field of anthropology,” Dr. Landriscina said. “Several of the anthropological studies we read for class opened my eyes to how many serious environmental problems are connected to the exploitation of indigenous people.”
Dr. Landriscina said what she learned fits in nicely with her “Inequality and Social Class” course at SJC Brooklyn.
“Several of our readings addressed the phenomenon of urban community gardens,” she said. “We also took a class trip to see some of the gardens in the Lower East Side.”
Dr. Landriscina intends on incorporating a lesson and class trip around the topic of extractivism during her course this fall.
Why They Return
Leon Bernardyn, chair of the music department at St. Joseph’s, attended NYU’s summer program for the 14th straight year. He participated in the “Smartphone Filmmaking” seminar, and sat in on a couple days of the “Inside the Music: Critical Issues in Jazz, Blues, and Hip Hop” seminar.
“It’s a wonderful week of professors from around the world connecting outside of their comfort zones — with open hearts and minds,” he said. “They discover new research in their area of expertise, or adjacent to, or outside of their area. It’s an exhilarating conference that SJC participates in every summer.”
Dr. Petriano looks forward to the program every year, always thinking of different ways to apply his new knowledge to his courses at St. Joseph’s.
“One of the great things about this program is interacting with great colleagues from across the country,” he said. “Over the past seven years, I have incorporated much of what I have learned into my courses and also developed an SJC 100 course.”
Dr. Landriscina highly recommends the seminar she sat in on to colleagues.
“Anyone concerned about problems such as gender inequality, human rights abuses, the environmental crisis and poverty would find this seminar an enriching one,” she said.
Raymond D’Angelo, Ph.D., professor of sociology, and William Trevino, associate professor of communication studies, also participated in NYU’s Faculty Resource Network.
