Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Foundations in the Humanities” Correspondence Course, 2017-20
I served as a teaching fellow for the Humanities in the Foundation correspondence course, which is offered to students incarcerated in California prisons. I taught Foundations I in 2017-18 via correspondence with students at North Kern State Prison and Foundations II: American Writers with students at Kern Valley State Prison and California Men’s Colony. In 2019, I developed a Foundations III course on Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which I will teach through correspondence and which will be offered to students in multiple California prisons. More information about the courses and programs can be found at this link and in this news report.
ACLU Santa Barbara Jails Project and the Arnhold Abolition Collaborative Research Project, 2017-20
Under the ACLU court ordered monitor of conditions of confinement and medical services within Southern California jail facilities, we met with incarcerated individuals at the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office jail to record their statements about conditions and treatment in the jail. The Abolition project is funded by a John Arnhold grant, and is an ongoing collaborative effort between faculty and students at UCSB to learn and teach about abolitionist issues. I have been an ACLU Ombudsperson for the Santa Barbara Jails Project and I served as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Arnhold Abolition Collaborative Research Project. PI: Professor Felice Blake. https://aclusocal.org/en/issues/jails-project
Andrew W. Mellon Engaging Humanities Initiative, 2019-20
The Engaging Humanities Initiative brings together UC Santa Barbara faculty, administrators, and graduate students to develop courses that connect humanities thinking to students’ identities and career goals. I served as a 2019-20 Graduate Fellow for this program. PI: Professor Linda Adler-Kassner. https://engaginghumanities.ucsb.edu/
Critical Pedagogy Initiative, 2016-19
The Critical Pedagogy Initiative runs programming in the UCSB English Department, including discussions, workshops, film screenings, and collaborative projects, that furthers conversations about teaching literature in the public university. I am the co-founder and former facilitator of this Initiative. https://criticalpedagogyinitiative.english.ucsb.edu/
Left to right: Graduate and undergraduate students collaborate on a series of art projects that put poems and art on the English Department walls; a meeting where we discussed the English Department’s commitment to social justice initiatives; Professor Alan Liu leads a discussion on pedagogy and digital humanities methods.
Nicole Dib 