The Transformative Speaking Program of Hampshire College

The Transformative Speaking Program was launched in 2013 to bridge the gap between students’ extraordinary ideas and ideals and the oral communication skills they need to present themselves in their careers and be effective change makers throughout their lives.

Cultivating conviction and courage among students to use their voices, the program provides resources for developing specific skills necessary for persuasive public speaking, productive civic discourse, and meaningful interpersonal communication.

The program facilitates a collaborative learning community among participating faculty for support in designing and teaching speaking-intensive 100-level seminars across the disciplines. The program also educates and supports a staff of passionate students to partner with faculty to provide individual speaking mentorship to fellow students in these seminars.

The program affirms that every person has the right—indeed, the responsibility—to speak. Transformative leadership and justice require many different cultural perspectives, discourse traditions, rhetorical strategies, and languages. Through this program, every Hampshire student is supported in developing her/his own unique and empowered voice.

People

The Transformative Speaking Program is run out of the Dean of Faculty’s office and is overseen by a faculty Director and a soon-to-be Faculty Advisory Committee comprised of junior and senior faculty across the disciplines.

Director
Laura Greenfield, Ph.D.
Visiting Associate Professor of Communications and Education

For Students

More questions? Look out for an upcoming announcement about an information session.

Beginning fall 2014, many Hampshire students enrolled in a range of 100-level seminars across the disciplines will have the opportunity to gain instruction and support in developing confident speaking skills. Through faculty-led class activities and assignments geared towards speaking development (class discussion, oral reports, dialogues, debates, and more) and individualized mentoring with peers, students will find resources for transforming what is often an area of anxiety into an area of strength.

Would you like to help shape this program by becoming a peer mentor?

Why Be a Peer Mentor?

Peer mentors join a vibrant and supportive community of students who share their enthusiasm and interests; experience the exhilaration of helping other people gain confidence and develop their voices; gain tremendous experience as educators through regular practice, close mentorship from a participating faculty member, and formal instruction in preparation; become even stronger speakers and thinkers themselves; find unexpected meaningful connections between this work and many other areas of their lives; get to take a leadership role in shaping the early development of this new initiative; and get paid to do something they enjoy!

Who Is Eligible to Apply to Be a Peer Mentor?

Almost all students are eligible to apply. Students may represent any class year (with the exception of Division III students in their final year—you will be graduated by the time your work would begin!). Students can represent any area of concentration. Students can come from any language background and do not need to “sound like a native speaker” in English, speak with a “standard English” accent, or conform to any other subjective standard. Students should have a promising degree of competence in participating in class discussions and giving oral presentations, but need not be “experts” or have formal training in speaking. Students who experience nervous butterflies themselves often make great mentors.

Priority will be given to Division I applicants (as they have more years to work with the program); applicants who demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and empathy; applicants who demonstrate an excitement about and a commitment to their own growth and learning; applicants who are open to engaging in discussion about the broader social implications of the education they provide; multilingual and multidialectal students; and students who are interested in working with the program beyond the initial pilot year.

What is the Commitment?

Selected students will enroll in a four-credit equivalent academic course called “Revolution through Collaboration: Theories and Practices of Peer Mentoring in Speaking” for the spring 2014 semester. This course provides instruction in developing a range of speaking skills, education theory, and practicum work for mentoring peers. Rather than learning a specific method, students will be invited into a rigorous exploration of competing questions in order to develop their own critically-informed, evolving philosophies and practices. Speaking and peer mentoring work will be considered through a variety of lenses, including institutionalized oppression and revolutionary social change.

Working as a peer mentor is a paid job and can be used towards work-study as well as satisfying CEL-1 requirements. Peer mentors in this first cohort will commit to working with the program for 10-hours per week during fall 2014 and spring 2015. Peer mentors may choose to continue the position until they graduate.

Paid responsibilities will include some participation in facilitating in-class speaking activities, meeting individually and in groups outside of class with students; meeting periodically with the faculty partner; attending staff meetings; and participating in ongoing education workshops and discussion.

I Want to Be a Peer Mentor! How Do I Apply?

Contact Laura Greenfield (lgreenfield@hampshire.edu) for an application.

Submit an application by October 11. The application includes a general form, several brief essay questions, and a reference form for two recommendations (at least one should be from a Hampshire College faculty member and the other can be from a high school teacher or previous employer).

Finalists will be contacted to schedule interviews immediately following fall break.

All students will be notified of decisions by early November, in time for the spring course registration process.

For Faculty

Why participate?

Faculty have the opportunity to shape the early work of a cutting-edge program that promises to foster a greater sense of community, collaboration, and empowered speaking among students and faculty. As one of only a small number of speaking-based programs at colleges and universities in the United States, Hampshire is continuing to lead the way as an innovator in higher education.

Research shows that institutions with strong peer mentoring programs reap great rewards:

- Students report a sense of belonging at their institutions, engage more enthusiastically with coursework, demonstrate greater ability in the subject areas, experience a greater sense of self-efficacy and courage, and discover life-long transferable skills.

- Peer mentors learn through reflection and practice to be strong educators and powerful communicators.

- Faculty experience greater investment among students and more vibrant classroom work.

- Institutions see decreased attrition rates among the student body.


Which faculty can participate?

Currently in its pilot phase, the program will work with 10 faculty members in the first year, 20 in the second year, and 30 in the third year and years thereafter.

All interested faculty members are encouraged to participate in the program, regardless of their discipline or experience with teaching speaking-intensive courses.

Eligible faculty members are those scheduled to teach at least two consecutive semesters of 100-level seminars during the 2014 – 2015 academic year.

Ideal faculty participants are those enthusiastic about strengthening the speaking curriculum through their courses, open to learning from as well as supporting fellow faculty in strengthening speaking pedagogy, and willing to partner with and mentor a student staff member assigned to their course.

If faculty interest exceeds program capacity, decisions will be made to ensure strong representation across disciplines.

What is the commitment?

New faculty participants will be confirmed each fall. In the spring, faculty will participate in a monthly faculty teaching circle facilitated by the Director through the Center for Teaching and Learning, during which time they will support one another in each designing their own speaking-intensive syllabus for the upcoming year, creating and assessing speaking assignments, facilitating class discussions, and making the most of a student peer mentor. The following fall and spring, the faculty will teach a speaking-intensive 100-level seminar, paired with a student mentor.

Faculty will receive a modest stipend for their participation in the teaching circle.

During the semesters teaching, faculty will communicate regularly with the student mentor to facilitate his/her work with the course. They will also have periodic opportunities to meet with fellow participating faculty for ongoing guidance and support and to provide feedback to the program about their experience.

Space permitting, interested faculty may request (and are encouraged!), to continue working with peer mentors in speaking-intensive 100-level seminars in future years.

I want to participate! What should I do now?

Interested faculty should contact Laura Greenfield (lgreenfield@hampshire.edu) by November 1.

Your participation is also encouraged in nominating students to apply to work as peer mentors. Nominations are welcome regardless of faculty participation in the cohort. Nominations may be emailed to Laura Greenfield and should arrive by the end of September.

Contact

Director
Laura Greenfield, Ph.D.
Visiting Associate Professor of Communications and Education
lgreenfield@hampshire.edu
Library room 209