The Tang Institute will host a Lunch & Discussion series each Friday and led by faculty on campus to showcase their work. These lunches will also feature collaborators, practitioners and other members of the Andover community who are working on “interesting projects,” according to the Institute’s post in the “Andover Gazette.”
During each lunch, a faculty member, part of a group called the Tang Institute Fellows, will lead discussion on current Institute projects, focused on improving education at Andover.
Caroline Nolan, Director of the Tang Institute, said that the lunch series was designed in the hopes of creating a space to foster conversations and exchange for upcoming projects.
“We are in the first official year of the Institute, but from our founding day, the priority has been to host and feature community projects, innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The idea of having numerous opportunities and events to do that has been a part of the plan right from the beginning,” Nolan said.
Eric Roland, Precourt Director of Partnerships for the Tang Institute, said, “I think having conversations with a community as broad as possible is hopefully something that not only is beneficial to the project that the faculty is doing but also for all of us to continue to learn and think about new practices in the work we’re doing.”
The lunches, which are open to the public, including students and faculty, are part of a pilot plan for the Tang Institute, a startup that launched this past fall and is devoted to promoting innovative teaching and learning, according to the Institute’s website.
Nolan said, “I also hope that we’ll be able to feature some other initiatives around campus that want to be part of this conversation. There are people doing creative things everywhere around here and if we can tap into those things, into each of them, we’d love to do it.”
The first of the lunch series will be held on April 3 in Pearson Hall by Noah Rachlin, Instructor in History and Tang Institute Fellow, whose project is titled, “ ‘I Can’t Do That… Yet’ Cultivating Learning Dispositions.”
Rachlin said, “Our argument is that you need to have a certain disposition, you need to be prepared for the challenge and the struggles that come with learning and know how to handle that. What we’re trying to do is think critically about how we can structure what we do and what specific language we use that helps to cultivate that disposition when they’re here at Andover.”
Rachlin was put in contact with the Tang Institute when he first expressed his interest in improving teaching on campus. Through conversations, he was eventually connected to Caroline Nolan and made part of the current Fellow group of 2014-2015.
“The thing that has been really valuable about the Institute is that it has provided a physical space and also provided a series of thought partners. It has provided a group of colleagues and adults who are really insightful and thoughtful and can help both support in a spirited way that cheers along this work and also in a way then lends a critical eye to think about what’s working, what could be better and what are the next steps,” Rachlin said.
“This place is pretty big and sometimes there’s a lot of space between us. The geographic or physical space between academic buildings sometimes manifests itself in practical and cultural space and makes it hard for us to know what’s going on in other areas and to bridge gaps and come together in ways that are really constructive. Hopefully, the lunches are a small step towards addressing that,” he continued.
