{"id":37396,"date":"2017-01-05T12:35:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T20:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=37396"},"modified":"2017-01-05T12:35:01","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T20:35:01","slug":"diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/","title":{"rendered":"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg\" alt=\"cogs\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-37397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs-250x143.jpeg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When people ask me if I am a teacher, I proudly answer yes and their faces light up\u2014probably because almost everyone has had a teacher who made a difference in their lives. When people ask where I teach, I reluctantly say at a college and, more reluctantly, at a law school. You see, sadly, people value postsecondary teachers less than they value K\u201312 teachers. This dismissal of our value is due in part to a general lack of understanding of our hard work.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the presidential election, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the future of higher education in this country. Some may question the worth of higher education or its \u201creturn on investment,\u201d yet its value is obvious to those denied access to higher education in the past. As the role of college and university educators will no doubt continue to be part of our national discourse, we need to acknowledge what they do to serve America.<\/p>\n<p>Educators are charged to do three things: to teach in their subject areas; to advance knowledge through research and scholarship; and to provide service.<\/p>\n<p>My observations here focus on the service component, which can be very time-consuming but often matters the least to committees that evaluate faculty members for tenure and promotions. Much has been written about the huge service obligations placed on female faculty and faculty of color. While service obligations are often distributed unfairly, I posit here a reframing of these service obligations to help faculty members like me, a faculty woman of color, forge ahead.<\/p>\n<p>To examine my years of service you could look at my <a href=\"http:\/\/law.mc.edu\/faculty\/directory\/angela-mae-kupenda\" target=\"_blank\">CV<\/a>. You will see the usual faculty involvement on committees and in community groups. You will also see other extensive service, such as my student mentoring. But a better way to examine my service is to take a look at one wall of my office, which my students and I call the \u201cWall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This \u201cWall of Fame\u201d started several years ago when I was in a post-tenure slump. Questioning my calling, I started to ask, \u201cWhat is this institution I serve?\u201d I started to reflect on the great impact my professor mentors had and continue to have on my life. My wall of fame developed like a quilt from those scattered thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>As I worked with diverse students and other mentees, I participated in their development and saw them overcome huge obstacles to their success. Some obstacles involved academic work or writing. Some involved health and family matters. Other difficulties came from prejudice and bias. I engaged with my mentees as they continuously overcame these challenges and continued on the road to success.<\/p>\n<p>When my students and mentees e-mailed me \u201cpictures\u201d of their successes, I did two things. First, I responded with my characteristic \u201cYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\u201d Then I printed out the pictures documenting their success and taped them to what eventually became my \u201cWall of Fame.\u201d I added to the wall pictures of some family members and friends with encouraging stories of resilience.<\/p>\n<p>When I walk in my office in the mornings, I glance at the \u201cWall of Fame.\u201d The wall reminds me of my hours of service <em>and<\/em> my students\u2019 great accomplishments. These accomplishments include graduating, receiving judicial clerkships, winning writing competitions, publishing, making academic presentations, passing bar exams, advancing in their careers, serving others and growing in that service, celebrating marriages, and rejoicing with children born or growing up. Their joy brings purpose to my academic work and service.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, as current students and mentees share what seem to them to be insurmountable obstacles, I get up from my seat at my desk, walk over to them, lift them gently by the arm, and walk them over to the \u201cWall of Fame.\u201d Somewhere on the wall is the story of another person who overcame similar struggles. This shows students that they can make it, too. Students inevitably say, \u201cOne day, I will make it to your wall of fame, too.\u201d And, invariably, they do.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cWall of Fame\u201d has grown, and I now see how it resembles a quilt: a quilt to warm when academia and educational institutions and our society more broadly are cold places; a quilt to comfort when one is engaged in what seems to be an unrelenting struggle; a quilt of memories to forge resilience in the face of challenges; a quilt created from seemingly random pieces woven together that tell a beautiful story about learning, service, mentoring, resilience, commitment, struggle, equality\u2014overcoming one day, and never giving up on today or tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>When people ask me during these times what do I do of value as a professor in higher education, I will smile and reply, \u201cYAY for me! I help make beautiful quilts!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Author Bio: <\/strong>Angela Mae Kupenda is a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When people ask me if I am a teacher, I proudly answer yes and their faces light up\u2014probably because almost everyone has had a teacher who made a difference in their lives. When people ask where I teach, I reluctantly say at a college and, more reluctantly, at a law school. You see, sadly, people [&hellip;]\n&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/\" class=\"more\">learn more&rarr;<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":37397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[42633],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-37396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-mentoring"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026 - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026 - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When people ask me if I am a teacher, I proudly answer yes and their faces light up\u2014probably because almost everyone has had a teacher who made a difference in their lives. When people ask where I teach, I reluctantly say at a college and, more reluctantly, at a law school. You see, sadly, people [&hellip;]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-05T20:35:01+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-05T20:35:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":821,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/cogs.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"mentoring\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/\",\"name\":\"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026 - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/cogs.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-05T20:35:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/cogs.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/cogs.jpeg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer &amp; tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026 - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026 - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"When people ask me if I am a teacher, I proudly answer yes and their faces light up\u2014probably because almost everyone has had a teacher who made a difference in their lives. When people ask where I teach, I reluctantly say at a college and, more reluctantly, at a law school. You see, sadly, people [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2017-01-05T20:35:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026","datePublished":"2017-01-05T20:35:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/"},"wordCount":821,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg","keywords":["mentoring"],"articleSection":["Higher Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/","name":"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026 - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg","datePublished":"2017-01-05T20:35:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cogs.jpeg","width":700,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diverse-college-academics-maybe-make-quilts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What do diverse college academics do? Maybe make quilts\u2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer &amp; tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37396"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=37396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}