Eddy Hall is empty. “Where Did They Go?” banners direct students to the Writing Center in Johnson Hall and to the three buildings housing Philosophy and English faculty and staff: Clark, Behavioral Sciences, and Ingersoll Hall, where dorm rooms have become offices. Despite the relocations, English faculty continue to demonstrate that innovative teaching and learning are more about people than place. They are reaching beyond the traditional classroom in exciting ways. Here are just three examples.

From Dan Beachy-Quick:

On July 22-24, 2015 we’ll be hosting a 3-day interdisciplinary symposium organized around the theme of “Crisis & Creativity.” In an effort to find a useful dialogue between sciences and arts in relation to the pressing issues of the day, we’ll be looking at “crisis” in all its forms — from sociological definition of an event that affects every strata of society, to the political in which crisis reveals the underlying disorders that allow injustice of many sorts to persist, to “crisis” as a primary metaphor for those purposes and motions that result in the making of a work of art.

Poet and activist Brenda Hillman, artist and curator Michael Swaine, and a colleague (soon to be determined) from CSU’s own esteemed faculty on Environmental Sustainability, will lead a group of writers, artists, educators, archeologists, scientists drawn from near and far through morning workshops designed to foster engaged collaboration across disciplines too often at a distance from one another.

Each afternoon will include open house “maker’s spaces” in which the community will be invited to join the conversation and its larger hopes of creating work of many sorts that address those crises affecting us all. Each evening will conclude with a public event: round-table discussion, presentation of work, and a reading/presentation by those involed in the workshop. We’ll also have a website that invites all who visit it to join in the effort of the whole, be they here or afar — details in greater abundance are soon to come.

From Camille Dungy:

This semester, in E479, Recent US Poetry, students have the chance to meet seven acclaimed contemporary poets. American Book Award winner Jericho Brown, Kingsley Tufts winner Matthea Harvey, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Adrian Matjeka, National Poetry series winning Julie Carr and Yale Younger Prize winning Eduardo Corral are among the esteemed poets who will visit the class either in person or via teleconference.

After having read a book by each author as well as selected accompanying poems that demonstrate the robustness of contemporary poetry, students have the opportunity to speak directly with each poet about his or her influences, poetics, and practice. We’re learning a lot, and we’re having fun, too!

From Antero Garcia:

Through a Creative Works Commercialization Award from CSU Ventures, Antero Garcia is currently developing The Educator’s Game Design Toolkit. Created in collaboration with a current high school teacher, this project is focused on developing a commercially viable product for teachers and teacher educators to increase the preparation of students’ 21st century learning. Building off of Antero’s research on game design within schools, this product will allow teachers to collaborate and create powerful gaming-centered opportunities in which youth can learn.