Photo story: MCSP invokes scholarly community

Students, faculty and staff involved with the Michigan Community Scholars Program (MCSP) recently had the chance to showcase the program through a special poster session at Couzens Hall. As a living/learning community, first-year students living in Couzens take small, discussion-focused seminars taught in the residence hall. They also attend art events, lectures and social activities together. According to David Schoem, faculty director of MCSP and adjunct associate professor of sociology, the program binds together academic and social experiences, taking ideas from coursework into students’ residential life and reconstructing the image of the scholarly community.

The three-floor poster session allowed students to visually demonstrate what they have learned and accomplished in their seminars. At top, first-year student DaNitra Lindsey describes how her ‘The Arts and Community’ seminar in part allowed her to see and analyze performances by such artists as the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and be involved with the group’s residency project, and learn and write about unique architectural features in the Detroit area. Above, first-year students Brett Ferguson and Devhonna Mahone, MCSP Program Director Penny Pasque and first-year student Bayly Wheeler admire the group’s work in ‘Project Community Huron High School Tutoring,’ a seminar and project led by Schoem.

Photos by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services