˿Ƶ Town Hall
˿Ƶ Town Halls will develop research projects that link the topic of each course with urgent questions and challenge areas of InFocus: War, Peacebuilding and the Just Society; Scarcity: Poverty and Inequality; Sustainability; Health and Justice. Students will come together to share their research and to hear and learn from one another, together with Moravian faculty and expert consultants from our wider community. Our InFocus Town Hall is part of the process of building knowledge that will help us address society’s greatest needs.
Speak with any members of the InFocus Team if you are interested in participating in this opportunity in the future! The Town Hall Model has been written up by The Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) as a wonderfully promising venue that deepens student learning, creates stronger and more beneficial relationships with community partners, and increases student engagement.
According to the AAC&U, "As one student noted after participating in a Town Hall, 'I feel like the short two hours I spent in the discussions made me really open my eyes to [the fact] that there is a world out there and we can make it a better place … [the Town Hall Meeting] has made me want to be a more educated person about current events.' The self‐view expressed here indicates a sense of civic efficacy—the belief that one can participate in public life in ways that make a positive difference … [Town Halls help to encourage] an emerging positive possible self: a person with a future in the world, who can contribute to the larger good in the company of others, and who has an understanding of and a stated commitment to an ongoing process of remaining informed about current events as part of the path to reaching and becoming this future self." (Thia Wolf, "The Town Hall Meeting: Imagining a Self Through Public-Sphere Pedagogy," AAC&U 02/08/2018)