InFocus: The First Cycle
InFocus is an innovative thematic programming sequence that promotes the analysis and examination of complex issues facing human beings in the 21st century: poverty and inequality, sustainability, health care and war and peace. Grappling with these problems from multidisciplinary perspectives better prepares our graduates to contribute to the world they enter. Take a look at the first four-year cycle.
Gordon Weil has always known the value of good old-fashioned groupthink—after all, interdisciplinary dialogue is a cornerstone of the liberal arts, especially at Moravian University. In 2010, the University began piloting “InFocus theme years,” putting important topics and ideas of our time in the spotlight for discussion and analysis.
After teaching a course on poverty for four years, the recently retired Dean of Faculty called a meeting of the minds of sorts to discuss the topic—what else could the University as a whole be doing to address the issue? Were there other issues worthy of exploring? But he knew having a meeting in a stuffy boardroom wasn’t going to draw out the creative genius of his faculty. What would: wine and cheese.
“As social scientists, sociologists, religion professors, nurses, musicians and more, we all had different stakes in poverty as a topic,” he says, reflecting on the “party” that would eventually give birth to InFocus as we know it today. “The beauty of being the Dean is that you can ask all these people to talk about it. I felt like I was a commander of this powerful army that could do so much more.”
Sonia Aziz, then assistant professor of economics, chimed in quickly. Her most recent research involves valuation of arsenic in drinking water in rural Bangladesh, where poverty is widespread, and suggested poverty be the focus of investigation for an entire year.
Aziz’s idea of a broader, more accessible topic spurred a rapid-fire round of ideas: “Climate change is a huge issue right now and will be for a long time.” “You’re right—we should do a sustainability year!” “What about health care? There’s so much to explore on a global level.” “War affects all generations in some way or another.” “Peace, too. How about war and peace?” “What if we rotate them?”
Suddenly, InFocus began to take shape, and Weil now had a list of topics that would provide a unifying focus for the faculty, staff and students each year. Faculty across all disciplines could integrate them into their courses as they see fit, knowing whatever they invested in a topic wouldn’t be wasted, as it would crop up again four years later. And from Weil’s perspective, all four topics of investigation: poverty and inequality, sustainability, healthcare, and war and peace, can be seen through the lens of the others. “These are issues students will face all their lives, but they’ll have examined it from the point of view of economic theory, literature, music and more,” says Weil. “It’s a wonderful way of doing the real liberal arts: analyzing complex problems from many different perspectives.”
And so it began with poverty and inequality for the 2011-2012 school year. Aziz and John Reynolds, professor of political science, served as directors. They shaped the future of InFocus with a dynamic first year of programming that infused the center of investigation (not a theme, as Aziz insisted from the start) into the patchwork of the campus. Aziz and Reynolds worked with Christopher Shorr, director of Moravian University Theatre, to produce relevant play readings accompanied by discussions. Judge Fern Fisher, deputy chief administrative judge for New York courts, spoke about the inequalities that exist in the justice system in New York and the work she has done to better the city she has served for years. The Reverend Jessie Jackson held a public conversation about poverty and inequality, calling it an “issue of the present,” and the Moravian University Alumni Association’s Lifelong Learning Program tailored its spring symposium to the topic: “The Crash of ’08: Reflections On and Lessons from the Great Recession.”
The following years expanded upon InFocus’ strong foundation. Diane Husic, professor of biological sciences, and Don St. John, professor of religion, used The Earth Charter, the “best example of a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to sustainability,” to guide their 2012-2013 year of sustainability. They launched an environmental film series, hosted a Campus Sustainability Day and co-sponsored the Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference, among an impressive list of speakers. Virginia O’Connell, associate professor of sociology, and Kerry Cheever, chair of the nursing department, made healthcare an accessible topic to students and faculty members in all disciplines during the 2013-2014 academic year. Lucky Hounds could hear Stephen Lewis, celebrated humanitarian and former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, speak on campus, they planned a health-themed musical concert and even managed to infuse healthcare into the annual student mathematics conference with the talk, “What can mathematical models tell us about losing and gaining weight?” by Montclair State’s Diana Thomas. War and peace finished out the four-year cycle this past year. Kelly Denton-Borhaug, chair of the religion department, and Daniel Jasper, associate professor of sociology, arranged for the college to host the LVAIC War and Peacebuilding Conference on campus. An art show at Payne Gallery showcased works of respected artists and photography by student veterans, and the Lehigh Valley Veterans Symposium and Education Fair brought local veterans to campus.
All the events, and the many more not listed, continued the learning of these topics out of the classroom, providing multiple lenses for investigation and reflection. “We’re doing some of the best liberal arts work with this program, and each year it has gone deeper and deeper,” says Weil.
That same year that InFocus started, Aziz crafted an affiliation agreement with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), an international health research institution that addresses critical health concerns in Bangladesh. Aziz used InFocus as the vehicle to cement an opportunity that would allow students to do research there. “When InFocus came around, it was the perfect research palette to try and learn something new,” she says. “An opportunity to translate research into action.”
That was also the start of Emily Lambright’s ’15 freshman year at Moravian University. She was randomly assigned to Aziz for academic advisement and quickly learned she had a passion for microeconomics (like her adviser). Lambright became a teaching assistant for Aziz and they began spending a lot of time together. “When we first met, neither of us knew that we would be having conversations around the valuation of water quality in Bangladesh,” says Aziz, sitting across from Lambright on a sunny afternoon in May. Lambright would graduate just days later with a 4.0 GPA and her bags packs for a fully-funded fellowship at Duke University where she’ll earn her Ph.D. in public policy and economics. “I didn’t realize she was going to focus so deeply on an area that I particularly specialize in.”
Lambright’s interests took her to Bangladesh for five weeks during the summer of 2014, under Aziz’s guidance as well as with support from SOAR and the environmental studies program. She was interning on a large scale project on household willingness to pay for water quality in urban slums funded at ICDDR,B by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Aziz accompanied Emily to Bangladesh where she spends most summers doing research on water quality. The two had weekly meetings, field trips and many long car and rickshaw rides discussing everything from research methodology to adjusting to the culture. When Lambright discovered a methodological flaw in the research, Aziz coached her on gaining her point while adhering to complex hierarchical research structures and protocols. For Lambright, this showcased the inherent challenges in, and care needed to do good work under the aegis of Poverty and Inequality.
“I always thought I wanted to do work in development economics, and this reinforced that for me,” says Lambright. “It was completely different than anything I had ever experienced. It makes you think about the context in which you live as well.” Due in part to this experience, Lambright chose a graduate school that will allow her to continue field work in developing countries. “The InFocus themes aligned with what I wanted to study, and it made working in those areas more of a priority for the professors here and the work I was already doing.”
Aziz beams as Emily describes her work. While their journey as faculty and student ends here, Aziz is confident their journey as colleagues will continue—as well as Lambright’s extremely bright future. “Am I proud of her? I’m over the moon about it,” she says. “This is what I dream about for our students, to be able to take a significant body of work that you reflect on at Moravian and get a chance to operationalize it in the field. For all arms of InFocus. Not just to consume knowledge, but to produce it.”
As for the future of InFocus, Weil is confident it will continue to grow. His dream: the program would provide $10,000 to a student or group of students that came up with the best way to address an InFocus center of investigation, and publish their research. All it needs, he says, is the funding. InFocus is one of Weil’s proudest projects—for the University, and the future of the liberal arts. “Every generation has idealistic, smart people that can make a difference. Let’s provide them an opportunity to realize their true global impact.”