For our July member spotlight, we’re highlighting the work of Michael Jacobs, a seven-year member of the MLA who serves as provost and vice president of academic and student affairs at Monroe Community College. Read about Michael’s work on the Committee on Community Colleges and which MLA resources he recommends other members take advantage of:
“Serving on MLA’s Committee on Community Colleges (as a member and chair) was a profoundly worthwhile experience. For one, it imbued me with a deep understanding of the state of humanities education in two-year institutions—not simply the challenges we’re facing, but also the opportunities we’ve been afforded to align our work more seamlessly with the access-oriented and equity-driven mission of the community college. And this has proved instrumental in my efforts to communicate the value of our disciplines and programs in academic, professional, and societal contexts.”
Recommended resource: “There are two that immediately come to mind. The first is the Institutes on Reading and Writing Pedagogy. I served on the committee that developed the curricular framework for this initiative (way back in 2018), and I can say unequivocally that it’s one of the professional accomplishments of which I’m most proud—both for the collaborative process that shaped it and for the lasting impact I know it will have. Again—just another example of the MLA’s grasp of the importance of AOIs. The second is the range of ongoing programs focused on humanities leadership development. Janine Utell (MLA’s associate director of academic program services and professional development) has done incredible work in collaboratively building professional learning opportunities to help burgeoning leaders not only advocate for the humanities—to (re)establish their central role in higher ed—but also make possible their innovation in alignment with the evolving educational landscape.”