HFA Days: How to Teach Anything

Thursday, March 26, 2026, 9:00-10:00 a.m., Bernie Dallas Room, 507 Goodell Hall

Panelists:

• Jenny Adams, Professor and Chair, Department of English. First Year Seminar: “Couch to 5K: UMass Edition”
• Stephen Paparo, Professor of Music Education, Department of Music and Dance. First Year Seminar: “Strumming and Singing: Participatory Music Making with the Ukulele”
• Yolanda Covington-Ward, Professor and Chair, W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies. First Year Seminar: “Using Black Feminist Writing for College Success”
• Tyler Clark, Ph.D. Candidate, English Department, (degree expected 2028), First Year Seminar: “How Gay Culture is Made”
• Damion Scott, Ph.D. Candidate, W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies, (degree expected 2028), First Year Seminar: “American Prison Literature: Voices from the Inside”
   

Learning to play the ukulele. Running a 5K race. Exploring cultural obsessions with kitsch and drag. These are some of the many topics that faculty and graduate students taught as 1-credit First Year Seminars this past fall. In this roundtable, we’ll discuss what worked, what didn’t, and the ways you can turn the subject or hobby you love into a meaningful classroom experience for UMass students and help them acclimate to university life.