The liberal arts education structure invites connections across disciplines. As a liberal arts institution, Connecticut College works to “educate students to put the liberal arts into action as citizens in a global society,” as shown in our mission statement. Assistant Professor of English, Michelle Neely, one of the newest English professors, has created new interdisciplinary connections across the curriculum through cross-listed English and Environmental Studies courses and her commitment to the academic centers.
The English department wanted to hire a professor with a focus on pre-1900 environmental literature, who could also make interdisciplinary connections, particularly between English and the sciences, and especially through the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment
Professor Neely expressed her interest in the interdisciplinary nature of the school, especially through our five academic centers and the common choice of students to double major. She explained, “The interdisciplinary conversations and the real efforts in that direction are really exciting to me.” She called her collaboration with the center “one of the most exciting elements of my year so far, seeing the incredible projects the Goodwin-Niering students do. As a group of students from different departments who wouldn’t necessarily be talking to each other, they’re so excited about their work.”
On joining our college community, Professor Neely explained her initial reactions: “I’ve been really struck by how friendly and welcoming the community is.” She added, “Even on the first day of the year, everyone was hugging. The whole campus was so happy to see each other.” She said that our strong community, beautiful seasonal campus, as well as the students’ commitment to social activism and justice has made her first year a delight.
Last year, before coming to Connecticut College, Professor Neely was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto. As a California native, she said this experience was a “crash course of winter weather and all things North.”
While working on a book and several articles, Professor Neely is currently teaching two classes, Occupy American Literature and American Earth: Puritans to Present, both of which examine how nature has been represented in American literature.
Brooke Safferman ’16, an English major in Professor Neely’s American Earth class, elaborated on the course: “[The class shows us] the importance of preserving our environment through a literary medium.” In this way, by accessing environmental issues through literature, the course makes environmental studies accessible to students not necessarily involved in science majors.
Two juniors, Dakota Peschel and Ayla Zuraw-Friedland, in Professor Neely’s Occupy American Literature class, also commented on the course’s uniqueness within the English department. Peschel explained, “Her class, like most upper level English classes, is very discussion-based, yet she is always there to guide discussions and is very encouraging of her students… instead of writing a standard final English paper, we have to write a ‘think piece,’ in which we use a text we have read in class and relate it to a contemporary issue in our society.”
Zuraw-Friedland commented on the wide variety of students interdisciplinary courses will attract. She believes courses like the ones being offered by Professor Neely will be interesting to students from all over campus, especially those who may not be interested in taking a “classic seminar” in the English department.
In the fall, Professor Neely will be teaching Essentials of Literary Study, a fundamental course that focuses on why reading literature, both poetry and prose, is relevant and important, and Humans and Other Animals in 19th Century American Literature, which introduces topics such as the animal, the expansion westward and heavy sociopolitical questions, such as race and women’s rights. Both courses will help strengthen the interdisciplinary bridge Professor Neely has helped to pave between the arts and the sciences. •
