Visiting Scholars
In the last 40 years in every part of the world, many educated, talented women have taken new places as leaders within their societies. These women represent a variety of academic disciplines and have made contributions through their teaching, creative arts and research to inform and promote women's intercultural learning. CWIL invites these artists, scholars, and activists to Saint Mary's and facilitates their interaction and contribution in order to initiate critically needed national and international conversations and exchanges about women's roles in society across the world.
Sarah Mkhonza
November 2003 - August 2004
Sarah Mkhonza is a visiting scholar from Swaziland, Africa. She is a professor of creative writing and linguistics at the University of Swaziland. Mkhonza taught one section of a new course titled “Writing Life Histories.” This class was composed of both women from Saint Mary’s College and the South Bend community. The participants engaged in creative writing and learned how to harvest their life experiences in ways that help their stories connect with a reader’s own life experiences. In addition, Mkhonza facilitated a workshop about writing memoir for the CWIL “Wellsprings of Wisdom” seminar June 14-18, 2004.
Mkhonza received a grant from the international Scholars at Risk program, which is helping her to restore her manuscripts lost in Swaziland because of the persecution she experienced in her country. Scholars for this special program are chosen because of the importance of their research. Mkhonza is reporting on the oppression of working women in Swaziland. Scholars at Risk director Rob Quinn chose Saint Mary’s College as a host for Mkhonza because of CWIL’s own research and teaching about women’s roles in the society, social development, and justice. The Scholars at Risk program seeks to find places and colleagues for scholars who are under the threat of repression, violence, censorship, or punishment arising out of the scholar's work, prominence, and/or exercise of fundamental human rights. CWIL offers to Mkhonza a safe and creative place in which she can pursue her research and writing along with other scholars at Saint Mary’s. In her work and teaching, Mkhonza has helped women on the campus and in the community to better appreciate the freedom with which each person can pursue studies and work.
Helen Thimmayya
January 2004 - May 2004
Helen Thimmayya was a visiting scholar of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. This program seeks partners who will help in the training of teachers and administrators from Asia in hopes that they will return to their own institutions with new ideas and greater professional development. Dr. Rita Pullium, vice president of the program, chose CWIL and Saint Mary’s to be a mentor-host for Thimmayya because of CWIL’s explorations in world cultures and cross-cultural understanding. Dr. Pullium also believed that the research and scholarship, teaching and learning, and community connections components of CWIL modeled for Helen a unique way to engage in research, teaching, and building bridges across the campus, other institutions, and the local community. Thimmayya is an English professor at the Women’s Christian College in Chennai, India. She participated in this program to develop new ideas for curriculum development and administration in her college.
Thimmayya's presence at Saint Mary's College had a great impact on our campus life and academic pursuits. Thimmayya's introduction to Saint Mary's began with "walking" along with the students. She learned about the student affairs programs from the administrators, student government officers, and the students themselves. She attended meetings and programs conducted by the various directors and students and contributed her insights to these endeavors. Our student diversity board was especially appreciative of her ideas as they looked into issues concerning diversity and cross-cultural understanding and communication among students, staff, and faculty.
After these initial experiences, Helen then began visiting various academic departments and attending classes. In each of these encounters, she was open to exchange of information and ideas. Some professors asked Helen to lead various parts of the discussion. These interactions were helpful to the students, faculty, and the departments as they engaged in deeper questions regarding intercultural learning and the need for greater openness to diversifying the faculty and student body.
In February, Thimmayya joined the CWIL planning team for "Living as Women of Faith-Sharing Our Social Justice Teachings”. Thimmayya's experience and knowledge of the realities in Asia were extremely helpful for the success of this program.
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