Education Guide 7.26.26 - Flipbook - Page 6
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| Sunday, July 26, 2026
AACC students attend multiple sessions during the June 3 Read, Engage, Act Conference in the Humanities (REACH), which is the signature event of the Center for Liberal Arts Work.
Students, faculty, staff and community guests came together for sessions centered on dialogue and the current Big Question, “What is power and what does it look like?”
Liberal Arts Innovations
New educational opportunities for students in a variety of fields
By E. Rose Scarff, Contributing Writer
T
he Center for Liberal Arts
Work (CLAW) at Anne Arundel
Community College (AACC)
offers seminar courses across
disciplines focused on a particular
question. “What CLAW does is to try
to create a unifying through line for all
of those general education classes,”
says Candice Mayhill, Ph.D., professor
of English, co-convener of CLAW.
This year’s question is “What is
power and what does it look like?” It
will be discussed in their English 101
class, in their introductory biology and
psychology, etc. In each class the
students find they are discussing the
same topic, but through a different
lens. It really gets them thinking and
talking to one another.
CLAW came into being after the
pandemic when it was found that students coming back to the classroom
were having trouble talking in person.
Using a connection with St. John’s
College in Annapolis, seminar classes
in the liberal arts were offered to AACC
students around a particular topic.
These discussions among students
and faculty proved fruitful, so with a
grant, CLAW is now offering a wider
focus across the curriculum.
Students have input into the topic
chosen for a series. They also take
turns leading the discussion on the
current readings, usually teamed with
another student. Because of the wide
range of age and background of community college students, these discussions bring many viewpoints to the
table, which is to everyone’s benefit.
Then they go home and share what
they were discussing with family and
friends, and the viewpoint widens.
If students take at least three seminars in different disciplines, they are
eligible for a capstone course team
taught by faculty. The students look
back over their experience with their
big questions and how that helped
them grow and develop. They then
graduate with a letter of recognition in
applied humanities.
CLAW also offers one-time opportunities for the whole community. Last
year the drama department put on “The
Diary of Anne Frank.” It was so powerful that CLAW provided a post-show
seminar where the director, actors
and audience could unpack what they
had just experienced. Another way to
