Limed: Teaching with a Twist
Season 3, Episode 1

Host Matt Wittstein joins this month’s guest, Israel Balderas, to discuss civil discourse in what is a tense political climate on many college campuses. Israel wants to ensure his Media Law and Ethics course is taking advantage of the opportunity to practice student-led discourse with an eventful political calendar and dynamic news cycles. Panelists Miriam Glaser Lipsky from the University of Miami, Timothy McCarthy from Harvard University, and Natalie Peeples, an Elon University Psychology student, share their beliefs about dialogue and civic engagement in higher education, discuss how to invite others into discussion, and provide some practical advice for building trust and civility in the classroom. 

View a transcript of this episode.

This episode was hosted by Matt Wittstein, edited by Olivia Taylor, and produced by Matt Wittstein and Olivia Taylor in collaboration with Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning.

About the Guest

J. Israel Balderas is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and Assistant Professor of Journalism at Elon University. His teaching and research focus on media law, ethics, and government regulation of expression and newsgathering. Balderas brings extensive experience from his career as a news anchor, investigative reporter, and producer for local TV stations and FOX News Channel. He serves on the board of the Solutions Journalism Network and has held leadership positions with the Society of Professional Journalists. A graduate of The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, Balderas leverages his legal background for pro bono work, including representing migrant children and assisting nonprofits during the Covid-19 crisis. His multifaceted career exemplifies a commitment to journalism, education, and public service. You can learn more about Israel on his faculty profile page. 

About the Panel

Miriam Lipsky, Ph.D., serves as the director of the Platform for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (PETAL) at the University of Miami (UM) and is also an adjunct faculty member in the School of Education and Human Development at UM. As the director of PETAL, Miriam leads initiatives to foster educational innovation and develops programming to creatively support faculty in building their skills and networks to drive teaching excellence. She also designs and leads educational initiatives focusing diversity and inclusion, and consults with units throughout the university on programs to promote a Culture of Belonging. Since 2018, Miriam has spearheaded UM’s Intergroup Dialogue initiative, obtaining several grants to move this work forward within the university. She teaches an intergroup dialogue course for undergraduates called Creating Belonging through Dialogue, and created and leads UM’s UDialogue programs on intergroup dialogue for faculty and graduate students.  You can learn more about Miriam’s work or contact her via her UM Profile. 

Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Ph.D., is an award-winning scholar, educator, and human rights advocate who has taught at Harvard University since 1998. At the Graduate School of Education, he is core faculty in the Equity and Opportunity Foundations Curriculum, Online Master’s Program in Education Leadership, and Higher Education Concentration. At the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was the first openly gay faculty member and still teaches the school’s only course on LGBTQ matters, he is faculty chair of the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program and faculty associate at the Center for Public Leadership. Dr. McCarthy is the academic director emeritus and Stanley Paterson professor of American History for the Boston Clemente Course, a free college humanities course for lower income adults in Dorchester and co-recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has taught in Clemente since its founding in 2001 and also currently serves on the national Board of Directors for the Clemente Course in the Humanities. An historian of politics and social movements, he has published five books, most recently Reckoning with History: Unfinished Stories of American Freedom (Columbia, 2021). For more information about Dr. McCarthy’s teaching, please see HGSE’s Instructional Moves Project and his full faculty bio. 

Natalie Peeples is a third-year student at Elon University majoring in Psychology with minors in Early Childhood and Dance. As a Lumen Scholar and Honors Fellow at Elon, she is working on a two-year undergraduate thesis exploring a cultural comparison between Denmark and the U.S. and how those countries conceptualize early childhood well-being through both parental and child-centered lenses. She began work on her Lumen thesis this summer through Elon’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE). She also has been teaching dance for six years, and currently teaches dance at Miss Kim’s in Burlington in the styles of jazz, tap, and ballet for children ages 2-12. 

Resources Related to this Episode

Resources Referenced in the Episode

• Arao, Bria, and Kristi Clemens. 2013. “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces. A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice.” Essay. In The Art of Effective Facilitation: Reflections from Social Justice Educators, edited by Lisa M. Landreman, 47-66. Stylus Publishing.  
• Bennett, Jessica. 2020. “What If Instead of Calling People out, We Called Them In?” The New York Times, November 19, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/style/loretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html.  (Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/style/loretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JU4.IDIZ.-0Z8_sY9KygY&smid=url-share)  
• Levy, Dan, Karti Subramanian, and Teddy Svoronos. n.d. “Teachly.” Computer software. Teachly – Get to Know Your Students. Get to Know Your Teaching. Accessed September 9, 2024. https://teachly.me.   
• NC Campus Engagement. n.d. “Dialogue and Civil Discourse.” https://nccampusengagement.org/dialogue-civil-discourse/.   
• Nelson, David. n.d. Computer software. Equity Maps. Accessed September 9, 2024. https://equitymaps.com/.   
• “The Program on Intergroup Relations.” n.d. The Program on Intergroup Relations | Intergroup Relations. Accessed September 9, 2024. https://igr.umich.edu/.   
• Ross, Loretta J. 2021. “Don’t Call People out — Call Them In.” Loretta J. Ross: Don’t call people out — call them in | TED Talk. Accessed September 9, 2024. https://www.ted.com/talks/loretta_j_ross_don_t_call_people_out_call_them_in?subtitle=en.   
• Ross, Loretta J. 2019. “Speaking up without Tearing Down.” Teaching Tolerance Magazine 61. https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/spring-2019/speaking-up-without-tearing-down.    

Resources from the Center for Engaged Learning

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