Campus Events

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As a small institution for working adults, WISR does not offer a wide range of “campus” events. Still, there are several opportunities each month for students from all of our degree programs to come together at WISR’s storefront seminar/office space–to learn together, to share and discuss learning experiences, and to socialize with one another. WISR seminars are always small enough to allow ample opportunities for everyone to participate actively in the discussions.
Each month, there are:

• two MFT/LPCC seminars on Saturdays (typically 10 am to 2 pm), led by WISR MFT faculty, and specifically designed for and required of MFT (Marriage and Family Therapy) students, but open to participation from all WISR students;
• two optional, interdisciplinary seminars during weekday evenings on topics of general concern to WISR students (e.g., action-research, multiculturality and social change, as well as presentation/discussions by students on their current and recent studies and projects)–with participation by one or two WISR faculty, interested students, and friends of WISR from the larger community; and very often,
• a couple of student-developed and student-run study groups that have faculty support and assistance at the request of participating students.
• As a new option, since September 1, 2011, the required MFT/LPCC seminars have been available by telephone conference call, supplemented by web-based online sharing of documents and notes in real-time. Most of our optional, interdisciplinary seminars will also be available by telephone conference call. Students who live too far from our Berkeley site to travel here twice per month may call into a phone conference line that will be connected with a speaker phone in our seminar room. Students and faculty on site at WISR and those students on their phone line, off site, will be able to interact and discuss issues, ideas and questions with one another. At a future date, some sharing by video conference may be also available from time to time. Students living outside the area are asked to attend some seminars on site at least once per year, in order to further develop their collegial relationships with faculty and fellow students.
• It is a core requirement for all WISR students that they learn about the concepts and strategies underlying WISR’s approach to action-research, including participation in at least several seminar sessions on action-research. This includes, for example, how to make science and inquiry part of everyday life, and how to use what we know from everyday life to aid our inquiries and community projects. How do we learn things we don’t know yet from others? How can we write and talk with people to gain knowledge which is both conceptual and concrete?

Also, typically, every month or two, there is a film night, where students, faculty and friends from the community come together to view and discuss films on such topics as African American history, poetry and social change, adult learning and community organizing, and documentary social critiques (e.g., the films by Michael Moore). From time to time, WISR hosts events sponsored by MoveOn.org and by other community and activist groups.

About every six months there is an All School Gathering attended by many WISR students and faculty, as well as by some Board members, alumni and friends of WISR. This Saturday event lasts four hours and is a very enjoyable time for socializing and for sharing experiences and ideas.

Once a year, usually in the late summer, WISR students come together from all over the U.S., and even from other countries to participate in our two- to three-day annual conference of student presentations, discussions and socializing. Participation in this event is optional, but those students who travel to attend, even from other countries, have always enjoyed immensely their experiences at our annual conferences.

Click here for:  APRIL 2012 ANNOUNCEMENTS and CALENDAR OF SEMINARS & EVENTS