David Hoffman Named Faculty Fellow of the Year

Tue, 14 May 2024 14:20:05 -0400
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Every May, Honors College graduating students vote for the Faculty Fellow of the Year who best embodies the ideals of the Honors College in their teaching of a seminar. This year’s recipient is David Hoffman, Ph.D. ‘13, director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life. In addition to being memorialized on the plaque in the Honors College seminar room, Dr. Hoffman will speak at the Honors College Medallion Ceremony on Tuesday, May 21.

Dr. Hoffman began teaching in the Honors College in fall 2017, when the first of two courses he co-designed debuted. Talking Democracy (HONR 200), helps students become critically aware of the interplay among communication styles and techniques, democratic values, and the civic health of communities. Students reflect on their own values, hopes, experiences, and approaches to communication, and build skills that can help them initiate and enact positive social change. Dr. Hoffman designed and initially taught this course with former Student Affairs colleague Craig Berger, and refined it with subsequent co-instructors Dr. Romy Hubler ’09, M.A. ’11, Ph.D. ’15, (former Center associate director), Dr. Simon Stacey, Honors College director, and Tess McRae ‘22, coordinator for civic design.

The other course, Be Your Best Self in Real Life (HONR 300), debuted in spring 2019. The course investigates how institutions regulate our lives, and helps students build skills at recognizing, challenging, and changing institutional norms that can prevent people from thriving together. Dr. Hoffman designed and initially taught this course with Dr. Hübler and Dr. Stacey, and refined it with subsequent co-instructors Dr. Stacey and Tess McRae.

When asked what he might share with Honors College students at the May ceremony, he offered these thoughts: “One of the Civic Life Maxims that guides the Center for Democracy and Civic Life's work is ‘We Build the World We Know.’ What we mean is: If you are going to change the world for the better, it is important to have had some experience of a better world, even in a very local setting, to spark your imagination and guide your choices. Students graduating from UMBC undoubtedly have had some experiences in the last few years that fit this description: spaces and activities in which they have felt that they truly mattered and belonged, bonded with people with different identities and backgrounds by sharing stories, and benefited from being immersed in a culture that embraces their potential wholeheartedly. Think about what those experiences have been for you. We don't always recognize experiences of happiness, liberation, and connection as core aspects of the learning you do in college. But if you nurture the memory of them, those experiences can be the seeds of all the contributions you will make to every community of which you will ever be a part.”