Speaker
Soua Thao
Student, PEOPLE Program, UW–Madison
Soua Thao is a fourth-year student majoring in Human Development and Family Studies with the goal of a Bachelor of Science degree. Additionally, she is working toward an Asian American Studies Certificate with an HMoob American Studies Emphasis, a Disability Rights and Services Certificate, and an Educational and Educational Services Certificate. She is a scholar in the Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE). Furthermore, Ms. Thao is on the HMoob Student Dinner Planning Committee on campus. She also works as a College and Career Kickstart Intern for the PEOPLE Summer University, where she connects and mentors students as they work to find their future major and career.
Speaking in
Stitching Together Student Support: Pedagogy & Retention in a Hmoob Studies Classroom
Building on the experiences of two Hmong American undergraduates and a lecturer for the Asian American Studies Program, this session will use both quantitative and qualitative approaches to consider the role that the classroom can play as a nexus of both pedagogy and student support. As the largest Asian American group in the state, UW-Madison’s Hmong American students represent a vibrant but underrepresented and underserved population, rendering this discussion relevant and urgent to the work of building community at our institution. Thus, this session will encourage participants to challenge themselves through paj ntaub, a Hmong textile art that reminds the maker of the importance of stitching together support for our diverse student body across all elements of the university. In doing so, we might transform the classroom from a place in which support is needed to a place that can simultaneously contribute to retention and belonging.
Session Objectives
- Reflect on the transformative potential of identity-specific curriculum as a form of student support
- Reconsider the role of the ethnic studies requirement as a form of institutional investment in student belonging
- Recognize the importance of the classroom as a key space of inclusion and belonging for refugees and other underrepresented students
- Think through the ways that pedagogy can be interwoven with other student-focused initiatives to create a feeling of mutual understanding and belonging