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Welcome to our e-newsletter
Minds in Motion
July flew by in a flurry of interviews, alumni event planning, and grant news. In the midst of all this excitement, project director Vivé Griffith pauses to reflect on her four years with Free Minds.
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Mitte Foundation Awards Grant to Free Minds
Free Minds is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded a grant from the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation. The Austin-based foundation invests in organizations and programs that improve the quality of life for those in Central Texas. It has awarded Free Minds $15,500 to provide student and academic support to this year's students, including books, class materials, and childcare. We're grateful for the Mitte Foundation's support of Free Minds and look forward to a strong and continued partnership. |
| August Master Class Features Walking Tour of UT
On August 10th, 6:30-8:30 pm, Dr. Edmund Gordon, Director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas, will give a two-hour walking tour of the UT campus for Free Minds alumni. The tour will focus on what Dr. Gordon calls "the racial geography of UT," featuring some of the University's most famous landmarks, from the clock tower to the residence hall controversially named after a former Klan leader. These physical landmarks carry the legacy of Confederate racism, says Dr. Gordon. But he also points to more recent changes on campus, such as the statue of civil rights champion and former UT law professor Barbara Jordan. Dr. Gordon is excited to offer this master class to Free Minds alumni, who bring to the table their unique perspective as nontraditional college students. Master Class: The Racial Geography of UT Dr. Edmund Gordon Wednesday, August 10th 6:30-8:30 pm Interested in participating? RSVP now! |
Free Minds Receives Record-Breaking Number of Applications
Applications for the Free Minds class of 2011-12 closed on July 5th, marking the end of our most successful recruitment season to date. With outreach efforts spanning the city of Austin -- from the public libraries to the Housing Authority to the inboxes of City employees across Austin -- we ended up with over 100 applications, more than double the number we received last year.
Visit our blog for more about our unprecedented applicant pool.
This recruitment season was marked by a number of firsts: In April we rolled out our first-ever online application, and in July we convened a brand-new committee to help score applications and develop a set of criteria to select applicants for interviews.
Interviews with qualified applicants are now underway and will continue through the end of the month. An orientation for new students will be held on August 15th, and classes start the following week.
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Special Thanks
This month, three groups of volunteers helped us strategize around three major programmatic areas: alumni classes, creative writing workshops, and the 2011-12 humanities course. Thank you for infusing us with energy and ideas -- our programming will be stronger because of you. Alumni programming advisers: Grace Adams '09 Hope Johnson '11 Charmaine Nichols '09 Michelle Randolph '07 2011-12 applicant scoring committee: Amanda Brown Kimberly Edwards Jennifer Furl Creative writing workshop advisors: Laurie FilipelliJennifer Furl Toby LeBlanc Alice Shukalo If you are interested in volunteering with or supporting Free Minds, you can find more information on our website. |
  
Minds in Motion
Archive
June 2011 Big funding news, a last call for applications, and a recent graduate's plans. May 2011 Congratulations to the Free Minds class of 2011! April 2011 Learn how Free Minds brings writing into the community. |
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The Final Word
Vivé Griffith, Free Minds Project Director  In late June of 2007, my now-husband Chris proposed to me. It was my birthday, in Italy, a place so beautiful it took my breath away. One week later, before the jet lag had worked its way out of my body, I got a call offering me the job directing the Free Minds Project. Saying yes to both Chris and Free Minds proved to be life changing in ways I couldn't predict.
I'd wanted to be part of Free Minds from the moment I heard about it. (I'd wanted to marry Chris from the moment I met him, too, but that's a story for another day.) Years earlier at the University of Cincinnati I'd taught my freshmen composition students Earl Shorris's essay on the creation of the Clemente Course , and I'd never forgotten it. When I learned a Clemente-style course was being created here in Austin, I leapt at the opportunity to be involved.
I started working with Free Minds that summer and both the program and I were new. Free Minds had been given a wonderful start by its founding director, Sylvia Gale, and the team at the Humanities Institute. It had graduated its first class and established its major partners at ACC and Foundation Communities. But it was still a pilot project and ahead of us lay the work of setting up systems and building relationships and, ultimately, discovering what the program wanted to be. Fortunately, a lot of committed, innovative thinkers wanted to be part of that process.
Today Free Minds offers a stellar humanities class for adults, yes, but a host of other things as well: a place for alumni to come to recharge and refocus on their futures, a chance for their children to turn their attention toward college, a means for community members to explore their creativity in writing workshops, and a community of people who love to explore texts and ideas and diverse perspectives. Ultimately, our goal is to provide Central Texas adults with the tools and confidence to seek better lives for themselves and their families.
It's a big vision, but it happens in small ways. I've learned that the heart of a marriage isn't found in the grand gestures, but in daily rituals like coffee and cereal in an early morning kitchen. Similarly, the heart of Free Minds isn't found in unprecedented applicant pools or big grants or even graduation. It's in the conversation that happens two nights a week around the table, a table I have been honored to sit at these four years.
Soon we'll welcome another class of students to that conversation. I can't wait.
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A program of the UT Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, in partnership with the UT Humanities Institute, Austin Community College, and Foundation Communities, Free Minds offers a two-semester college course in the humanities for Central Texas adults who want to fulfill their intellectual potential and begin a new chapter in their lives.
Free Minds Project
Community Engagement Center
1009 East 11th Street, #218
Austin TX 78702
Project Director: Vivé Griffith Project Assistant/AmeriCorps VISTA: Hana Silverstein
Ph: 512-232-6093 F: 512-236-1729
www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/freeminds |
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