Students as Pedagogical Partners: Spring 2020 Cohort

Mae Butler
Sophomore,
Columbia College
“Classrooms are really powerful sites for inclusion and transformation. I am excited to participate in SAPP because I want to support the people on our campus who take on the important work of advocating — from professors to grad students — and help them create inclusive and fulfilling learning experiences for their students and themselves.”

Donian Chyong
Junior,
Columbia College
“I applied to the initiative as a unique way of giving back to the Columbia community, and as a way to use my background in research and experimental design to help create better ways to learn on campus.”

Haya Ghandour
School of Engineering and Applied Science
“This initiative presented an opportunity to engage with the pedagogical methods at Columbia and advocate for more inclusive learning spaces. I found the SAPP initiative as a chance to hopefully influence my learning at Columbia and to become more educated on inclusive and accessible learning.”

Jennifer Lee
Junior,
Columbia College
“I was excited by the possibility of more direct dialogue between students and professors about creating inclusive and equitable learning environments.”

Nicole Lyons
Junior,
General Studies
“Undergrad involvement like this is both rare and incredibly important. I really want to help change…how students with disabilities or outside factors are understood by professors.”

Samatha McAlvey
Sophomore,
General Studies
“I come from a family of teachers, and during my service in the US Air Force, I was heavily involved in teaching and training so I know how much of a difference good pedagogy can make. The SAPP initiative is a chance to make a real difference in the college experience of countless students, and faculty too.”

Kalisa Ndamage
Junior,
School of Engineering and Applied Science
“I’ve had amazing learning experiences and unpleasant ones too. I’ve always been interested in what factors kept me more engaged in one lecture over another. Therefore, this was a great opportunity to both explore those factors and subsequently apply them to shift the scale, making the majority of my educational experiences positive.”