By Julia Collins ('26)
On Thursday, Oct. 17, Music Professor Sarah Massey will be holding a lecture as part of the Faculty Lecture Series on student engagement and learning. The meeting will be in Library, room 323 at 4:25 p.m.
The Faculty Lecture Series is a gathering where professors get a chance to speak to students and colleagues about subjects they have researched. The lectures occur around once a month and are praised for being a way for professors to connect with students.
Dr. Massey said her lecture will focus on “motivating students to be transformed by active engagement in learning requires creative strategies.”
She explained that “reluctant students who tend to ‘stay on the sidelines’ due to attitudes that they may FAIL can be empowered to move into the FLOW of activities which can maximize learning.”
While she plans to further explain this in her lecture, the main focus will be on “student-first learning.” This is important because, according to Dr. Massey, “thinking creatively about how class material is presented takes time but pays off with student engagement.”
Senior Colin O’Mara (‘25) is excited about the lecture. He said that he wants to attend because “the lectures are from professors we know who are speaking to their personal areas of interest and study.” Having knowledge from professors’ personal interests “allows me to become versed in a wide variety of interesting subjects,” he added.
O’Mara reports that professors have given lectures on a variety of topics. He mentioned that there is often “a solid mixture of students and faculty.” He goes to as many lectures as he can, even if the topic is different from what students typically discuss.
“If I can receive an interesting lecture on a subject I appreciate, but haven’t had time to invest in, on a Thursday evening I’ll be there,” O’Mara said.
Andrew Walton, a theology professor, is currently a part of organizing the faculty lectures.
“[I] enjoy the chance to step away from my area of study and hear about the exciting work my colleagues are doing in diverse fields,” he commented.
Dr. Walton explained that these lectures provide an opportunity to introduce new and emerging topics not covered in classrooms. Faculty lectures “also serve as a valuable model for students, demonstrating the research process in action,” he added. These lectures bridge the gap between professors’ personal and academic interests.
Dr. Walton himself specifically said that he enjoys talking about the Old Testament.
He said that “my favorite topics to talk about are Job and the Psalms, specifically the Psalms of lament.” This topic is interesting to him because he appreciates “the raw honesty of these biblical texts which provide us with the chance to wrestle with the profound and sometimes unanswerable questions of human existence.” Dr. Massey’s lecture provides a space to learn about music, education and connecting with others. ★