“A Good Place to Meet”
Awarded tenure in Spring 2016, Shamira Gelbman makes her classroom a moveable feast of learning.
Wabash professors consistently rank among the “most accessible and approachable” in national surveys, but political science professor Shamira Gelbman takes that to a whole new level.
In fact, she takes it to a whole new building.
Walk into Lilly Library during the week and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find her, working with students, leading a class, or enjoying the 1832 Brew coffee with students and colleagues.
“I started using the library as an occasional workspace when I needed a break from Baxter Hall in my first year here,” says Gelbman, who specializes in American politics and earned tenure last spring after four years of top-notch teaching and research at Wabash. “Since then it has become a good place to meet with students, especially when Baxter is locked in the evenings or on weekends.
“Some of my smallest courses and independent study groups have actually met in the library instead of a classroom. This started when there weren't any small classrooms available at a time when my five-student Congressional Elections class was supposed to meet, so we decided to use the library instead of trying to make do with a room meant for 50. It worked out so well that pretty much any time I have a really small class now, I offer them the option of moving to the library.”
Gelbman also employs social media and “flash discussions” to meet students where they live. She makes her students’ work accessible, as well. Their projects from her innovative courses on Civil Rights and Prohibition have their own Web sites.
“Professor Gelbman has established herself as an innovative teacher, a respected scholar, and a deeply committed member of the Wabash community,” Dean of the College Scott Feller said when the College awarded the professor tenure last spring. “She engages students in her scholarship as collaborators so that they are able to experience both the thrill of discovery and the pride associated with presenting this work to colleagues on and off campus.”
Being There
Professor Gelbman’s research last summer in Salt Lake City, UT, focused on the incorporation of the Japanese American Citizens League into the broader Civil Rights Movement. Before she left she realized the ruins of one of the internment camps Japanese citizens were held in during World War II was a few hours drive from her hotel.
Being there helped reminded how of how important immersion experiences are for her students:
“Topaz Camp is about two hours south and west of Salt Lake City… But there’s no one there. Just this massive space. The buildings are gone but the foundations are there, some posts with barbed wire, and a monument that was set up more recently. It’s super quiet. Almost silent. The only sound you hear is your feet on the gravel.
“You think about the 8,000 people who spent their lives in San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or Seattle, and they’re basically rounded up or required to report to this site that’s miles away from home, miles away from everything. People having to start a life over at a site like this, to spend years here.
“In my introductory American Politics course we discuss the Japanese internment. But actually standing at a site like this, as silent and remote as it is, and seeing the foundations of buildings that were not very big but held several families, it really drives home the sacrifice in a way reading or video footage can’t.”