When Matthew Jordan, dean of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Humanities Center at Cuyahoga Community College (TRI-C), was asked to share his vision of what an exemplary leader should be, the response was both thoughtful and thought-provoking. “It is someone who considers deeply and well the big questions of justice and the challenges posed by living in a pluralistic democratic republic.
“No matter what path our graduates pursue,” Jordan adds, “knowledge of the humanities and experience in civic engagement are vital — especially when it comes to keeping them here in Northeast Ohio after they leave us.”
In 2015, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation and the Mandel Supporting Foundation awarded $10 million to the college to nurture that philosophy and help it blossom. Located on Tri-C’s Eastern Campus in Highland Hills, the Mandel Humanities Center gives students and surrounding communities opportunities to contemplate those “big questions” and care about them.
Since the center opened, a variety of programming has been shared with the public. A pair of philosophers — one a theist and one an atheist — presented their opposing views about the natural world. Former Paramount Pictures Studio Executive David Kirkpatrick offered insight on his career. Two leading scholars presented what Jordan calls “the battle of the literary masters” as they debated whether C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien was the greater author.
The centerpiece of the humanities initiative is clearly the Mandel Scholars Academy, which admits up to 100 students each year. Requirements for admission include a high school or college GPA of 3.0 or higher, submission of an essay explaining what leadership means to them and an interview. Mandel scholars accepted into the program receive a scholarship worth up to $2,580 per semester. Each student is also assigned a mentor who provides individualized guidance in setting personal and professional goals.
“The program is designed to help students earn their degree in two years and then, in most cases, transfer to a four-year university to finish a bachelor’s degree,” Jordan says. “Although the Humanities Center is located on our eastern campus, we admit students to the Scholars Academy in all majors who are attending classes at all four of our campuses.”
The Scholars Academy curriculum is centered on three courses. During the first semester, students take the individual in society course, which rooted in topics connected to civility.
“While engaging with art, literature and philosophy, they discuss ‘What is justice?’ and ‘How do we live together?’ ” Jordan says.
The second semester urban studies course, history of Cleveland, offers a comprehensive account of the city’s transformation from a New Englandesque village to a metropolis, as well as economic and political changes that occurred throughout the centuries and the decline that followed the rise of suburbia after World War II.
“The class is designed to make sure students get a good sense of the history of this region,” Jordan says. “We want them to have a deep understanding of not just our contemporary situation, but how we got where we are — and think about what’s next.”
The capstone class, Community Engagement Through the Humanities, is a project-based course in which students become active participants in a democratic society through service. Each class is paired with a nonprofit community partner to lend a helping hand where the organization needs it most.
“The students are not volunteers, and they’re not there to address envelopes,” Jordan says. “Rather, they’re there as consultants. At the same time, the professor who’s teaching the class designs humanities-driven assignments ranging from poetry and philosophical readings to trips to a museum that complement the project the class is working on. The result is that students have a humanities-driven experience while they’re working in teams to help a stakeholder outside of the college.”
Scholars have worked with Habitat for Humanity to assess neighborhoods that would be ideal for future development; helped Karamu House decide the merits of new theatrical programming; and assisted Global Cleveland with looking at ways to combat misconceptions and stereotypes about immigrants living here.
“These opportunities provide a foundation for students to learn how to write, communicate and conduct research,” says Mary Hovanec, faculty chair of the Mandel Scholars Academy. “As they work with [these organizations], they come to understand the importance of the community they live in, appreciate that they’re an integral part of it and realize how important it is for them to give back. They learn that if we just sit back and do nothing, it’s not going to change.”
Students also attend City Club forums, travel to Alabama to retrace the steps of the civil rights marches that helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and sit in on Congressional sessions in Washington, D.C.
“Because scholars learn how to take initiative, they become leaders in their own right,” Hovanec says. “We explain to them that being a leader is not just about being the CEO of a company, it’s also about acquiring the skills to create dialogue that leads to the point where we can all speak on the same platform.”
Sharmayne Schaffer, who graduated with an associate degree in 2016, has taken those lessons to heart. She credits the Mandel Scholars Academy with helping her decipher the direction she was meant to take in life. After graduating from Trinity High School in 2004, the Garfield Heights resident enrolled in a local private university and pursued a career in journalism. She soon discovered that setting was not the right fit for her. Dejected, she dropped out after a year with thousands of dollars in debt and began working a variety of restaurant jobs to pay the bills.
“I always knew I wanted to go back to school, and I was just trying to find my way,” says Schaffer, 34. “I had done well academically in high school, and there were goals I had set for myself that I could only accomplish by graduating from college. Tri-C’s slogan, Where Futures Begin, really resonated with me.”
She enrolled and was selected for the Mandel Scholars Academy’s inaugural class. Schaffer went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology and women’s and gender studies from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU)in 2018. A probation officer in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, she’s pursuing a master’s degree in social work at CWRU.
“I’m so grateful to Tri-C,” she says. “My biggest takeaway from the Scholars Academy is that I was actually able to connect to Cleveland — the city I was born in — in ways I never had before. We all say we want to help, but I was able to see who needed the help. Now, I know what my goal in life is: I’m going to be that person who paves the way for others who are starting over. I can go up to another woman of color and tell her, ‘You can do it.’ ”