In this essay, the editors and contributors to this special section on SoTL in the Arts and Humanities argue that given the current climate and context, debates within SoTL about appropriate methodology both lead scholars from their disciplines to reject SoTL and also, more importantly, distract us from more significant questions and challenges. If, instead, SoTL would embrace not only its diversity but also its political potential, then we, as a scholarly community, would be in a position to do more than merely improve students' learning in our own classrooms. We could help to transform higher education. To achieve that, we need a broader conversation and a wider range of studies. We also need to be mindful of and engaged with the political, economic, and ideological forces that are shaping our institutions, our work, and our students' expectations.
The focus of this article is to address the burgeoning number of older employees in the workforce, and their needs regarding services and pre-retirement planning. By using a strengths-based model, prevention-focused interventions are suggested which an EAP could assist in facilitating at the workplace, thereby enhancing employee retirement options.
Suicide rates are higher among older adults than any other age group. In many instances, suicide among older adults can be prevented. One approach that can be used for prevention is the strengths perspective. This article offers an intervention technique that improves the coping of senior suicide clients by forming a coalition with the therapist and client to overcome the perceived unbearable pain that can lead to suicide completion. Rather than ignore the strengths that older adults have tapped throughout their lives, this approach builds on the older person's preexisting survival skills. The strenghts perspective challenges the current system of mental health services that predominately focuses on the dysfunctions and pathology of clients.
SoTL has been embraced as a viable approach to professional development for higher education faculty. Workshops and programs of various types and lengths have offered guidance and provided mentorship for SoTL novices. Many books, manuals, and websites describe how to undertake a SoTL investigation, but far fewer sources of advice exist for those assisting faculty beginning in SoTL. In this article, two Carnegie scholars reflect on their experiences and lessons learned helping others join the SoTL community. They discuss common characteristics of the new scholars they encountered and the types of assistance, both intellectual and institutional, that the scholars needed. They offer advice and suggest resources for working with new SoTL scholars and describe some of the benefits that accrue from this work.
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