"Over the past year, I have come to understand the notion of 'embodied' because of its absence. I now understand more about why teaching fills me up – it is 'togetherness.' I feel that so much of myself has been cut off during this period of online everything. At the same time, what gives me joy is waiting upon God, for His work is not confined by pixels or wifi speed."
— Melinda Dewsbury, Assistant Professor and Associate Dean of Global Education
Melinda Dewsbury has been teaching at Trinity Western University since 1997. She is currently Assistant Professor and Associate Dean of Global Education. Since 2003, Professor Dewsbury has taught English and Writing, as well as providing Success Coaching to students.
Professor Dewsbury says, "The foundation of my philosophy of teaching and leading is love, as defined in 1 Corinthians 13."
"Paul emphasizes that love should underlie everything and without love, our efforts are nothing, like noise dissipating into a void," she said. "If I love my students, I will seek to put their needs first and to reframe the classroom as theirs, not mine."
Practicing leadership as hospitality
She applies this framework by placing herself in the learners' shoes. "I often return to my own experiences as a learner and start from there," she explained. "What did I appreciate? What helped me to thrive? What was hurtful to my learning journey? Similarly, in contexts of leadership, I try to make decisions or changes with the team’s needs first, and I try to invite them to the table."
"I believe that leadership is an act of hospitality," she said.
As for sources of leadership inspiration, Professor Dewsbury firstly names her own grandmother. "She was not an educated woman," says Professor Dewsbury, "and she lived in the same small rural community almost all of her life. But she loved deeply and if she ever heard of a need, she would find a way to help."
"We often joked that if you needed anything, let Grandma know, and the item would appear in your bedroom before you even got home," she said.
Another person who inspires Professor Dewsbury is her mother. "She taught me to read when I was only four years old, and the two of us have been reading and discussing books together ever since," she says.
Writing poetry during a pandemic
During a pandemic year, writing has been a way for Professor Dewsbury to connect with her mother. "We have been writing pandemic poetry back and forth for the past year, sharing our insights, burdens, quirky joys, and faith through metaphor," she said.
Professor Dewsbury together with her mother have written just over 100 poems in the past year. "My first poem was March 17, 2020, Day One of work from home," she said. Her mother, Diana, lives near Owen Sound, Ontario, while Professor Dewsbury lives in B.C.
Others who inspire Professor Dewsbury include her neighbours who are refugees. "This group, originally from Myanmar, came as government-sponsored refugees and re-settled in my Langley neighbourhood," she explained. "I am also inspired by women around the world who have made the dangerous decision to become refugees in hopes that their children can have the right to education, security, and freedom. I am immensely blessed to be a friend of the Karen community."
Professor Dewsbury observed the resillence of her neighbours from Myanmar. "The Karen women, survivors of unspeakable things, are quietly confident leaders with wonderful senses of humour, women who have given me so much joy," she shared.
Finding togetherness in many ways
Along with the challenges of 2020, Professor Dewsbury has learned some valuable lessons.
"Over the past year, I have come to understand the notion of 'embodied' because of its absence," she said. "I now understand more about why teaching fills me up – it is 'togetherness.' I feel that so much of myself has been cut off during this period of online everything. At the same time, what gives me joy is waiting upon God, for His work is not confined by pixels or wifi speed."
Professor Dewsbury has observed how her students have developed as well. "It has been exciting to see some of my students experience transformation, and I have enjoyed the challenge of finding new ways to build relationship," she said.
Here below is one of Professor Dewbury's Pandemic Poems (written June 7, 2020):
FILLED
Some days I feel uprooted
Living moss peeled back from its nourishing soil
Others I am trapped in a box
Breathing cardboard fumes
My world closed in and confined and musty
Some days I am floating in
The chaos before time
Entirely undefined like the waters
Before God placed them in order
Uncertain void
But not today!
Today
I am filled up with story
With woven words
And incited imagination
With connotations and curiosity
With evocative emotions and
Mighty musing
Today the void is put in order
And there are no boxes in sight.
See also: poetry by Melinda Dewsbury and her students in The Ekphrastic Review:
TWU in The Ekphrastic Review
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier Christian liberal arts university dedicated to equipping students to establish meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. It is a fully accredited research institution offering liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has five campuses and locations: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, Ottawa, and Bellingham, WA. TWU emphasizes academic excellence, research, and student engagement in a vital faith community committed to forming leaders to have a transformational impact on culture. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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