We’ve invited students to this university to remember that, in truth, they want to become voiced members of a society where their words are intelligent expressions of their authentic selves.
Sakina Bryant joined the Sonoma State faculty in 2013. As a lecturer in both the English Department and the Philosophy Department, she weaves together the two disciplines for introductory students. She has been known to go impromptu turtle spotting with students, to hold tea parties and to encourage students to befriend one another. She engages students with honest dialogue and the notion that everyone has a drive to create meaning out of the world. She describes her classroom as old school and back-to-basics. “It’s a collective conversation with a group of human beings about an idea, a book or some other object of shared inquiry,” she said. “For me, that is a solid and honest method of teaching that reminds us of the eternal pleasures of being and becoming educated.”