Jonathan Shailor Earns Fellowship with the CMM Institute

Published: April 21, 2015
By: Alyssa Mowrer '16

Communication Professor Jonathan Shailor was recently named a 2015 Fellow of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution! We've got the inside scoop about this Real.Amazing accomplishment.

Q: What does this mean?

A: It means that I have been asked to join an international group of scholars at the Global Integral Competence conference in Munich, Germany, to share recent developments in my work with The Shakespeare Prison Project. My work will also be featured on Villanova's, the Fielding Institute's, and the CMM Institute's web sites. Also, I will be collaborating with other CMM Fellows throughout the 2015-2016 academic year.

Q: What is The Shakespeare Prison Project, and what are the new developments in your work?

A: The Shakespeare Prison Project grew out of my 20-year career as a volunteer educator at Racine Correctional Institution, a state prison for men in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. The goals of the project are for the prisoners to develop greater resilience, a stronger sense of empathy, and better decision-making skills, through their 12-month course of study, rehearsal, and performance. The Fellowship supports my development of a workbook that will provide new tools for the prisoners to use in exploring patterns of communication in Shakespeare's plays. Students will examine the ways in which characters' choices - of interpretation, intention, and action - are pivotal in creating happiness - or suffering - for themselves, and others. The workbook will guide students to apply these lessons to their own lives. The work will culminate in a series of autobiographical performances by the prisoners.

Q: What criteria did the Institute use in selecting you for this honor?

A: I was informed that, through a rigorous process of selection, my proposal "truly stood out as embodying the theme of "transforming Conflict"...  offering potential for changing levels of awareness and creating positive impacts in a global context."

Q: What is the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution?

A: The CMM Institute is a consortium of like-minded scholars and practitioners who are dedicated to making the world a better place by transforming our patterns of communication.

Q: Where can I go to learn more?

The Shakespeare Prison Project: http://www.shakespeareprisonproject.com/

The CMM Institute: http://www.cmminstitute.net/

The Institute for Global Integral Competence: http://www.ifgic.org/

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Communication
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