Dr. Meg Tarafdar - Associate Professor, English
Dr. Meghmala Tarafdar
Associate Professor, Department of English, Queensborough Community College, City University of New York (CUNY)
Interim Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Coordinator, Global & Diversity Learning as a High Impact Practice
Global and Diversity Learning (GDL) is a High Impact Practice that provides a framework for exploring multiple perspectives on viewing the interdependent world. Read More... http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/english/faculty/mtarafdar/global_and_diversity_learning.html
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I accepted the position of Interim Director of CETL in Spring 2020 in order to fulfill the College’s ongoing faculty development initiatives. In my current role, I focus primarily on design, development, and delivery of pedagogy-related professional development programs that engage and support faculty from across the disciplines in their efforts to promote student success and student learning; coordinate a range of faculty development activities, design professional programs related to High Impact Practices in the Queensborough Academies, conduct workshops on pedagogical research, promote Teaching Portfolio development, support diversity issues in QCC’s strategic plan. I also compile resources for training in supporting faculty in teaching effectiveness and scholarship.
In my English Composition and literature courses, I have introduced interdisciplinary approaches to global learning, and utilized interactive course components for the onsite and online modalities. My teaching philosophy is to motivate and encourage students in attaining their full potential as students and writers. I have previously taught Technical Writing and World Literature courses in Oklahoma, Texas, and New York. As a Fulbright scholar, I have led faculty development workshops in India to expand the practice of a contextually based, transformative writing instruction that addresses the needs of diverse, multi-lingual learners. I have facilitated workshops in Effective Communication Skills, Diverse Communication Styles, and related topics in various campuses nationwide in order to support campus initiatives in building an inclusive climate for faculty, staff, and students.
As a web author, I have created online instructional resources and student tutorials for college textbooks. Her research interests include World Literature in Translation, Immigrant Literature, Intercultural Communication, and Online Pedagogy.
Recent Publications:
Tarafdar, Meghmala, et. al. “Embracing Organizational Resilience: Perspectives on Community College Administration During Crisis and Disruption.” In Literacy and Learning in Times of Crisis: Emergent Teaching Through Emergencies. Ed. Sara Alvarez, Mark McBeth, Meghmala Tarafdar, Missy Watson. Peter Lang Pub. 2022. ISBN: 9781433194726. Click here for the link
In this collection, Literacy and Learning in Times of Crisis: Emergent Teaching Through Emergencies, the contributors offer insights from theoretical, historical, and pedagogical lenses and these critical insights emerge out of their academic, scholarly, and personal experiences of teaching during crises. In some cases, authors have taught while battling COVID, and others have done so while addressing and acknowledging school-based violence. While some teach the analysis of the discourse of crisis, others critique the missteps of policy-making during calamity. More so, some authors examine the finesse of micro-teaching at emotional levels; others find the means to develop macro-structures of programmatic curriculum. Literacy and Learning in Times of Crisis highlights the educational decision making that educators have used to cope with the dilemmas that they and their students have faced at the turn of the millennium. Specifically, contributors to this collection offer a broad range of experiences, expertise, and engagement with pedagogy during emergencies that we currently face but also frame issues of emergencies that will inevitably challenge educators in the future.
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Tarafdar, Meghmala. "Cultivating the Global Learner: Implementing a High Impact Practice Framework." Community College Humanities Review: Spring/Fall 2021: Duncan, Rebecca M., Elliott, Sydney J.: 9798438601258: Amazon.com: Books. Link to the article
The Community College Humanities Review (CCHR) is a bi-annual publication of the Community College Humanities Association (CCHA). CCHA serves as a catalyst for defining the issues which face humanities faculty and administrators today and is dedicated to preserving and strengthening the humanities in two-year colleges. This special issue spanning Spring and Fall 2021 includes the writings of Sydney J. Elliott, Andrew Rusnak Jr., Rebecca M. Duncan, Barry Alford, Keith Kroll, Harvey Strum, Mary Ives Thompson, Meghmala Tarafdar, Adrianne Washington, Melissa Helton, Rafael Castillo, and Adam Oldaker.
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Tarafdar, Meghmala, Pantaleo, Josephine, and Ellerton, Sharon. “Fostering the Intercultural Learning Cycle through Academic Service Learning (ASL)” in Intercultural Horizons: Intercultural Strategies in Civic Engagement. Ed. Lavinia Bracci, Nevin C. Brown, and Eliza J. Nash. Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2013.
http://www.amazon.com/Intercultural-Horizons-Strategies-Civic-Engagement/dp/1443851620
This volume features papers from the second annual Intercultural Horizons conference held in October 2012 in New York City. The conference was the second in an annual series of meetings; the present volume is a companion to one issued in 2012 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing (Intercultural Horizons: Best Practices in Intercultural Competence Development). The papers reflect diverse approaches to intercultural education in the North American setting, with a few also looking at its application in diverse cultural settings in other nations. Our authors provide faculty and student perspectives primarily from the level of postsecondary education, although the volume also includes a look at intercultural education at the primary level. Many papers focus on issues of curriculum, teaching and learning in relation to developing intercultural competence in students in North American colleges and universities, particularly, though not exclusively, through the use of service-learning. The papers also touch on another important development moving from the periphery to the core of many institutions of higher education in North America - the university's engagement with the community. Similar efforts are now emerging among many Asian universities and in Europe. Thus, this volume serves as a preview of themes that the International Center for Intercultural Exchange plans to explore in its future conferences. ISBN-10: 1443851620 | ISBN-13: 978-1443851626
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Tarafdar, Meghmala. "Teaching Eastern Perspectives in World Literature Courses: An Interdisciplinary Approach." Teaching literature in community college classrooms : traversing practices. Ed. Margaret Barrow; Manya Steinkoler; Susan Arvay; et al. Boston [Mass.] : McGraw Hill, Learning Solutions, ©2013.
