February 2025 –
Each semester, Associate Professor of Religion Dr. Pamela M. Hall invites students to practice mindfulness while exploring the greater Emory community.
Dr. Hall writes, “In my REL 354RW course, Ethics: Human Goodness, there is a module on the work of attention in the moral life. We consider the ways in which what we pay attention to—or whether we pay attention at all—influences our consciousness and our actions. As part of this module, we discuss place and history.
In one class meeting, we go on an ‘Emory as Place’ campus walk to practice attention to both the flora and fauna around us on campus (birds, trees) and to the buildings and other campus features (we use binoculars that were funded by Emory’s CFDE).
Our campus walk included the Quadrangle, the Gravity Monument behind the MCS building, and the Source Route Environmental Sculpture. We concluded with a visit to the beautiful Little Chapel inside the Church School Building.”
For many undergrads, this was their first experience in birdwatching, and their first time seeing these lesser-known Emory landmarks.