TCNJ

30 The College of New Jersey Magazine professor Stuart Carroll MEd '95, has worked to support Ukrainian teachers and students as they pursue not only an education, but also a brighter future in the midst of a relentless war. For Burroughs, the effort is part of a decade-long quest to promote civic engagement in developing democ- racies around the world. Her course, Democracy: From Theory to Practice, is currently offered at universities throughout Eastern Europe, including more than 40 in Ukraine. After the war began, she helped teachers there reshape the class around the mindbog- gling task of teaching the concepts of democracy during a real-time invasion by an authoritarian neighbor state. Carroll, meanwhile, spent the fall semester leading early morning classes for students at Sumy State University in northeastern Ukraine as part of a newly launched virtual U.S. State Department program that provides English as a second language instruction to colleges around the world. As the air strikes increased throughout the fall, the daunting challenges faced daily by their coun- terparts — from coping with blackouts and a lack of heat to navigating the dangers of living in a country under siege — were clear to both professors. But so, too, was the sense of deter- mined optimism among Ukrainian teachers and students. "I really wanted to give them what they wanted and what they needed," Carroll says. "If it's people-to-people diplomacy, the message we're sending is, 'We stand with Ukraine. We are with you.' That's something I'm always trying to let them know." O n a recent fall day, Greer Burroughs woke up early to meet with a dozen professors in Ukraine teach- ing a course she'd developed about democracy. The purpose of the virtual call was to solve an urgent class- room challenge unlike any she'd ever encountered: how to teach when air sirens interrupt lessons and send students to bomb shelters. While her colleagues brainstormed strategies such as using group chats to continue discussions during forced evacuations, Burroughs marveled at their dedication; even the meeting itself was beset by warning sounds signaling the threat of Russian attacks. "Air sirens were going off the entire time," she says. "But they wanted to keep figuring out how to do this course. They are so determined and clear on what they are fighting for. I have learned so much about democracy and what it means to be an American by working with them." After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Burroughs, along with fellow TCNJ School of Education " The message we're sending is, 'We stand with Ukraine. We are with you.' That's something I'm always trying to let them know." — Stuart Carroll

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