教师 Lead Classroom Equity Initiatives Across Campus

布里斯托尔,R.I. ­– For the last 400 years that higher education institutions have existed in North America, 他们主要为白人服务.  Even after they started to accept women and people of color – for most that occurred just within the last century – the curriculum, teaching practices and faculty of many institutions still reflect this history.

As university classrooms continue to diversify, students of historically underrepresented racial, 经济, 性别, 性别身份常常被挑出来, 低估了, 受到歧视. 这 造成损害, 不仅仅是学业上的成功, but also to the mental and physical wellbeing of students in a system that wasn't designed for them. 

在RWU, 两位教员, 劳拉爱, associate professor of American studies and Kamille Gentles-Peart, associate professor of communication and media studies, are leading an initiative to support faculty in challenging inequitable traditions. 

“We are the people who engage with students the most for the four years that they’re here,皮尔先生说. “They sit in our classrooms for four months at a time, so if we’re not ready to challenge existing hierarchies and create safe and brave spaces, that’s four years that students are being harmed or not being asked to challenge their own world and beliefs.”

爱与 and Gentles-Peart collaborated with other faculty members who were also determined to combat inequities in the classroom. They sought to bring in educational resources, strategic planning, and peer discussion. 

In order to achieve this, they secured funding from the 安德鲁·W. 梅隆基金会 去年夏天.  有了这些支持, they spent four days at a conference on Diversity, 礼貌, 以及亚特兰大的文科, 乔治亚州, along with then RWU Provost 安德鲁·Workman and RWU Chief Diversity Officer Ame Lambert.

“We discussed everything from use of language, 到个人特权, 教育工作者在课堂上的角色, to the institutional treatment of minoritized populations,皮尔先生说.

Though each day was full of important work and deep reflection, this was just the beginning of what is a multi-level, RWU正在进行的倡议. The next step was to roll out a plan for bringing what they learned to campus.

“Our team realized that the work that is required of an institution that makes a deep commitment to equity, 包容, 多样性, and social justice happens through its people – primarily the faculty and the staff,”达莫尔说.  "If we were going to be able to do the work meaningfully, we would have to invest a lot of time and resources into faculty and professional development, providing folks at RWU with the time and space to think and talk about this material."

The first step of this investment was a year-long faculty fellowship, 这是两家公司去年秋天推出的.  

Gentles-Peart, 爱与, and 14 additional faculty members met several times throughout Fall 2018 to begin an in-depth process of learning and reflection, inspired by the work initiated at the institute in Atlanta.

“We have faculty representatives from just about every school in the university,皮尔先生说. “我们有视觉艺术家、工程师、作家. We have professors in communication and media studies, psychology, anthropology, American studies, education, and historic preservation.”

The fall semester was spent grappling with hard questions about how to make sure students of all backgrounds can thrive in the classroom. 

“多样性和我的工作nclusion Fellows are doing is figuring out how to create equitable classrooms and teaching practices within historically unjust spaces,”达莫尔说. While it's built on similar principles the work can look different in every course.

其中一个研究员, 迈克尔富, 艺术教授, is making several deliberate changes to his figure drawing class.

The first is honoring each student’s individual style. He makes time for one-on-one portfolio reviews where he and the student discuss the student’s unique influences and techniques.

“They have to learn how to draw no matter who they are and what their background is,” said Rich. “But they are becoming better drawers in their own language. Part of this is reframing the idea that they have to meet some classical ideal in their drawing. They’re going to bring to the table different experiences, backgrounds, and cultures.”

Along with embracing diverse drawing styles and student experiences, 里奇正在改变他的课程内容. With drawing's historical focus mainly on white European men looking at women, Rich used the opportunity of his students drawing human bodies to discuss representation and power dynamics. 

“I want to use the body as a vehicle to talk about issues of race, 性别, 性, 和个性, rather than studying the body on just a formal level,里奇说。. 

Rich also seeks to deepen conversations about representation by exposing his students to artists from underrepresented identities. 这不仅对他的学生很重要, but it is also expanding his own education as an artist, 与此同时, he is noticing the gaps in his knowledge where he needs to do more research.

Though the fellows are becoming more deliberate about 包容 in the classroom, Rich notes that it is the self-education and self-reflection that has been the most impactful aspect of this work.

这不仅适用于里奇. The other fellows affirm that much of this work is about faculty members raising their own consciousness so 他们可以成为更好的教育者.

“The way I look at it is that inclusive teaching is better teaching. It’s more engaged, more cognizant of the student, their background and their challenges,里奇说。. “It’s making me a whole lot more aware of institutional and structural challenges, and particularly how they affect minoritized students.”

玛格丽特的情况, chair of the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, agrees that much of her work as a fellow involves self-reflection. 在和其他人开会的时候, she confronts her own challenges and gains insight through readings and conversation.

“It changes the way I think about dynamics in the classroom and keeps 多样性 issues in the forefront of my mind while I’m teaching,凯斯说.

Case has always made a deliberate effort to teach a diverse range of literature, yet participating in the fellowship has solidified the need for being intentional about this effort.

“I think the power of literature is absolutely huge, 不仅仅是为了弄清楚网赌的十大网站, but in figuring out how the world should be structured,”她说。.

Though the fellows are working hard to create change in their classrooms, 这个项目不会就此结束. 今年夏天, the fellows will teach this curriculum to up to 25 more faculty from across the university. 明年, a second cohort of eight fellows will teach 25 more faculty, 这是两年多的时间, this intensive development will be offered to as many as 75 faculty members. 

“An investment in faculty in this way signals our importance to the success of the university,”达莫尔说. "These 75 faculty will then be in positions to share information and strategies with peers, 并成为这项工作的领导者. I’m optimistic and excited about that future.”