Dear Faculty Colleagues,
We are happy to announce that, in response to overwhelming interest and demand, the Faculty Antiracism Training Program is again being offered to all full- and part-time faculty!
Last fall, 54 faculty members completed the self-guided training program. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to complete the program, we are pleased to offer it over the summer beginning Friday, July 9, and ending Friday, September 17. As before, the training consists of five modules of self-directed learning activities, requiring an average of 2-2.5 hours for each module. Our goal is to provide a structure for reflective, accountable, and consistent engagement in the study of antiracist practice and transform how we teach and train our students.
Please read this entire message for complete details about the training.
Recognizing that White and BIPOC faculty have different lived experiences of race, both in their personal lives and in the academy, we seek to address each group’s unique training needs through tailored readings, tools, reflection questions, and discussion opportunities. We will assist faculty in self-organizing small accountability groups (2-4 people) to facilitate reflection and shared learning for the duration of the program. Based on feedback from last year’s cohort, we recommend that you organize your own accountability groups if at all possible, to ensure that you are comfortable and have a baseline of trust before digging into this work. You will be asked to provide the names of your group members in the early weeks of the course. Faculty who are regularly attending other race-based accountability/ caucus/affinity groups at NYU may be able to receive credit for participation in those groups. Please inquire for more details.
Faculty who complete the full program will receive 16 hours of CE credit. Faculty who complete the self-guided portion of the course, but are unable to participate in the accountability groups will receive 12 hours of CE credit.
The deadline for registration is Wednesday, July 7, 2021.
Please view this brief (16 min.) video, in which we describe the intentions, values, and assumptions that informed how we developed this training sequence.
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Below, you will find specific information about:
- How to Register
- Training schedule
- Learning outcomes
- Training format and requirements
- Requirements for CE credits
- Additional resources and supports
- Contact information
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I’m excited! How do I register?
Complete the registration form by Wednesday, July 7.
A week or two before the course begins, you will be provided with instructions to complete a brief Initial Self-Assessment Survey. This form takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
What is the Training Schedule?
7/9 Module 1: Definitions and Frameworks
7/23 Module 2: Faculty and Student Perspectives on Teaching & Learning about Race
8/6 Module 3: Doing the Work: Understanding our own Positionality and Biases
8/20 Module 4: Anti-Racist Pedagogy in Action
9/3 Module 5: Affirmation and Belonging: Becoming a Beloved Community
9/17 All requirements must be completed and submitted for CE credit.
What are the Key Learning Outcomes?
- To have a stronger understanding of the ways in which race intersects with other identities to shape experiences and views of racism among BIPOC and White faculty and students;
- To understand how your own biases, positionality, and identities impact your awareness of the learning needs of your BIPOC students and your comfort and skill in addressing them;
- To expand and utilize knowledge, resources, and approaches to antiracist pedagogy in action;
- To analyze your unique challenges and responsibilities for antiracist work in the classroom and in the School, as White and BIPOC faculty
- To reflect on gaps in knowledge, awareness, and skills in antiracist pedagogy and develop a personal teaching and learning plan.
What will be the training format and requirements?
Every two weeks, faculty who register for the program will receive information about the next module, which will typically consist of two core readings or videos and a set of reflection questions. To ensure confidentiality, you will submit your written reflections anonymously, although your responses will be linked and tracked for completion. To facilitate your learning and processing of the material, you should plan to meet with your accountability group at least 4 times during the 10-week course. At the end of the course, you will develop a personal Teaching and Learning Plan to help guide changes you intend to implement in your courses, and identify a plan to further your growth and development. Finally, we will offer monthly (optional) live Zoom check-ins to discuss and debrief your experiences as you move through the program.
Is this training mandatory for all faculty? What do I get if I complete the course?
All faculty (full-time and part-time) are strongly encouraged to participate in this training program. Besides receiving CE credits, those who complete the program will be publicly recognized in the Silver Scholarship & Impact newsletter, and they will be entitled to include a special Silver Antiracism Pedagogy Champion designation on their syllabi that indicates that they have completed the training. Their names will also be listed on the website of the Social Justice/Actions Against Racism section of the school’s website.
What if I don’t complete the course? Can I get partial CE credit for what I do complete?
To obtain 16 CE credits, you must complete all 5 modules, all written reflections, the Teaching and Learning plan, and meet with your accountability group at least 4 times by the end of the semester. Faculty who complete all written requirements but do not participate in the accountability groups, may receive a maximum of 12 CE credits. Faculty who wish to participate during certain weeks only are welcome to do so. However, those who do not complete all five modules as described will not be eligible to receive any CE credits for this course.
What resources and supports can I access if I want to consult with someone about my class?
This fall, we will be continuing an initiative launched the past spring, the faculty Peer Consultation Program. Faculty who are recognized experts in antiracist and anti-oppressive pedagogies (and were nominated by students and colleagues) will be available to provide individual or small group consultation and coaching with faculty. Click here for more information about this program and this past year’s Consultants. In addition, we (Doris and Linda) will be offering monthly live Zoom check-in meetings to discuss and debrief your experiences as you move through the training program.
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Review from a Previous Participant
From Yuval Moses, LCSW-R (Fall 2020 Participant)
Being in a helping profession we know well that unarticulated conflicts often manifest in unwanted behaviors like avoidance, anxiety, stress, projections and other ineffective coping mechanisms. I have had these experiences from the first day I stepped into a classroom to various degrees. When I sought guidance in the school what I learned was that many of my colleagues and superiors were grappling with similar difficulties articulating their own conflicts around identity, anti-racism and their manifestations in our school and our classrooms. I was thrilled to take this course when it was announced because I felt that it would finally help me and my colleagues put words to experiences, process them, and then think of possible ways forward. Having completed the course I feel like it did just that. This course has been a significant milestone in my process of owning, articulating and understanding conflicts that come up when speaking about racism in our classrooms and engaging in anti-racist pedagogy. Through a thoughtful curation of academic materials, this course provided me:
- Words that I was lacking to identify the conflicts I was experiencing and my reactions to them.
- Information that I was lacking about the history of racism and white supremacy in our country and in academia.
- New definitions of terms related to anti-racism allowing me to bring a clearer sense of purpose to class discussions and a stronger self confidence in navigating conversations about race.
- Exposure to new ideas and perspectives different than mine.
- Inspiration through literature that often touched me to my core and was transformational.
- Concrete ideas of how to integrate anti-racism praxis in the classroom and stay committed to this cause.
- A place to thoughtfully engage in a conversation and in action against racism.
One of the most profound aspects of this course has been the accountability group I was placed in. It was a significant experience to notice the evolution of trust and bravery that we created in the space, becoming more concrete, more direct, more open and clearer about what anti-racism pedagogy looks like for each of us and learning from each other. There is immense power in making what is implicit explicit - putting words on experiences, processing them and growing through the process together in a beloved community.
This course gave me the opportunity to experience learning on both an academic level and an experiential level, it was engaging and led to what feels like a deep integration of its concepts. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is committed to learning about anti-racist praxis in the classroom.
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In solidarity,
Doris F. Chang and Linda Lausell Bryant
Co-Chairs, Pedagogy Support Working Group
Doris F. Chang, PhD
Associate Professor
Linda Lausell Bryant, PhD
Clinical Associate Professor
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