Inaugural Faculty Antiracism Pedagogy Seminar Empowers 53 NYU Silver Antiracism Pedagogy Champions
Professors Zoila A. Del-Villar, Robert L. Hawkins, and Amanda Mays to Provide Peer Consultation in Spring 2021
In the Fall 2020 semester, 53 NYU Silver faculty and doctoral students completed the School’s inaugural
Faculty Antiracism Pedagogy Seminar. The new, rigorous program was developed by Associate Professor
Doris F. Chang and Master Teacher and Clinical Associate Professor
Linda Lausell Bryant, co-chairs of the School’s
Action Against Racism Pedagogy Supports Work Group, as part of a broader effort to more intentionally center NYU Silver’s pedagogy in antiracist and inclusive practices. It will next be offered in the Summer 2021 semester.
The self-guided training program, open to all full-time and adjunct faculty as well as doctoral students, consisted of readings, videos, reflection questions, and accountability group meetings that participants completed in five two-week cycles. It provided tools to promote racial equity; navigate discussions on racism and identity; facilitate self-reflection with regard to these issues; and prioritize the comfort, performance and learning of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students. Designed with the recognition that white and BIPOC faculty have different lived experiences of race, readings, tools, reflection questions, and discussion opportunities were tailored to address each group’s unique training needs. At the end of the seminar, participants submitted a teaching and learning plan, in which they reflected on personal strengths and weaknesses in the domains of Critical Knowledge, Critical Awareness, Critical Analysis, and Critical Actions. They then outlined a concrete plan to continue their growth and development and to apply what they have learned in their classrooms and other professional environments.
Drs. Chang and Lausell Bryant, who read participants’ reflection papers and teaching and learning plans and provided feedback during monthly cohort meetings, praised colleagues who completed the inaugural seminar. “Despite the unprecedented challenges of remote teaching, caring for family members at home, and juggling days of back-to-back Zoom calls, participants prioritized this important work and persisted to the very end,” said Dr. Chang. “We are inspired by their unflinching honesty, vulnerability, and dedication to helping to make Silver a place where everyone feels valued, seen, and heard,” added Dr. Lausell Bryant. Furthermore, Dr. Lausell Bryant said, “faculty interest in the training remains very high and offering it again in the summer will make participation more feasible for those who could not complete it this time.”
Dean Neil B. Guterman thanked Drs. Chang and Lausell Bryant for their extraordinary contributions to the School’s faculty development and congratulated the following faculty and doctoral students who completed the first cycle of the seminar and have been given the designation as
NYU Silver Antiracism Pedagogy Champions: