Cultivating the Gifts and Talents of Faculty of Color
Dr. Linda
Tillman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professor Emerita of Educational Leadership, School of Education
Dr. Tillman is a nationally recognized scholar and leader in higher education. Her research and scholarship focuses on school leadership, the education of all children in K-12 education, and culturally appropriate approaches to investigations.
Racial equity continues to be an important topic in the landscape of higher education. A key aspect of it is the role of higher education administrators in recognizing and facilitating a diverse campus that promotes and supports its faculty so that they
can make contributions to students, the campus, and society. Thus, higher education administrators should be committed to cultivating the talents of all faculty, particularly those of color who often encounter challenges in the realms of recruitment,
promotion, and tenure. This lecture focused on some of the challenges faced by faculty of color, particularly in predominantly white institutions, and strategies for cultivating the gifts and talents of these scholars.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Tillman's talk.
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Scholar Activism and Self-Care in an Era of #BlackLivesMatter
Dr.
Stephen John Quaye
Associate Professor in Student Affairs in Higher Education Program, Miami University
Dr. Quaye's research and teaching focus on how to enable undergraduate and graduate students to engage in difficult issues such as oppression. He also pursues how storytelling is used as an educational tool to foster reflection and learning across differences.
Since 2014, public student activism has been on the rise. Black Lives Matter activists have used protesting, teach-ins, and meetings to call attention to racism on campus and in society. What's often missing from the conversations about activism, however,
is how scholars engage in it. What is their role and how do they practice self-care alongside the onslaught of media attention to black people being killed? Dr. Quaye made a case in this lecture for scholar activism and discussed how scholars blend
their activist identities with their scholarship. Additionally, he explored the possibilities and challenges of scholar activism and strategies for practicing self-care in the midst of activism.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Quaye's talk.
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Fostering Advancement for Diverse Faculty and Staff
Dr.
Pamela Eddy
Professor in Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership, College of William and Mary
Dr. Eddy's research interests include community college leadership and development, organizational change and educational partnerships, gender roles in higher education, and faculty development.
This session focused on the portrait of today’s college leaders, which shows that top positions remain stubbornly filled by white males and suggests strategies for rethinking constructions of leadership ideals. Despite leadership development programs
targeting women and diverse leaders, these populations have not obtained equity in leadership ranks. New visions of leadership require questioning who can be considered for leadership and where leadership occurs.
Development of mid-level leaders and changing norms of who gets access to leadership development can provide leverage for change. Questioning underlying assumptions about leadership is required for true change to occur, however, and both individuals
and institutions can contribute to building the new models of leadership. Institutional policy can help create a climate that fosters more diverse leadership and addresses structural issues that remain as barriers. Colleges and universities need to
tap into the talent of all potential leaders.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Eddy's talk.
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The Black Woman's Blueprint for Institutional Transformation in Higher Education
Dr.
Lori Patton Davis
Professor in Higher Education and Student Affairs, Indiana University
Dr. Patton Davis's research focuses on African-Americans in higher education, critical race theory in postsecondary contexts, and college student development.
Given the current socio-political climate in the U.S. and on college campuses, a number of questions have emerged regarding the role of higher education in addressing oppression and systemic inequities. Concerns about the capacity of higher education
institutions to engage in substantive change are among the most critical issues facing institutional leaders, faculty, and students. In this presentation, Dr. Patton Davis argued that efforts to address societal inequities and those situated in higher
education might be best implemented by examining black women’s work and contributions. Dr. Patton Davis offered concrete examples of the strategies black women have enacted toward change, and she provided an explanation regarding the seeming
reluctance to acknowledge black women’s labor despite the benefits gained by numerous populations. Finally, Dr. Patton discussed the overwhelming invisibility of black women’s contributions, as well as the need for a more intersectional
approach to institutional transformation that is grounded in the traditions, intellect, and work of black women.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Patton Davis's talk.
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Understanding Latina/o Educational Pathways from the Perspectives of Scholar and Subject of Inquiry
Dr.
Michelle Espino
Assistant Professor of Higher Education; University of Maryland, College Park
Michelle Espino's research centers on understanding community contexts and institutional responses associated with educational achievement and outcomes along the academic life course for racial/ethnic minorities.
Drawing from critical race methodologies and Chicana feminism, Dr. Espino discussed the slow advancement of Latina/o students, administrators, and faculty along an educational pipeline that is rooted in historical and current inequities. She emphasized
the critical nature of research that co-constructs and co-interprets the realities experienced by participants and the researcher at particular moments in time and across familial, community, and educational contexts. Dr. Espino also discussed the
responsibility of offering scholarly work with care and respect; attending to power dynamics as interviewer, narrator, and subject; and weaving together participants’ lived experiences and her own in order to transform traditional paradigms
and practices that hinder Latina/o educational attainment.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Espino's talk.
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The Distance Between Compositional Diversity and Institutional Transformation
Dr. Dafina-Lazarus Stewart
Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs, Bowling Green State University
Dr. Dafina-Lazarus Stewart is a scholar, educator, and activist focused on empowering and imagining futures that sustain and cultivate learning, growth, and success of marginalized groups in the U.S. higher education institutions.
During the last three academic years, colleges and universities nationwide have been in the news as student demands from racially minoritized students, particularly black students and their accomplices, have gone viral via social media. The current
generation of student activism by black students is calling for direct actions, tangible outcomes, and greater institutional accountability for creating and sustaining campus environments that are more diverse and inclusive. Incidents of racial microaggressions
against minoritized faculty, staff, and students continue despite pledges to increase the numbers of faculty, staff, and students of color; sizeable commitment of dollars; and notable gains in the racial and ethnic diversity of certain parts of campus.
In this lecture, Dr. Dafina-Lazarus Stewart called attention to the gap between focusing attention on compositional diversity and actually doing the work necessary to foment and sustain institutional transformation toward greater racial justice.
College fireside chat lecture
Dr. Dafina-Lazarus Stewart wrote in a blog post that became viral a love letter to minoritized faculty members in colleges and universities. Stewart shared cautions, encouragement, and blessings gained
at the beginning of zir 16th year of teaching, research, and service in the academy. Ze's ultimate message was to affirm the camaraderie of minoritized faculty, urging others to "create a life that can transport [them] beyond" the dysfunction of the
academy. In this intimate conversation held at the College of Education, Dr. Stewart talked further about love and critical hope as imperatives to reaching wholeness in the academy.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Stewart's talk.
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A Discussion on Plantation Politics, Neoracism, and Critical Race Tempered Radicalism
Dr.
Dian Squire
Visiting Assistant Professor, Iowa State University
Dr. Squire's research focuses on issues of diversity, equity, and justice in higher education. He focuses on access to graduate education and the experiences of diverse graduate students.
In a neoliberal era with heightened racial tension, universities must examine the ways they include communities of color and fundamentally reshape their organizations to support the holistic learning and development of the growing diversity on campuses.
In the wake of material instances of white supremacy, it is no longer enough to provide statements of support, minor policy changes, or conduct another campus climate survey. The evidence is clear: U.S. colleges and universities are built upon historical
roots of racism and white supremacist normativity, which needs to change. Through the exploration of three frameworks, Dr. Dian Squire helped students, faculty, and staff work toward racial justice. Attendees of this lecture left with the knowledge
to reframe the way they examine current institutional organizations as shaped by their white supremacist histories and discovered more in the way of international graduate admissions infused with neoracist and neoliberal action. By exploring the formation
of universities and providing two contemporary manifestations of whiteness, one can more easily name and deconstruct oppressive systems to reconstruct just and liberating opportunities.
During this lecture, any statements made or materials presented do not necessarily represent the views of this University of Illinois, or its respective colleges, departments, employees, agents, or affiliates.
Watch the video of Squire's talk.
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Margaret Beale Spencer, PhD is the Charles F Grey Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development and the College and is the Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education at the University of Chicago. A developmental psychologist, she is also an alumna of the Committee on Human Development at the University of Chicago. Before returning to Chicago, she was the endowed Board of Overseers Professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies of Human Development (ISHD) Program and faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania (Psychology in Education Division). Additionally, she was Director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Health Achievement Neighborhood Growth and Ethnic Studies (CHANGES), and also guided as its inaugural director, the W. E. B. Du Bois Collective Research Institute. Guiding the noted efforts and continuing to frame her scholarship, Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (P-VEST) provides an identity-focused cultural ecological perspective which frames her gender, race, culture and context acknowledging program of human development research. Recognizing the universality of human vulnerability, the theory addresses resiliency, identity, and competence formation processes for diverse humans situated both in the United States and abroad.
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