Spring is here. As I walk in my neighborhood, I’ve seen a few early blooms and I’ve thought, “Maybe there is hope.” I’m needing some of that. Having gotten both of my vaccine shots (one advantage of being seasoned), I have actually had moments of more positive thinking about the future. And then there is another spate of shootings and then another and the struggle continues. I feel blessed at these times that my career is in education. It is in our children and young adults, and people of all ages who are seeking education, who will shape the future. In the face of ongoing challenges, we must persist in our efforts to offer equitable access to education for all.
I have recently joined the amazing team at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), a group of forward-thinking educators who are working diligently to contribute to the work of institutions across the US and elsewhere to promote the highest quality of education with a persistent focus on equity and inclusive excellence. Check out their work at aacu.org. I want to share just a few beacons of hope that I’ve encountered recently.
At Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, a team of brilliant faculty, mostly in math and engineering, have been working on bandwidth recovery strategies for over a year and are spreading the word to their colleagues. I am daily amazed and so grateful that most faculty and teachers really want students to succeed and are so open to ways they can help.
Recently, in AAC&U’s Liberal Education journal, I was introduced to Dr. Mays Imad, a neuroscientist who teaches at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. She founded a teaching and learning center there. In a recent article in Inside Higher Ed, she makes the case the Hope Still Matters and provides some guidance for how we, with our students, can have the “audacity to move forward.” She has also made a youtube video for teachers on Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning. Her work gave me hope.
This week, I’ve been “attending” two conferences from my dining room, the Columbus State University Diversity Forum and AAC&U’s Diversity, Equity, and Student Success. At the Diversity Forum, a keynote from Cara E Yar Khan, an Indian-American international human rights advocate who lives with a disability spoke with such hope and compassion about her work on behalf of people living with disabilities. Timothy Bussey, from Kenyon College, shared some excellent ideas about making classrooms more equitable, including statements on syllabi about respecting pronouns, using the “nickname” feature on learning management systems so students can register their preferred name, and using anonymous dropbox answer features online to eliminate risk for students in stating an uncomfortable response or making mistakes.
At the AAC&U conference, the opening keynote address by Dr. Lori Patton Davis was brilliant, challenging us to use “uncommon sense” in looking honestly at our systems of education and making changes that need to be made so that everyone has access to the opportunities for learning and development. I learned from Dr. Amy Bergstrom and Dr. Amy Watters at the College of St. Scholastica about their research on creating learning environments online in which all teachers and students belong and can bring their authentic selves into classes.
Dr. Erinn Whiteside at Texas A&M shared her work with teacher preparation students in special education. She started a book club with students in which they read/watch/experience material relevant to their future work with diverse students and discuss it with each other in the safe space of a trusting community of learners. At Allegheny College, Dr. Angelica Perez began a one-credit-hour class that addressed the needs of students from non-majority groups, offering intentional support to help them succeed in a mostly-white, rural school. Not only did the students in the class form a community of support among themselves, the discussions helped identify important institutional changes that, hopefully, will result in a more equitable environment for all students.
Laverne Xilegg Demientieff and Margo Griffith, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), shared their work on “healing-centered engagement” that focused on many healing traditions from Alaskan indigenous communities. Dr. Demientieff cited a comment from one of her students who pointed out that there was a great deal of talk about historical trauma among indigenous people and asked why there was not more talk about historical wellness. Such an excellent question; what can we learn from communities that have survived against incredible odds? A UAF student shared her story of growing up in a small native community and her path to higher education – now there is hope! Dr. Demientieff described the 5 C’s of indigenous wellness practice that seem to me to be central to engaging and caring for students at all levels of education: compassion, curiosity, connection, ceremony, community.
Thankfully, I experience many examples of hope in my work with schools where there are people who want to engage in conversations about creating learning environments where all students can learn and thrive. I’ve shared just a few of them here. Thanks to each of you who are asking the questions, seeking answers, and keeping hope alive.