Wednesday October 18th - In Person Track
Check In, 8:00am - 4:15pm
Reimagining the Academy Teach-In and Luncheon, 9:00am - 2:00pm
Room: Ballroom
Space is limited. Registration required.
Conference Welcome, 9:00 - 9:30am: President Todd Diacon & Amoaba Gooden
Teach-in, 9:00am - 12:30pm: Amoaba Gooden, Cristina Alcalde, Salome Nnoromele
Lunch, 12:30 - 2:00pm
A teach-in is a participatory forum to raise awareness and empower action on or about a topic or issue. This teach-in session re-imagines higher education with an inclusive and transformative lens. Drawing heavily from traditions and scholarship that centers transformational change, this session will explore what lessons we can glean from literature and in practice about mobilizing for change in higher education. Presenters will offer implications for practice and policy to assist in our individual and collective application of institutional access, excellence and change in higher education and beyond. This session will be interactive; participants will be invited to engage in pairs, small and large groups, as well as to individually reflect on their role, commitment, and well-being.
Session Block 1, 2:00 - 3:00pm
The Power of Counternarratives
Room: 306BC
Workshop
Hiram Ramirez
During this interactive and student-focused session we will explore ways in which personal narratives can help disrupt dominant narratives in the service of transformational change. Participants will go through various exercises individually and as a group, to co-create narratives within the space and practice counterstorytelling.
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Race, Research, and Reimagining: Examining Anti-Racist Queries
Room: 310
Panel Session
Catrina Johnson, Kristenne Robison, Francisco Torres, Shana Klein, Kayon Hall, Astrid Sambolin Morales
This panel features Anti-Racism and Equity Institute scholars whose work focuses on understanding and interrupting structural practices and procedures that lead to inequitable outcomes for people and communities of color. Their work shifts beyond documenting persistent inequality and moves toward engagement with reimagined focus of equitable opportunities and outcomes.
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Reimagining Higher Education: Not Just for the Fortunate Few, but for the Meritorious Many
Room: Governance Chambers
Roundtable
Mark Polataijko, Sean Broghammer, Eboni Pringle, Holly Slocum, Amoaba Gooden
Over the past number of years, under President Diacon's leadership, Kent State University has embarked on an intentional effort to reimagine higher education, "not just for the fortunate few, but for the meritorious many." Kent State employees and students have engaged in multiple professional development opportunities that center equity and access in this reimagining. These efforts have led to dialogues and intentional and collaborative efforts to transform systems of structural inequities at Kent State and have resulted in numerous programs and initiatives that center student success.
In this session, presenters will share examples of how Kent State administrators have grounded equity principles to advance institutional change. Presenters will focus on institutional collaboration and student success and highlight Kent State University's collaborative efforts that focused on increasing student access and equality of opportunity on all campuses. Presenters will focus on (1) Kent State's efforts to increase retention, persistence and graduation rates, (2) Kent State's participation in the University of Southern California Race and Equity Institute and resulting equity initiatives, and (3) Kent State's continued efforts to break down barriers to make real change.
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Infusing Anti-Racism into Graduate Teacher Training
Room: Ballroom Balcony
Workshop
Sarah Beal
During this highly interactive workshop, all who are involved in training and mentoring graduate instructors and TAs are invited to discuss how we can infuse anti-racism into teacher trainings for graduate students to empower them for their future careers. Practical strategies will be provided, but participants will be encouraged to share strategies based on their own expertise and lived experiences. Participants should leave the session with a greater sense for how anti-racism can inform all aspects of our pedagogical approaches, as well as practical strategies for how to center inclusive and equitable practices during teacher trainings.
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Networking Hour
Room: 317
Access Betters the Lives of Everyeone (ABLE), Kent Disabled Students Society, ASL Club
Session Block 2, 3:15 - 4:15pm
Executive Leadership, Mothering, and the George Floyd Effect
Room: 306A
Workshop
Talea Drummer-Ferrell, Christa Porter
This workshop will begin with an overview of our study, which explored the unique experiences of millennial-aged women of color, who are in executive/senior leadership roles at a college or university and have young children. Their stories both illuminate their experiences before, since, and because of George Floyd's death, and identify implications for practice and policy. This workshop, guided by themes and findings of this study, will provide an opportunity to assist in understanding the unique needs of this population and how colleagues and institutions can support them as we enhance our justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion work institution wide.
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Oral Session
Room: 310
Dialogue at the Center: Uplifting Learners Through Inclusive Practices
Astrid Sambolin Morales
This presentation will focus on an assistant professor's experiences participating in culture circles as a graduate student and researcher. Culture circles engage participants in a cycle of problem-posing, dialogue, and problem-solving, opening spaces to critically examine issues and possible solutions in a community. The presentation will explain the background of this Freirean method, how it has been implemented, and its potential as a research and teaching tool. Finally, the presenter will invite participants to reflect on incorporating culture circles to create more inclusive, culturally responsive spaces in their teaching and research.
Diversifying Psychology: Lessons from Kent State's Multicultural and Diversity Committee
Karigan Capps
Psychology is one of the most common majors on college campuses. It is also one of the most difficult fields in which to pursue advanced degrees, especially for students from minority backgrounds. Graduate students in the KSU Psychological Sciences department foster students' post-graduate success through a Multicultural and Diversity undergraduate mentorship program. This program provides students with psychology-specific mentorship, assistance with specific academic barriers (e.g., identifying research experiences, graduate applications), and high impact events as well as workshops. This session will discuss lessons learned and opportunities for psychology-specific DEI programing to increase diversity of the field.
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Advancing Racial Justice by Decolonizing Kent State
Room: Governance Chambers
Roundtable
Elaine (Lan Yin) Hsiao, Lisa Bhungalia, Sharon Koelblinger, Ashley Nickels, Shemariah Arki, Francisco Torres
When it comes to decolonization and anti-racism, one is not possible without the other. It is well known that the structures of racism are rooted in the same oppressive systems as coloniality (i.e., white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism) and therefore, must be challenged in tandem. This roundtable seeks to recognize the important steps that have been taken, discussing the challenges and limitations of these approaches when applied through administrative systems and in teaching and learning spaces. Discussants, in dialogue with the audience, will identify further action needed to decolonize the university and advance racial justice in practice, policymaking, and programming.
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Inclusivity and Diversity in Teaching Graduate Seminars
Room: Ballroom Balcony
Workshop
Jennifer Taber
Faculty often receive little to no training in how to effectively teach graduate seminars. In this interactive workshop, Dr. Jennifer Taber will discuss what graduate seminars are and do, why they are important, and how to teach them. The workshop will center on creating an inclusive classroom and adhering to principles of diversity, equity and inclusion across all aspects of the course (e.g., writing the syllabus, selecting readings, structuring course sessions and discussion). Based on research conducted during her time as a KSU Center for Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellow, she will share both faculty and graduate student perspectives on graduate seminars. Attendees will be invited to share their own insights on teaching and learning in graduate seminars in this facilitated conversation. The workshop goals are to 1) think through one's own goals for graduate seminars; 2) link specific course components to these goals; 3) consider how graduate seminars can address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and 4) leave with new ideas for your own teaching.
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Networking Hour
Room: 306BC
Asian, Asian American & Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Alliance (AAAPI FASA), International Student Council (ISC)
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Networking Hour
Room: 317
Spectrum, Trans* Fusion, PRIDE! Kent