Faculty in Conversations on Race Pedagogy (CORPs)

race forward

This project sought to provide faculty the training and support that allowed them to facilitate dialogues about race and racism in connection with their curricula and disciplines. Such dialogues in the classroom call for students to analyze systems of oppression, consider their own intersectional identities and location in systems of oppression and consider how internalized, interpersonal, institutional and structural racism are woven throughout society in ways that create inequitable access to necessary resources. In line with the Ignatian and Jesuit vision, facilitated dialogues about race and racism create an educational experience for students that allows for a critical understanding of racism and deep reflection on their own implication in systems of oppression.

The goal of this project was to increase the racial literacy of faculty across all five colleges and the library and to provide training on how to facilitate classroom dialogues about race and racism. As our country struggles to make sense of historical and present-day manifestations of racism in the U.S., our students need guidance in and out of the classroom to understand not only interpersonal racism, but the larger institutional and structural forces that disparately affect BIPOC communities. This project sought to provide the training for faculty to facilitate these delicate and often tense dialogues about race in the classroom, regardless of discipline.

 

Overview and Timeline

In Summer 2021, a small cohort of faculty from each of the four schools, college and library were invited to a “Train-the-trainer” Summer Training Institute led by Race Forward and Anna Yeakley consultancy. This Summer Institute provided these faculty with race theory and concepts to increase their own understanding of race and racism in a U.S. context, trained them to facilitate dialogues about race and racism and then prepared them to facilitate conversations among their faculty colleagues about how to talk about race in classrooms. In Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, this cohort of faculty facilitators returned to their home schools, college and library to lead semester-long conversations among interested faculty.

Stage One (SUMMER 2021) 

After the selection process has completed, the cohort of faculty leaders participated in a two-week training institute, hosted by Race Forward, a nationally-renowned training organization and Anna Yeakley and Teresa Brett, two of the foremost trainers in intergroup dialogue.

Stage Two (FALL 2021-SPRING 2022)

In the fall, faculty leaders returned to their colleges to host year-long dialogues with faculty about how to talk about race in their classes. Faculty leaders met mid-semester to check-in.  They returned for a three-day retreat in intersession to revisit their plans and then completed the dialogue series in Spring 2022.

Connection to the Jesuit Foundation Mission

This initiative sought to provide faculty the training and support that allowed them to facilitate dialogues about race and racism in connection with their curricula and disciplines. Such dialogues in the classroom call for students to analyze systems of oppression, consider their own intersectional identities and location in systems of oppression and consider how internalized, interpersonal, institutional and structural racism are woven throughout society in ways that create inequitable access to necessary resources. In line with the Ignatian and Jesuit vision, facilitated dialogues about race and racism create an educational experience for students that allows for a critical understanding of racism and deep reflection on their own implication in systems of oppression.