University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Centering Anti-Racism in the Paradigm of Pedagogy

Decorative orange and blue geometric patterns. Centering Anti-Racism in the Paradigm of Pedagogy.

Keynote with Racism Untaught Co-Developers Lisa Elzey Mercer and Terresa Moses

Wednesday, February 2 at 4 p.m.
via Zoom

Register for This Event

Primarily white institutions (PWIs) tend to struggle to foster campus climates that support and retain non-white students through matriculation. One route to addressing this challenge is engaging students in coursework that reorients their thinking around their positionality in the context of race and racism. Problematically, nonwhite faculty are disproportionately charged with teaching these courses, and students (as well as other faculty) begin to associate research and teaching about racial justice entirely with nonwhite faculty. We will be discussing ways in which faculty can support an anti-racist classroom environment that will begin a sea-change at PWIs – showing the necessity and priority of anti-racism across all faculty’s pedagogical approaches.

Part of the Campus Culture and Belonging Series.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email Linden Reid at diversity@illinois.edu. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time for meeting your access needs.

Speakers

Headshot of Terresa Moses

Terresa Moses

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and the Director of Design Justice at University of Minnesota’s College of Design

Terresa Moses (she/her) is a proud Black queer woman dedicated to the liberation of Black and brown people through art and design. She is the Creative Director at Blackbird Revolt and an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and the Director of Design Justice at the University of Minnesota. As a community-engaged scholar, she created Project Naptural and co-created Racism Untaught. She is currently a PhD candidate in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto. She serves as a core team member of African American Graphic Designers and as a collaborator with the Black Liberation Lab.

Lisa Elzey Mercer

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation at the School of Art and Design, College of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA), at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Lisa Elzey Mercer (she/her) is a designer, educator, and researcher. Her interests are in developing and executing design interventions that fuel and sustain responsible design for social impact. The developed frameworks and tools are intended to create a space for conversation and knowledge exchange where participants can collaborate in creating new ideas and solutions. This type of methodology is evident in her current projects Operation Compass and Racism Untaught. She is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation at the University of Illinois.