These can be modified to fit your schedule and format (contact me for scheduling and rates).
Including Race and Racism in your Courses: Why it Matters and How to Do It
Race and the problems of racism are relevant to nearly every discipline and course we teach. Despite this, many instructors are understandably unsure about how to include and teach when it comes to these sensitive and politicized topics.
In this session, Cyndi first examines why race and racism should be included in our courses, following up with specific and concrete suggestions for finding and choosing content, raising the issues in an intentional and thoughtful way, and strategies for teaching about race and racism more effectively. The focus will be on research-informed and practical ways to do this important work.
Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively: Compassionate Yet Honest Approaches
Drawing from both the scholarship of teaching and learning and the social psychological literature, as well as from her own teaching experience, Cyndi provides evidence for how learning works with respect to race and racism along with practical strategies for facilitating learning. Overall, Cyndi focuses on providing a compassionate classroom environment for both students and instructors as well as drawing important distinctions between the experiences of White people and people of color in doing this work.
Bias and the Student Experience
Racism, stereotyping and bias on college campuses have all been well-studied and well-documented. But despite their important implications for students, these experiences are often not well understood by faculty and staff, especially on predominantly White campuses. Translating the research, Cyndi will explain how bias, at both the individual and institutional levels, affects students and their educational outcomes and what we can do to become fairer and more just in our work.
Psychological Interventions for Student Success
Research in social psychology has consistently shown that how we interpret the world around us has big implications for how we behave and the outcomes we achieve. This is certainly true for our students and, using this insight, researchers have developed several small, low-cost interventions that can be applied at either the classroom or campus level to improve student engagement and success. Drawing from this literature on “wise interventions”, Cyndi describes the science behind a variety of such interventions and explains how they might be used to improve student persistence, boost grades, and help close the gaps we often see between minoritized and other students.
Implicit Bias: What It Is and What It Is Not
Implicit bias and implicit associations are social psychological concepts that have been studied for more than 25 years. At the same time, these concepts are frequently misunderstood and mischaracterized. Lately, the idea of “implicit bias training” has become common, with politicians and pundits calling for various groups (e.g., doctors, teachers, police officers) to develop their understanding of their own biases as a way to reduce discrimination. In this talk, Cyndi explains implicit bias clearly, breaking down the science to help participants understand how it works and when it should (and should not) be used. Cyndi also provides strategies for minimizing your own implicit biases and suggestions for ways to reduce the role of implicit bias at both the personal and organizational levels.
Most Recent and Upcoming Talks:
(2023, February). Including Race and Racism in your Courses: Why it Matters and How to Do It. Bay College, Escanaba, MI.
(2022, November). Bias and the Student Experience. Lake Forest College (virtually).
(2022, August). Including Race and Racism in Your Courses: Why it Matters and How to Do It. St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN.
(2022, May). Including Race and Racism in Your Courses: Why it Matters and How to Do It. Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Development Session, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI.
(2022, May). Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively: Compassionate Yet Honest Approaches Across Disciplines. Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities Keynote, University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, Lacrosse, WI.
(2021, October). Teaching and Talking about Race: Compassionate Yet Honest Approaches. All faculty and staff development session for the West Virginia University School of Law (virtually).
(2021, September). Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively. Lucas Speaker Series Kick-Off Event, Florida Gulf Coast University (virtually).
(2021, May). Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively. Session for faculty and staff, sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, East Tennessee State University (virtually).
(2021, March). Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively. Session for faculty, sponsored by the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, High Point University (virtually).
(2021, March). Bias and the Student Experience. Session for faculty and staff, sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, East Tennessee State University (virtually).
(2021, March). Defining Racism: How Race Shapes our Lives. Session for faculty, students and community members, Miles Community College (virtually).
(2021, February). Bias and the Student Experience. Session for faculty and staff, Cecil College (virtually).
(2021, January). Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively. Session for faculty and staff sponsored by the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching, Trinity University (virtually).
(2020, December). Becoming an Antiracist Educator: Seeing the Problems and Teaching Effectively. Food for Thought Teaching Workshop, Rochester Community and Technical College (virtually).
(2020, November). Teaching about Race and Racism Effectively. Read, Reflect, Revise Book Club Presentation, Oregon State University (virtually).
(2020, January). Helping our Students Think Better and Succeed More: Small Tweaks and Wise Interventions. Keynote Address, Instructional Development Institute, Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, UW Green Bay, Green Bay, WI.
