MONDAY June 3, 2024

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Welcome and Introductions by Dr. LaWanda W. M. Ward, Dr. Janice Byrd, and all participants.

Leadership Strategies for Achieving Racial Equity in Campus Communities, presented by Dr. LaWanda W.M. Ward, joined by Dr. Franklin (Frank) Tuitt.

3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Silence Is Complicity: Examining White Supremacy and Anti-Blackness within Forgotten U.S. Historical Narratives, presented by Dr. Candice Bledsoe.

White supremacy and anti-Blackness impacts the lives and educational outcomes of Black people and students in educational settings. In addition to impacting Black lives, white supremacy challenges the pillars of American democracy: equality, freedom, and justice. In this session we will examine forgotten narratives and engage in storytelling as a narrative practice to promote racial healing and anti-racism.

TUESDAY June 4, 2024

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Blackness as a Conceptual Frame for Critical Leadership, presented by Dr. Wilson Kwamogi Okello

If our leadership, and more specifically, how we craft policies and practices, are to meaningfully account for Black life and living, it will require more than a rendering of race and racism. Instead, it will demand an explicit focus on Blackness and its negotiations. This framing understands that antiblack racism is endemic and central to how we make sense of the social, economic, historical, and cultural dimensions of human life. This session invites self-reflective practice by posing the question, how might we take up Blackness to understand policy and practice problems, and conceptualize equitable and just educational outcomes?

3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Putting Anti-Racist Commitments into Action through Discourse, presented by Dr. Uju Anya

Language is action and social practice through which we collaboratively construct and negotiate our identities and institutions. Through language, we have power to legitimize and delegitimize people, places, histories, and ideas. Racial literacy is not only “having the knowledge, skills, awareness and dispositions to talk about race and racism,” as Tyrone Howard explains, it is being aware and empowered to challenge cultural, legalistic, and institutional dominance rooted in racialized hierarchies where whiteness is accorded legitimacy and other ways of knowing, being, and doing are delegitimized. In this session, participants engage in critical analysis of power and inequity in intercultural communication and are introduced to pragmatic strategies to develop intercultural praxis.

WEDNESDAY June 5, 2024

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Structuring Recruitment, Successful Mentoring, and Well Being of Racially Minoritized Faculty, presented by Dr. Chayla Haynes Davison and Dr. LaWanda W.M. Ward.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was not applicable to institutions of higher education until 1972. Initially, Congress viewed colleges and universities as places devoid of discriminatory actions. After 50 years of Title VII operating in U.S. higher education, how have racially minoritized faculty experienced employment in academe? Hiring processes, mentoring efforts (formal and informal), and well-being initiatives for racially minoritized faculty should be intentionally created through racism conscious and equity-focused lenses, otherwise, decision-making will occur in a default mode rooted in whiteness informed values and norms. During this session, we will explore employment practices within campus communities that can and do contribute to fewer racially minoritized faculty being hired, supported by institutional actors, and thriving in the academy. Effects of Title VII’s interpretations that limit and promote racial equity are also discussed. Additionally, we will examine how mentoring supports are vital to combat the intersectional subordination that Women of Color encounter. 

3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The ‘Math People Myth’ and other Majoritarian Stories that Keep STEM an Exclusive Affair, panel discussion with Dr. Nathanial Brown, Dr. Janice Byrd, and Dr. José Soto.

Though structural racism pervades higher education, STEM fields stand out in terms of racial/ethnic disparities. In this session, we’ll explore some of the myths and mindsets that reinforce the status quo and keep STEM an exclusive affair. Topics include faculty beliefs about intelligence, the fallacy of racial/ethnic neutrality in STEM classrooms, antiquated teaching methods, professorial fragility, and the false narrative that there is tension between equity and excellence. Participants will explore consequences of these factors and brainstorm ways to counter them in their institutional context.

THURSDAY June 6, 2024

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Racial (De)Constructions in Everyday Leadership, presented by Dr. Royel M. Johnson. 

This session engages participants in building knowledge and awareness about how race, racism, and other intersecting systems of oppression affect the everyday lives of students and colleagues of color. It models affective and performative strategies that leaders can practice to move from a race-evasive to a race-conscious mindset in their everyday thinking, decisions, and campus practices, with the goal of redressing racial bias and inequities within their spheres of influence on campus.

3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Anti-Racism at Work: Articulating Anti-Racist Values and Commitments in Leadership Statements, presented by Dr. Kaleb L. Briscoe.

In the aftermath of racialized incidents, institutional leaders’ rhetoric continues to be a pressing topic in higher education. Institutional leaders can intentionally and unintentionally harm minoritized populations by reinforcing anti-blackness and non-performative rhetoric in their responses to racialized incidents. Participants in this workshop will examine leaders’ rhetoric and learn how to create and explain anti-racist practices in leadership statements.

4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Conclusion led by LaWanda W. M. Ward and Janice Byrd.

This session provides the opportunity for concluding observations, reflections, and acknowledgements.