Events
FEBRUARY 25: Eliminating Anti-Black Racism as a Catholic, Jesuit Universityplus or minus
The Jesuit Center and the Office of Equity and Diversity will host Dr. Mary Wardell, Vice Provost for Diversity Engagement and Community Outreach at the University of San Francisco, at the next diversity and inclusion lunch and learn workshop. All faculty and staff are invited to participate on February 25, 2021 at 12:00PM. Registrants will receive short reading materials to review before the workshop. Please click here to register by February 22.
A Call to Conversion: Eliminating Anti-Black Racism as a Jesuit, Catholic University will show how our Ignatian values and traditions are tied to racial justice work, and teach us how to use our gifts for racial justice. In her work, Dr. Wardell relates, “To ensure the fulfillment of the Universal Apostolic Preference of walking with the poor, the excluded, the outcasts of the world as an act of reconciliation and justice, I would like to offer a reparational framework for racial justice and reconciliation informed by teshuva for Jesuit universities and social works.” She believes it is essential that we “Rebuild our institutional cultures with empathy, accountability, and liberation” The move towards reconciliation and racial justice “will occur when we address anti-Black racism and racial injustice on our campuses.”1
Dr. Wardell is an executive leader with over 20 years’ experience in academic affairs, student life, community engagement, and diversity and inclusion, skilled at building organizational infrastructure through strategic initiatives. She is also an associate professor of organizations, communication and leadership at the University of San Francisco. She has been a leader in developing a creative framework for how a university's mission can be more fully realized as part of the community it resides within for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources.
This event is co-sponsored by The University of Scranton Jesuit Center and a Diversity Initiatives Grant through the Office of Equity and Diversity. Registration is required. RSVP’s requested by February 22 to allow time for preparation of reading material. Please click here to register. For more information on the program, please contact elizabeth.garcia2@scranton.edu. Registration and zoom questions contact Jennifer.pennington@scranton.edu.
1. Source: Wardell-Ghirarduzzi, M. (Spring 2021). A redemptive call to the altar: Anti-black racism in Jesuit higher education. Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, 59, 3-5.
FEBRUARY 25: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Churchplus or minus
Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church: How to work toward liberation
presented by Olga M. Segura, opinion editor at the National Catholic Reporter and author of Birth of A Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church. Registration required.February 25 @ 7 PM via Zoom
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Limited to 300 University of Scranton staff, faculty and students.
Zoom link will be sent out the day of the lecture.Co-sponsored by:
College of Arts and Sciences | Office of the Provost | Office of Equity and Diversity | Jesuit Center | Cross Cultural Centers | Humanities Forum
FEBRUARY 25: Black Italians#Digital Culture plus or minus
Entrepreneurship ha, transforming Italian material culture, and the meanings emerged as an important strategy for Black Italian Youth seeking to advance new narratives about Blackness, transforming Italian material culture and the meaning of Italianess itself. Digital Media Art and Entrepreneurship is one example of nascent Black spatial politics in Italy.
Join us for discussion and Q&A February 25 @ 7PM. Registration is required. Click here to register.
APRIL 15 AND 22: Antiracist Teaching Faculty Pedagogy Workshopplus or minus
The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, through a Strategic Initiatives Grant awarded to the Office of Equity and Diversity, will host two inclusion pedagogy workshops for faculty featuring Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya, Ed.D. Both workshops will focus on antiracist teaching. The first will be held on Thursday, April 15, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., and will introduce key cross-disciplinary elements of antiracist teaching, engage in practicing one of these elements, and consider how those elements align with Catholic and Jesuit values. In the second workshop to be held the following Thursday, April 22, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., faculty will apply one element of antiracist teaching to their own teaching and work in disciplinary-related teams to improve an element of their teaching to advance antiracist teaching.
“Milagros Castillo-Montoya is a first-generation scholar. She is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs in the Educational Leadership Department at the Neag School of Education in the University of Connecticut. She also serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Assistant Director of Faculty Development at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), and as an Affiliate Faculty with El Instituto and with the Sustainable Global Cities Initiative. Her research focuses on educational equity for first-generation college students, as well as racially minoritized students. Dr. Castillo-Montoya studies teaching and learning in racially and ethnically diverse college classrooms, particularly culturally relevant teaching in higher education. Dr. Castillo-Montoya’s scholarly work led her to be selected as an ACPA Emerging Scholar.
Dr. Castillo-Montoya has published in the Journal of Higher Education, Review of Educational Research, Review of Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Education, Harvard Educational Review, among other outlets. Dr. Castillo-Montoya has 20 years of professional experience in various areas of higher education including faculty work, higher education policy, academic affairs, and student affairs. She began her career as an educational opportunity fund program advisor (a Trio program for first-generation low-income college students) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is a mom of two children and loves being in nature.1
Registration is required: Click here to register. It is highly recommended that faculty attend both sessions. Questions, contact: amy.simolo@scranton.edu or 570-941-7498. This program is sponsored by a Strategic Initiatives Grant awarded to the Office of Equity & Diversity.
1.Source: https://education.uconn.edu/person/milagros-castillo-montoya/ -biography
APRIL 20: Uncovering Scranton's Native Pastplus or minus
Students, faculty and staff are invited to the next Diversity + Inclusion Lunch and Learn! Dr. Adam J. Pratt, Ph.D., Associate Professor, History department, will present Uncovering Scranton's Native Past, Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 12:00PM. Please click here to register.
In Uncovering Scranton’s Native Past, Dr. Pratt will delve into the groups of Native people’s that lived in our area, when, and what happened to them; the steps toward creating a Native Land Acknowledgement Statement; and, what other actions should the University make toward addressing past injustices.
Dr. Adam Pratt is an Associate Professor of History. His courses taught include 19th-century United States history, the Age of Andrew Jackson, Native American history, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. His book, Toward Cherokee Removal: Land, Violence, and the White Man’s Chance was published last year with the University of Georgia Press. He discussed his book and research in a recent Alarmist podcast in November which can be heard here.
This educational program for all students, faculty and staff is a part of the Diversity + Inclusion = A Better U! series, hosted by the Office of Equity and Diversity. Registration is required. Please click here to register.
For more information on the program, please contact elizabeth.garcia2@scranton.edu. Registration and zoom questions contact Jennifer.pennington@scranton.edu.
APRIL 22: Dragon Boat Festivalplus or minus
Join us April 22, 7-8PM in celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival with visiting lecturer of ChineseHsiang-Ling (Charlize)Wang.
Use teh QR code below, or click here to register.
APRIL 27: Reflection on Anti-Asian Violenceplus or minus
Media outlets worldwide report an alarming increase of verbal slurs, threats, and physical violence against Asian people over the past year, especially in the United States. Join us on Tuesday, April 27 at 11:30a.m., for an important panel discussion reflecting on the roots of anti-Asian violence, discriminatory immigration acts and laws, and harmful stereotyping that continues to negatively impact the Asian community today.
Registration is required for this event. Please click here to register.
The next part of the Diversity + Inclusion = A Better U! series will be moderated by Elizabeth M. Garcia, executive director of the Office of Equity and Divesity.
Panelist Biographies
Dr. Meghan Ashlin Rich , Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Scranton. She also serves as Faculty Coordinator for the Office of Community-Based Learning. She trained in sociology at University of Delaware (Ph.D.), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (M.A.), and University of Maryland (B.A.). Dr. Rich will discuss the history of Asian immigration to the U.S., highlighting the exclusionary immigration acts and discriminatory laws aimed at limiting and restricting Asian Americans and Asian immigration, post-1965 immigration trends and the “pan-ethnic” Asian American identity, constructed in the face of discrimination, and will explain aspects of the “model minority” and gendered stereotypes, and the harm they cause to Asian Americans.
Dr. Amitava Krishna Dutt, Ph.D., is a Professor of Economics and Political Science Department of Political Science at University of Notre Dame, and Fellow at the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies and Kellogg Institute of International Studies. He received his BA and MA from University of Calcutta, and his Ph.D., from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983. Dr. Dutta will discuss anti-Asian violence in the US, with respect to Asian immigration, general issues about “nationalism and race/ethnicity issues concerning Asians in the US in particular, involving social, political and economic factors, and finally, about how attitudes are influenced by some politicians for their personal benefit.
Dr. Jingyi Song, Ph.D., is a professor of history, teaching courses such as Chinese Diaspora and a graduate school level class, Transnational Migration and Identify: Asian American History at the Department of History and Philosophy, SUNY at Old Westbury. She has several published works on these topics. Dr. Song will discuss the Denver Riot that took place October 31, 1880, and its legacy of racism against Asian Americans. She will depict the various dimensions of ethnicity, culture, ideology, politics and economic policies that shape the anti-Chinese sentiment leading to the Riot.
MAY 4: Giving Voice to the Silenced ALL Faiths Prayer Vigilplus or minus
GLOBAL INSIGHTS SPRING '21plus or minus
Delve into exciting countries and cultures when you attend Global Insights programs presented by students, staff and faculty who share their international heritage and experiences! Free and open to the University community members. Registration is required.
Egypt Thursday, February 25, 2021
Paraguay Thursday, March 25, 2021
French Polynesia Thursday, April 15, 2021
Sponsored by : The Office of Global Education, The Office of Residence Life, The Cross Cultural Centers and The Office of Equity and Diversity. Contact: international@scranton.edu or 570-941-4841 for details.
TA TALKS SPRING '21plus or minus
