Race Matters: Panelist 3

• In Event: 58.041 - Race Matters: Teaching Diversity Beyond the Margins

Abstract

Panelist Three
Panelist Three is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on access and success for students of color in higher education. Panelist Three will discuss the role of student and faculty identities in diversity classes, and how these identities can alter the pedagogy and course content. For example, students in the class start with an “identity story” and Panelist Three also shares her identity story as a White woman. The presentation will center on how identity influences the learning and teaching of diversity issues. Additionally, Panelist Three will discuss how identities influenced students’ final projects in the diversity class, and how some projects became actionable ways to change the campus climate on campus (e.g., diversity workshops for other students on campus). Finally, Panelist Three will use her research with African American women as an example of how racial boundaries can be bridged in higher education more generally.

Identity in the Classroom. When my students present their identity stories, I also present an identity story to my students. My goal is to help students to see that I am human and that I am continuing to learn and grow too. Students seem to appreciate knowing my own history and how I came to be interested in race as a White woman. For White students, my hope is that I can help them to know that they can unlearn some of the things they have learned about race – and that they can be part of the fight for justice if they know their own histories, know the history of this country, and do the work to be prepared to join the fight for justice. For students of color, it is important to share with them the way that I identify and to own that publicly. It is also a space where students can eventually begin to ask me questions about my journey so that students know how I am coming to the work we are learning.

Author

• Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, University of Wisconsin