Division B Pre-Conference Seminar: Early Career Curriculum Scholar Seminar: Thriving Courageously and Creatively in the Contested Landscape of Education (Day 2 of 2)

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This seminar has been designed for early career scholars to meet the challenges of the
first years out of graduate school. These challenges include developing a program of
research and a writing discipline, finding outlets (academic and popular) for
publications, possibly beginning a new faculty position, earning tenure or contract
renewal, seeking internal and external research funding, and thriving in your teaching as
well as in your community engagements and activism. In addition, new faculty members
must navigate the idiosyncrasies of institutions with a wide range of social and cultural contexts, including patterns of injustice, privilege and power. This seminar is designed to support and mentor early career folks through the forest and the trees by gathering with scholar-mentors from Division B at roundtables in order to focus on various topics related to research and scholarship, teaching, activism and community engagement.
Topics to be discussed at the seminar will emerge from participants, and will likely
include: developing worthwhile goals and research agendas; recognizing and
positioning one’s inquiries within traditions in the field of curriculum studies and
seeking creative ways to move beyond those traditions; navigating creatively,
courageously, and wisely in one’s university and the larger communities; and developing
strategies to thrive as a teacher and a scholar whose efforts can have a powerful
positive impact in this contested and troubling world.

Facilitator Bios

Theodorea Regina Berry (Ed.D, National-Louis University, 2002) is Associate Professor
in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at the University of Texas
at San Antonio. She earned her doctoral degree in Curriculum and Social Inquiry and
completed a three- year post-doctoral research fellowship (2002-2005) at the University
of Illinois-Chicago awarded by the American Educational Research Association. Dr.
Berry’s scholarship focuses on the lived experiences of women of color as pre-service
teachers and teacher educators, critical examination of race, ethnicity, and gender for
teaching and teacher education, critical race theory/critical race feminism, qualitative
research methodology (with a focus on narrative inquiry, ethnography, and
auto-ethnography), and curriculum theory. Dr. Berry currently serves as Vice President
for the Foundation for Curriculum Theory and 2017 Co-Site Coordinator for the
American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS),. Dr. Berry
has published a wide array of articles and book chapters and is author of States of
Grace: Counterstories of a Black Women in the Academy (forthcoming 2018, Peter
Lang), lead editor and contributing author of From Oppression to Grace: Women of
Color and their Dilemmas Within the Academy (2006, Stylus Publishing).

Erik L. Malewski is Chief Diversity Officer and Professor of Curriculum Studies at
Kennesaw State University. Prior to his appointment, Malewski was Associate Professor
of Curriculum Studies at Purdue University where he conducted research and taught
courses focused on diversity, multiculturalism, equity, and global issues in education.
Malewski has held leadership roles in national and international research organizations
and is well published in prominent journals and texts. He has worked in educational
equity, private industry, social service, and diversity consulting prior to his role at
Kennesaw State University. As faculty, Malewski studied the effects of international
cross-cultural experiences on undergraduate students’ cultural perceptions. He also
engaged in synoptic study of the direction of the curriculum field and examined the
implications of conceptions of ignorance for teaching and learning. Along with a
colleague, Malewski developed a study abroad program in Honduras for teacher
education students and a hybrid place- based and virtual field experience program.
Under his mentorship, Malewski’s graduate students received national recognition for
their research, including the prestigious American Educational Research Association’s
Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award. Malewski has published numerous books,
articles, and chapters focused on domestic and international diversity issues.

Where to Send Applications:
Theodorea Berry ( theodorea.berry@utsa.edu ), The University of Texas at San Antonio

Sub Unit

• Division B - Curriculum Studies

Chair

• Denise M. Taliaferro Baszile, Miami University

Participants

• Theodorea Regina Berry, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Erik L. Malewski, Kennesaw State University