Statement From the College
Dear members of the SLU CAS community,
These acts of violence horrify and grieve us, and they provide a vivid and immediate reminder of the grave and deadly consequences of racism, bigotry, and hate in our country. We acknowledge the anguish and despair that many of us are feeling right now. To our Black students and colleagues, we recognize this is a part of your everyday lived experience and want to acknowledge the pain and exhaustion you must feel. There are no words to say that will make this better; we can simply say that we hear you, we value you and we stand with you.
We are a College of Arts and Sciences at a Jesuit University. We rightly claim to be central to Saint Louis University’s Mission. It is a Mission that calls us to not just be for those on society’s margins, but to be with them. Our Mission calls us to educate our students and ourselves about society’s great injustices, and make certain we all understand the responsibility to be part of the solution. We know we have been down this road before, too many times. We know that words are not enough, but we cannot be silent in the face of injustice and racism and oppression. As President Pestello said in his message today, institutional leaders are working with students toward intentional next steps.
Please know that we are here for you, despite our physical distance.
Michael Lewis, Provost
Donna LaVoie, Interim Dean
Gary Barker, April Trees, Associate Deans
College of Arts and Sciences
Message from the Chairs and Directors
The chairs and directors support the Message to the SLU Community of Chris Tinson, Ph.D.
University Resources
Pedagogy Training
Registration will open soon at the Reinert Center for the following events:
Power, Presence, Purpose: Approaches for Classroom Dynamics
Virtual Workshop for College of Arts and Sciences Faculty and Graduate instructors.
Christopher Grabau and Gina Merys, Reinert Center
Offered twice: February 26, 2021, 1-2:30 CST and March 2, 2021, 1-2:30 CST
Building on lessons gained from the Equitable Learning Environments workshop this interactive workshop will address purposeful approaches to classroom dynamics that consider relationships, power, and presence within the classroom.
Need to organize a specialized workshop for your department or program? Contact Gina.Merys@slu.edu.
- Why Talk About Race in the Classroom (Reinert)
- Three Resources to Help for Anti-Racist Teaching and Course Design (Reinert)
- AAUP on Reducing Racism in the Classroom
- Inclusive Course Design (Reinert)
- Culturally Responsive Teaching Blog (Reinert) Review of Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, Thousand Oaks, 2015.
- Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources (Reinert) Review of Cia Verschelden’s Bandwidth Recovery: Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism, and Social Marginalization, Stylus Pub., 2017.
- Ash, A. N.; Hill, R.; Risdon, S. and Jun, A. (2020) "Anti-Racism in Higher Education: A Model for Change," Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice: Vol. 4 : No. 3
- Cole, C.E. (2017) Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Higher Education: Teaching so That Black Lives Matter. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 36 (8) pp. 736–750.
- Haynes, C. (2017). Dismantling the White supremacy embedded in our classrooms: White faculty in pursuit of more equitable educational outcomes. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29(1), 87-107
- Haynes, C., & Patton, L. D. (2019). From Racial Resistance to Racial Consciousness: Engaging White STEM Faculty in Pedagogical Transformation. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 22(2), 85–98.
- Pedagogies of Care: Open Resources for Student-Centered and Adaptive Strategies in the New Higher-Ed Landscape (Victoria Mondelli and Thomas J. Tobin, collection editors, 2020)
Department/Program Resources
- The Diversity and Inclusion Journal Club in Biology
The club has two focuses: (1) learning about ways to make science more inclusive and (2) implementing change personally and broadly in the department and at SLU.
Talks and Workshops
5 p.m. on Thursday, March 4, 2021 via Zoom
"Rebel Archives: The Life and Legacy of Queen Mother Audley Moore"
Guest speaker Dr. Ashley Farmer
For Zoom link and password, please register for free here.
About the talk:
This lecture will explore the politics of writing Black women's history through the
life of activist, mentor, and organizer Queen Mother Audley Moore, a pioneering 20th
century figure active in a range of movements for justice and human rights in the
U.S. and around the world. In reconstructing Moore's life, Dr. Farmer's work demonstrates
the challenges, silences, and opportunities of archival research, revealing a dynamic
and committed activist career.
About the guest speaker:
Dr. Ashley Farmer is a historian of black women's history, intellectual history, and
radical politics. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Departments of History
and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her
book, Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era is the first comprehensive
intellectual history of women in the black power movement. The award-winning book
introduces new and overlooked women activists into the history of black power, examines
the depth and breadth of their political and intellectual engagement, and shows the
relationship between women’s gendered theorizing and the trajectory of the black power
movement. She is also the co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual
Tradition, an anthology that examines four central themes within the black intellectual
tradition: Black internationalism, religion and spirituality, racial politics and
struggles for social justice, and black radicalism. She is a graduate of Spelman College
and holds a Ph.D. in African American Studies and an M.A. in History from Harvard
University.
Sponsored by: African American Studies Department, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, and the SLU Office for Diversity and Community Engagement.
Fr. Bryan Massingale (Fordham University) will be presenting a webinar at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, entitled " 'Men and Women for Others' in a Changing America: The Public Responsibility of Catholic Higher Education." The talk is sponsored by the Department of Theological Studies, with funding from a Lilly grant. Fr. Massingale has recommended the following preparatory readings:
"The Assumptions of White Privilege"
"How to Make Spiritual Sense of the Attack on the Capitol"
"Eyes to See: AJCU Anti-Racism Examen video"
The Religion & Complex Social Issues group, sponsored by the Department of Theological Studies, will also be hosting virtual lectures by two scholars:
- On Thursday, March 18, 2021, at 7 p.m., Professor Kristin Du Mez (Calvin College) will give a lecture based on her 2020 book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.
- On Thursday, April 15, 2021, at 7 p.m., Professor Willie James Jennings (Yale University) will give a lecture based on his 2020 book, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging.
- The Culture of American Religions group and the Department of American Studies will bring scholar Shannen Dee Williams to campus virtually or in person on November 11, 2021 in recognition of Black Catholic History month and the anniversary of the death of Sr. Mary Antona Ebo, FSM. Dr. Williams is a scholar of Black Catholic nuns and writes for America Magazine on issues of race, racism, and Catholicism.
Events in the Area
Women's Voices Raised is a St. Louis based women's organization committed to increasing social justice in the St. Louis area through education and advocacy.
Their racial justice committee has an upcoming event with Reginald Dwayne Betts. Betts went from being incarcerated as a 16-year-old to being a poet and lawyer (Yale J.D.). He is now a prominent criminal justice reform advocate and has published and been interviewed widely. For this event, WVR partnered with STLCC, Arch City Defenders, the Jewish community relations council, and others.
The event is called Visionary Voices: Reginald Dwayne Betts - From Prisoner to Poet to Ph.D. and will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 22. Registration is required.
Got a related upcoming event? Send it to Jeremy.Nagle@slu.edu.