Thanks to a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Center for Teaching and Learning at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, the latest event in an ongoing faculty development workshop series will come to campus on March 15.

Dr. Tracie Addy, associate dean of teaching and learning at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, will be the keynote speaker from 4:30-6 p.m. in Gorecki 204 on the CSB campus. Her interactive workshop is titled “Small Steps for Building More Inclusive Classrooms.” Through attendance, participants can count the workshop toward earning the 2022-23 CSB and SJU Inclusive Pedagogy Practitioner Certificate and Digital Badge. The event is open to all faculty and staff.

Inclusive instruction is critical to build welcoming and equitable experiences for diverse learners. Prior to the March 15 event, participants are encouraged to reflect on their individual definitions of inclusive teaching as applied to their course contexts as well as any perceived barriers to implementation. Addy then will demonstrate through an interactive session how instructors can take small steps toward creating inclusive environments for their students.

“Dr. Addy is a leading voice on inclusive teaching and faculty development,” said Laura Taylor, associate professor of theology at CSB and SJU, who is director of the Center for Learning and Teaching. “It is a big deal that she is coming to work with our faculty. I feel so fortunate that we are able to host her on campus as part of this series.”

Addy received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University, then earned a master’s in philosophy from Yale University and a Ph.D. in science education at North Carolina State University. She also taught at the undergraduate level for 10 years. At Lafayette, she is responsible for working with instructors to develop and administer programming. She is director of the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning and Scholarship. The Center focuses on inclusivity for instructors and integrating students as partners.

Addy’s work has been featured in academic journals and other publications, like Inside Higher Ed and University Business. She is co-author of What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching, printed in 2021 by Stylus Publishing.

Previous events in the CSB and SJU 2022-23 Inclusive Teaching Series included:

• “Meeting Microaggressions with Microresistance in the Classroom,” a faculty development workshop with Cynthia Ganote (Fall 2022)
• A lecture by Carolyn Roberts on “The Historical Roots of Racism and Colonialism in Science and Medicine” (Fall 2022)
• “Inclusive Pedagogy for STEM Excellence,” a virtual faculty development workshop with Roberts (Fall 2022)
• “Growing Equity and Valuing Difference,” a three-part inclusive teaching series with Rama Kaye Hart (Fall 2022)

Also ongoing this spring is a book group discussing Dr. Lorgia García Peña’s Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color. Participants also had the opportunity to meet Garcia Peña.

For more about the Inclusive Teaching Workshop Series and how it relates to Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s, contact Taylor at [email protected].