2021 Jumpstart Virtual Conference

Hosted by the Initiative for Race Research and Justice
Date: Wednesday, July 28th, 9:00am - 4:00pm CST

Registration Fee: $20 General Admission, $10 Undergraduate/Graduate Students
(Complimentary Book Included)

Keynote Speakers

     Geneva Gay              Tyrone C. Howard          Lori Patton Davis


Geneva Gay is Professor of Education at the University of Washington-Seattle where she teaches multicultural education and general curriculum theory. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, presented by the Committee on the Role and Status of Minorities in Educational Research and Development of the American Educational Research Association; the first Multicultural Educator Award presented by the National Association of Multicultural Education; the 2004 W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Lecturer Award presented by the Special Interest Group on Research Focus on Black Education of the American Educational Research Association; and the 2006 Mary Anne Raywid Award for Distinguished Scholarship in the Field of Education, presented by the Society of Professors of Education. She is nationally and internationally known for her scholarship in multicultural education, particularly as it relates to curriculum design, staff development, classroom instruction, and intersections of culture, race, ethnicity, teaching, and learning.

Tyrone C. Howard is the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. He is the director of the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children & Families, the UCLA Black Male Institute, and the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. Professor Howard’s research examines race, culture, and educational equity. A native and former classroom teacher of Compton, California, Professor Howard was named the recipient of the 2015 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the university’s highest and most distinguished award for teaching excellence. Professor Howard was named an AERA Fellow in 2018, and during the last five years, Dr. Howard, the author of 6 books, and countless other publications, has been listed by Education Week as one of the most influential scholars in the nation informing educational policy, practice and reform.

Lori Patton Davis is one of the most influential scholars in the field of higher education. She is the Department Chair of Educational Studies and professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Patton Davis is best known for important interdisciplinary scholarship on critical race theory, diversity initiatives on college campuses, Black women and girls in educational and social contexts, and college student development. She has authored over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other academic publications appearing in highly regarded venues. She has received many national awards for her scholarly contributions including being ranked among the top 200 educators in the US. She is a frequently sought-after expert on a wide range of education topics. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Huffington Post, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and dozens of other media outlets have quoted Patton Davis and featured her research. She has also advised university presidents and other senior administrators, philanthropic foundation executives, culture center directors, and educators in urban K-12 schools. In 2018, she served as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the first Black woman to hold this elected position. She is listed among the top 200 education scholars in the US.

Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, July 28th, 2020 from 9:00am – 4:00pm CST for our virtual conference on Racial Justice in Education and Society.

Below is the agenda for the day.

9:00am-10:30am CST: Welcome/Opening Plenary Lecture: Dr. Lori Patton Davis  – all participants

10:45am-11:45am CST: Breakout sessions where participants will join a session based on interests. 

  • Antiracism and Equity by Design: Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create Culturally Responsive Classrooms: Dr. Shaunta Singer
      • Bridging Social and Cultural Gaps Between Students and Teachers in HEP Programs: Strategies for Delivering Quality Educational Experiences to Incarcerated People: Jameel Spann
      • Embracing a Holistic Trauma Framework for Healing in Schools and Society: Dr. Adam Alvarez
      • Interrogating Intent and Impact: Student and Faculty Perspectives on Calculus Instruction as a Racialized-Gendered Experience: Dr. Luis Leyva
      • Strategies to Support Intersectional Experiences on Race and Belonging in Independent Schools: Dr. Kahdeidra Martin
      • Transformative Mindsets and Practices for Reaching and Teaching Black and Latino Adolescent Boys: Dr. Roderick Carey
      • When Eligibility Ends and the Music Stops: Equitably Advancing the Prep and Career Transitions of College Athletes: Dr. Eddie Comeaux


      12:00pm-1:00pm CST: Plenary Lunch Lecture: Dr. Tyrone C. Howard– all participants


      1:15pm-2:15pm CST: Breakout sessions where participants will join a session based on interests.

        • Antiracism and Equity by Design: Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create Culturally Responsive Classrooms: Dr. Shaunta Singer
            • Bridging Social and Cultural Gaps Between Students and Teachers in HEP Programs: Strategies for Delivering Quality Educational Experiences to Incarcerated People: Jameel Spann
            • Embracing a Holistic Trauma Framework for Healing in Schools and Society: Dr. Adam Alvarez
            • Interrogating Intent and Impact: Student and Faculty Perspectives on Calculus Instruction as a Racialized-Gendered Experience: Dr. Luis Leyva
            • Strategies to Support Intersectional Experiences on Race and Belonging in Independent Schools: Dr. Kahdeidra Martin
            • Transformative Mindsets and Practices for Reaching and Teaching Black and Latino Adolescent Boys: Dr. Roderick Carey
            • When Eligibility Ends and the Music Stops: Equitably Advancing the Prep and Career Transitions of College Athletes: Dr. Eddie Comeaux

            2:30pm-4:00pm CST: Final Plenary Lecture and Closing: Dr. Geneva Gay – all participants

            Opening Plenary Lecture: 9:00am-10:30am CST: Dr. Lori Patton Davis

            Lecture Title: Critical Race Reflections on Challenges and Possibilities in Higher Education

            Lecture Description:

            Critical race theory scholarship has primarily focused on K-12 contexts, without enough attention on understanding the intersections of race, racism and power in postsecondary settings. Dr. Lori Patton Davis will use Critical Race Theory to trace racist masternarratives that have historically shaped and continue to perpetuate racism and white supremacy in higher education. She will offer a framework for understanding CRT in higher education and its application to policies, practices, and realities at colleges and universities. She will unpack the current debates surrounding CRT, as well as the challenges and possibilities of its applicability in higher education.

            Plenary Lunch Lecture: 12:00pm-1:00pm CST: Dr. Tyrone C. Howard

            Lecture Title: Racial Reckoning in the Reopening of Schools

            Lecture Description:

            This keynote will address major concerns, issues, themes, and possibilities for the reopening of schools in Fall 2021, and how a focus on racial equity can be core to this process. Dr. Howard will address some of the more prominent areas that requires education practitioners, researchers, and policymakers must attend to in order for race, equity, and educational excellence to be a reality for all schools.

            Closing Plenary Lecture: 2:30pm-4:00pm CST: Dr. Geneva Gay 

            Lecture Title: Principles and Practices of Culturally Responsive Teaching: Antidotes for Racism in Education

            Lecture Description:

            In the presentation, Dr. Gay will identify several specific manifestations of racism in various aspects of the educational enterprise (thus broadening the conventional notion of “teaching”), and explain how corollary elements of culturally responsive “teaching” can resist and/or resolve them. For example, Dr. Gay argues some key elements of racial injustice in education are dehumanizing, marginalizing, and disempowering students and communities of color, but culturally responsive education centers, their humanities and empowers them by teaching the capabilities and contributions of different ethnic groups and individuals to global, national, political, cultural, community, and personal development, as well as enhance the socio-emotional well-being of ethnically and racially diverse students.

            Learn About our Facilitated Sessions


            A Special Thank You to Our Co-Sponsors!


            Vanderbilt Athletics 

            Vanderbilt Child and Family Center
             
            Vanderbilt Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions

            Vanderbilt Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

            Vanderbilt Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 

            Vanderbilt Sarcoidosis Center of Excellence

            Vanderbilt Provost’s Office for Inclusive Excellence

            Vanderbilt Peabody College
            Department of Teaching and Learning



            University School of Nashville 

            Western Carolina

            Wayne State University

            Texas Southern University 

            University of South Florida David C. Anchin Center for
            the Advancement of Teaching, College of Education 

            Rutgers University Graduate School of Education

            The Office of Organization Development and Diversity
            Initiatives in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M 

            MIT

            SAGE/Corwin 

            Lafetra College of Education at the
            University of LaVerne

            University of Pittsburg Center on Race and Social Problems

            University of Connecticut Neag School of Education

            UNC Charlotte Urban Education Collaborative

            Volunteer State Community College

             Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program

            Center for the Education and Equity of African American Students

            Sarcoidosis Center of Excellence

            Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh

            The College of Education and Human Ecology Office 
            of Equity, Diversity, and Global Engagement
            at The Ohio State University 

            McGraw Hill

            United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County

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            Dr. Rich Milner founded the Initiative for Race Research and Justice (RRJ) in the fall of 2018. His goal was to centralize and bring together research and researchers focused on race inside and outside the field of education. RRJ has an overt emphasis on studying and impacting practices and policies toward racial justice. For instance, how do we build from innovative, interdisciplinary race research to improve the human condition?


            Since 2018, the initiative has expanded under the collaboration and support of Dr. Wonder Drake and Dr. Graham Reside.

            In short, RRJ’s work is organized around three main focal areas: (1) conducting high quality research on race; (2) using new and expanded knowledge to improve practices, policies, society and the overall human condition; and (3) sharing and disseminating knowledge, resources and tools in collaboration with communities, organizations and institutions for racial justice.

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