Schedule & Breakout Session Descriptions 2022

Facilitated by Catherine Wong

As Asian American and Pacific Islander women, how do we name this moment, where do we fit in the scholar activism discourse, and what should be our interventions within the Academy? This interactive workshop will address how we create sensemaking from the contradictions of being invisible and hypervisible, of being silenced and outspoken, of following family scripts and career aspirations, and of doing intersectional scholarship and activism. Interrogating how we “ collude with the existing system in small ways every day, even those among us who see ourselves as anti racist radicals” (hooks, 2003, p. 35) allows cross-racial solidarity to be fully reimagined.

Contextualize the rise in #AntiAsianHate. Create strategies to pivot to intersectional activism. Cultivate cross-racial solidarity, increased belonging, and collective action toward healing.

Facilitated by Christine J. Ko, MD

From academia to family life, at all socioeconomic levels, the implicit bias that women and men face continues to be different. Four concepts from psychology – metacognition (thinking about how you think and perceive), the Dunning-Kruger effect (the concept of being unskilled and unaware), a growth mindset (having a learner’s perspective), and deliberate practice (setting measurable goals) – set the stage for increased self-awareness. Such introspection builds connection with self that can then spill over to others and your community.

Increase awareness of concepts in cognitive psychology that can help build stronger connections with self, others, and community.

Facilitated by  Dr. Serena Cardoso and Dr. Myisha R. Rodrigues

In this workshop, Serena Cardoso and Myisha R. Rodrigues share their approaches to research and practice through exploring and amplifying client and participant narratives, engaging critical praxis by calling out the impact of white supremacy culture on Black bodies, and leveraging healing-centered practice. This workshop honors bell hooks by actualizing love through engaging authentic ways of being and artistic pathways toward ceding power and creating restorative experiences. It also engages participants in their own brief exploration of embodied, indigenous practice and healing.

Gain ideas for creating safe spaces that enable authentic self-expression. Explore strategies to embrace one’s whole self as practitioner, leader, and scholar. Learn and observe expressions of love embodied through research and practice

Facilitated by Kenya Nyota Lee

bell hooks reminds us that for women who are marginalized, their “survival depends on continued exercise of whatever personal powers they possess” (2015). Evolving from this mantra, workshop chair, Kenya Nyota Lee, researched the efficacy of a peer mentorship community for women of color in higher education administration. Her study offered women an opportunity to “bond with other women on the basis of shared strengths and resources” (hooks, 2015). The goal of this engaging workshop is to share the structure and conduct of the peer mentorship community and reflect on this opportunity to learn with and from other women leaders.

Explore how personal power, strengths, and resources, when shared in a space of sisterhood and solidarity, empower one’s professional success and enable them to overcome the challenges faced by women of color.

Facilitated by Ieshia Karasik

How do you connect with students in a classroom when many are fatigued, disinterested, or not equipped to handle the rigor? You can do so by creating a pedagogy of love in your class. As educators, we want to ensure a safe, welcoming space for everyone while offering a rigorous education that allows students to become better scholars. We will explore our bias and the Zone of Proximal Development and build a framework to teach with love as a verb strengthening our pedagogy.

Learn to connect with students in a classroom when many are fatigued and disinterested. Through rigorous education, tempered with love, inspire students to achieve academic success.

Facilitated by Janelle Clarke-Holley

This experience is designed to empower individuals to embrace the joy in their journey. When we know how to engage in self-love it allows us to model to others how to love us. During the session, we capture common barriers that have impacted our journey and influenced the lens through which we view ourselves. Participants will be empowered to identify how to leverage their mindset to intentionally celebrate their authentic selves. By the conclusion of this interactive session, individuals will have reflected on their success journey and begun to envision how to magnify their brilliance. Join us in the journey!

Identify and learn how to overcome barriers and embrace one’s excellence through the development of a personal success journey map.

Facilitated by Nicole M. Overstreet, Ph.D.

In reflection on the Women of Color in the Academy theme “bringing our whole selves to work” inspired by bell hooks, this workshop is a contemplation on remaining whole. There is a long history of how women of color have navigated the academy and its feverish desire to consume (the material and the immaterial) until there is nothing left. At the heart of much of our work is an ethic rooted in justice. However, when an entity has made it clear that this ethic is only desirable in service to the institution, how do we understand our strategies in remaining whole? This workshop offers an opportunity to discuss what it means to bring our whole selves to work while simultaneously remaining whole.

Gain perspective on what it means to bring the whole self to work, while retaining one’s individualism and remaining whole.

Facilitated by Nicole A. Telfer, M.A., Rahmatu Kassimu, Ph.D. and Charity Watkins, Ph.D.

Women of color (WOC) in the academy make up less than 20 percent of full-time female faculty members (Curtis-Boles et al., 2015), and face the double-jeopardy of gender and racist discrimination experiences. Despite these significant social harms, WOC are still expected to work quickly and effectively at the expense of their physical and emotional well-being. In this workshop, we will provide tips, exercises, and routines that WOC graduate students and faculty can practice, as described in our upcoming memoir, “Our Doctoral Journey: A Collection of Black Women’s Experiences.” These strategies include rest, self-care routines, support systems, and documentation/journaling.

Learn how to build an intentional system of support and self-care. Discover the importance of documentation, acknowledge the power of rest, and identify ways in which they can return to themselves, wholly and unapologetically.

Facilitated by Ashley Odilia Armand & Lei Douglas

Through the interweaving of Black feminist frameworks centering Black sisterhood, sistering, and familial community creation, we aim to elucidate the complexities of Black women’s experiences at higher education institutions and the consequential need for more intentional, structured communal settings for sistering and convening. Championing prose, poetry, illustrative texts, and art, this session will lead attendees into understanding sistering as a necessary form of intimacy and a “return to love.” This return will be highlighted through bell hooks and her dynamic perceptions of love, the seven types of love derived from Greek philosophy, global perspectives of “love,” and how that shapes the need for a landscape that cultivates sistering in higher education. This session will utilize reflective exercises, group discussions, and calls to action.

Explore the notion of a “sister” to define authentic sistering for Black women in higher education. Examine Black feminist theory as preservation of sistering to liberate. Provide sistering as a tool, a methodology, a set of ritualistic practices, a shared spirituality, and a refuge.

Facilitated by Nidhi Lal

As humans, we relate to stories more than facts or numbers. Using stories, we can strive to achieve narrative competence and absorb stories to understand human expression. With narration, attendees will achieve a greater understanding of human expression. This workshop emphasizes the importance of reflection in obtaining and evolving perspectives. The format includes (1) Read a narrative, (2) Listen to a narrative, (3) Reflect upon personal experiences, (4) Write a narrative using a prompt, and (5) Pair and share, and reflect upon lessons learned. Stories of our past experiences will allow us to look toward the future with greater confidence and empathy.

Gain an increased understanding of the use of stories as teaching tools. Reflect upon the narrative form as a means of human expression that creates confidence and empathy.