To further an initiative toward innovations in teaching and mentoring, the Office of the Dean of the College announces the first round of grants to faculty members for work focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion broadly considered.
In September, Vice-²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Reuben Brigety announced in a letter to the Sewanee family that the University was undertaking a number of initiatives in response to a statement from the University’s Board of Regents that categorically rejected the University’s past veneration of the Confederacy. The University committed itself to a process that would make Sewanee “a model of diversity, of inclusion, of intellectual rigor, and of loving spirit.” Among the initiatives was the following:
We will work with faculty to support fresh innovations in pedagogy and mentoring that equip students to navigate challenging conversations on race with skill, empathy, and knowledge.
To further that initiative, the Office of the Dean of the College solicited proposals and has announced the first round of grants to faculty members who will design new courses or redesign existing courses with a more inclusive focus, or will offer professional development opportunities with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion broadly considered.
The selected projects were chosen by representatives from the Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the Office of Civic Engagement/Dialogue Across Difference programs; the Center for Teaching; and the Office of the Dean of the College. The group looked for proposals with the widest or most sustainable potential impact; faculty members whose projects were selected will consult with one another and will share their work with colleagues.
The selected proposals demonstrate broad potential impact as general education/encountering perspectives courses or as courses serving multiple majors and minors. They reflect the values of collaboration, critical reflection, professional development, and commitment to inclusive curricula and classrooms that are at the heart of the initiative.
Congratulations to these 11 faculty members who are Sewanee’s first recipients of grants for DEI-informed projects aimed at pedagogical or curricular transformation.