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Professional Development
All College Day/Convocation
At the opening of the 2019-20 term, the college faculty and staff all attended the Convocation/All College Day (ACD) presentation by Dr. Shaun Harper of the USC Center of Race and Equity. For those who were unable to attend, Dr. Shaun Harper's presentation can be found on the DVC UStream website. President Lamb recommends all individuals who have not seen Dr. Harper’s presentation should take the time to watch it.
Summer 2019, all managers attended a training session with Dr. Harper to begin a discussion regarding race at DVC and to facilitate an initial discussion on All College Day. Considering the varying levels of engagement at the college and the fact that this is the first time that the college has engaged in this type of open conversation about race, Dr. Harper felt that he needed to get broader feedback from the college to inform the work going forward. Therefore, the questions that were facilitated in the breakout session were developed toward this end.
In preparation for ACD, a faculty and management team prepared an initial packet of resources for faculty and the campus community. The packet included the agenda/program for Convocation, information on Dr. Shaun Harper and the USC Center on Equity and Race, safety handouts, readings on creating community and inclusive spaces, and a link to this Racial Justice Tools and Resources webpage where we will continue to add resources for the DVC community to access. An email was also sent out providing these resources. The engagement of Dr. Harper and the resources to start the term were both recommendations from the Racial Justice Task Force.
In reflecting on the day, president Lamb said, "I would like thank everyone for the active engagement in providing feedback to Dr. Harper. I recognize that people are wanting to have deeper conversations regarding race, and others who feel that we are unprepared to facilitate these conversations in a positive way. As discussed during Convocation, we do not currently have the capacity, bandwidth, and proficiency to truly move this conversation (and the cultural/structural changes) in an authentic way without some outside assistance."
In June, the college began working with the district office to create an ongoing partnership with an outside entity who can provide the professional development and feedback to facilitate these conversations/changes in a positive way. We are hopeful that we can move forward a contract in time to conduct a student racial climate survey during the fall that can help to inform discussions at our All College Day in spring 2020. Once this contract is approved, we will also be able to provide more specific information related to training opportunities across the college.
Nexus restructuring
In summer 2019, Lisa Smiley-Ratchford and Patrick Leong began an initial restructuring of the Nexus curriculum to be inclusive of equity and racial content, including the development of critical pedagogy. This new content will be implemented this fall with our new faculty, evaluated in spring 2020, and then they will integrate additional changes based on feedback into the 2020-21 Nexus curriculum. Individuals who would like to help in this work can contact the Academic Senate leadership.
Student equity hour
Student Equity Hour (SEH) has played an important role in providing part-time faculty with professional development about teaching and racial equity. This fall, vice president of instruction, Mary Gutierrez will work with Anna Sohi, coordinator of SEH, to align SEH to our RJTF work and the implementation of the EMP. Mary will also work with the UF and AS to expand the impact of SEH.
Reference books
The college will be purchasing the reference books recommended by Dr. Harper and placing them on reserve in the library. Many groups are organically forming to discuss these books and so we are making them available for the college community. A link to this list will be posted to this website soon.