Building Community and Belonging
The Dickinson College arch.
video by Joe O'Neill
Fall workshops, talks planned for faculty, staff
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
As the summer months wind down, Dickinson faculty and staff are powering up for dynamic opportunities to co-create a more inclusive, welcoming and justice-minded community. The Community and Belonging at Dickinson program kicks off with three impactful fall sessions.
Community and Belonging at Dickinson is led by Chief Diversity Officer Tony Boston, Provost and Dean of the College Renée Ann Cramer and Amy McKiernan, director of the Ethics Across the Campus and Curriculum program and associate professor of philosophy. All faculty and staff are invited to take part, and pre-registration is strongly advised.
It begins in August with an interactive workshop by the International Peace Research Association’s Dr. Elavie Ndura and continues with a book talk and lecture by nationally recognized anti-racism expert Jennifer Harvey. A Common Read session on the work of noted Black feminist philosopher Myisha Cherry closes the fall lineup.
Elavie Ndura: Building Community Through Dialogue
Aug. 30, 10 a.m., Holland Union Building
Ndura is a longtime educator and leader who dedicated herself to education as a pathway toward peace and social justice after witnessing ethnic violence and inequity in her homeland of Burundi, Africa. Her two-hour workshop at Dickinson will reveal how to build healthy community practices that acknowledge structural inequality while striving for justice.
Ndura focuses on building inclusive academic programs and curriculum design and on cultural competency development as senior specialist with the International Peace Research Association and as vice chancellor for equity & inclusion and professor of education at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Her honors and awards include a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s 2011 Peace Educator of the Year Award, the 2008 United Burundian Community Association Imboneza Award and the 2004 Reno-Sparks NAACP Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Award. She is also a Fulbright Scholar.
Her most recent publications include Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace Education: Moving Burundi Toward a Sustainable Future (2014), Exploring the Power of Nonviolence: Peace, Politics and Practice (2013) and Excavating Whiteness: How White Teachers’ Histories, Communities, and Relationships Frame Their Understandings about Race (2024).
Ndura earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities and social sciences from the University of Burundi, a master’s in education from the University of Exeter and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Northern Arizona University. She holds a graduate certificate in advanced conflict resolution from George Mason University.
Jennifer Harvey: Anti-Racism Lecture and Book Talk
Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m., Allison Hall Great Room
Harvey is a nationally recognized antiracism expert and bestselling author. Her public lecture and talk will draw from her newest book, Antiracism as Daily Practice: Refuse Shame, Change White Communities, and Help Create a Just World.
In that book, Harvey outlines why white people struggle with knowing what to do about racism and how changes to everyday behaviors can move the needle toward the freedom and wholeness of all people. She outlines what white antiracism looks like and offers a step-by-step guide toward confronting and addressing racism in practical and effective ways.
Harvey’s third book, Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America (2019), was a New York Times nonfiction bestseller, and her article Are We Raising Racists? was featured on the New York Times “Ten Most-Read Pieces” list. She’s also written for additional major news outlets.
The award-winning author is also a scholar, educator, higher-education leader and ordained minister. Harvey graduated from Union Theological Seminary with a Ph.D. in Christian social ethics and a Master of Divinity. She serves as academic dean and vice president of academic affairs at Garret Evangelical Seminary.
Ethics Across the Campus & Curriculum Common Read
Oct. 28, 4:30 p.m., Waidner-Spahr Library
Through this Common Read event, McKiernan will facilitate a discussion of the book Failures of Forgiveness: What We Get Wrong and How to Do Better by Myisha Cherry.
Cherry is a noted scholar, podcaster and educator, named by the Institute for Art and Ideas as one of its “Contemporary Women Philosophers You Should Know.” An associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, she studies moral psychology and political philosophy and the ways in which character, emotions and attitudes intersect with race and gender.
Cherry’s book Unmuted: Conversations on Prejudice, Oppression and Social Justice was named by Oxford University Press as one of its 12 Most Important Books for Women in Philosophy. It draws from transcripts from her podcast, UnMute, which highlights young and diverse philosophers’ takes on controversial issues, politics, ethics and pop culture. Cherry also contributed to On Anger, one of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2020.
Visiting Dickinson last fall to discuss her book The Case for Rage: Why Anger Is Essential to Anti-Racist Struggle, Cherry argued for the power of rage as a tool in the fight for social justice and also for the power of forgiveness. Under McKiernan’s direction, the Ethics Across Campus & Curriculum program will engage Cherry’s thoughts on moral repair and community as part of its fall programming.
Looking ahead
The concept of community and belonging is central to the work of Dickinson’s Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, notes Boston, adding that the division will also focus on themes relating to academic equity, antiracism, advocacy and social justice during the next few years.
Boston, Cramer and McKiernan encourage all faculty and staff members to take advantage of these inspiring skill-building opportunities. They also emphasize that this fall’s events are only a part of the related offerings in store.
"Dickinson College is clearly a community that values equity, inclusion and belonging, and we know that offering opportunities to gather and learn together increases our capacity to be an even more just and equitable community,” Cramer said. “Tony, Amy and I are excited about our collaboration and the ways that we are working to continue building community across the college by engaging in meaningful intellectual and emotional work.”
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Published July 22, 2024