On Thursday, Feb. 21, the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), the Office of University Diversity & Inclusion (OUDI) and Academic Affairs will partner up to host Teach In, a series of workshops focusing on diversity and inclusivity across various departments.
The event runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is open to the entire campus community. It will feature several Cal Poly educators and outside guest speakers, culminating with a talk by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor at Princeton University and acclaimed author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.”
Taylor is author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation” and makes frequent media appearances on the topics of race and public policy, according to Princeton University.
While the Teach In is in its third year, this is the first time the CLA and OUDI are working together on it, according to Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti.
“This year in my opinion, is by far the best lineup we’ve ever had in terms of topics, but also in terms of participation across the entire university,” Teramoto Pedrotti said.
A few of the featured events are:
- Learning from Inmates: Lessons about life and society from inside the San Luis Obispo County Jail
- Modern Representations of Blackness in Television’s Latest Golden Age
- The Art and Science of Bringing Imagined Worlds to Life, presented by Danielle Feinberg of Pixar
- Cal Poly Privilege: Analyzing and interpreting our campus demographics
- Transgender & Non-binary Inclusion: #wontbeearased
Teramoto Pedrotti said she believes a lot of information goes out to the public without scientific data. So, these speakers break that barrier.
“This is a nice way to highlight the role of social science, the sciences in general and groups’ across the entire university contributions to the fields of diversity and inclusion,” Teramoto Pedrotti said.
Next year, the CLA will administer the event all by itself, Teramoto Pedrotti said. The CLA hopes to expand Teach In into Teach On, a University Union hour event that would offer similar speaking engagements for the rest of the year.
Teramoto Pedrotti said the campus and community response has been “enormous.”
“We’re expecting big numbers and we’re really excited to be able to dialogue with students in these workshops,” Teramoto Pedrotti said.