Patton College to host fifth Black Lives Matter panel discussion on Oct. 26

The Patton College of Education is featuring the fifth panel discussion in its Black Lives Matter Munch & Learn Series. “Black Women’s Academic and Professional Experiences” will be held on Monday, Oct. 26, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

This Microsoft Teams live session features a panel composed of African American women in academia who will share their experiences, challenges faced, and strategies that are useful when navigating their professional lives in light of increased racial unrest in our country. The panelists will also discuss how racism has influenced their academic and professional growth. Finally, the panelists will provide anti-racist education resources to assist those who wish to dismantle racist behaviors, practices, and policies.

The panel features Dr. Adrienne Erby, assistant professor, Counselor Education; Dr. Gene Harris, alumna and retired Columbus City Schools superintendent; Dr. Adah Ward Randolph, professor, Educational Research; Ms. Nicole Antoinette Smith, assistant professor of Instruction, Analytics & Information Systems. The panel moderator is Dr. Theda Gibbs Grey, assistant professor, Teacher Education and the convener is Dr. Mona Robinson, professor, Counselor Education.

Take-aways include:

• Gain an understanding of the personal and professional experiences of Black women who have been successful in navigating in academia 
• Articulate the differences between racism and anti-racism 
• Engage in anti-racism pedagogy as a powerful tool to disrupt racism in the classroom 
• Adopt and implement anti-racist strategies and practices in the existing curriculum 
• Develop teaching, curriculum, research and creative activities, and service/outreach that expose students and faculty to diverse cultural perspectives 

All previous sessions are available on The Patton College’s YouTube channel, including the most recent session held on Oct. 12. “Brothers RISE: Recruiting African American Males into the Teaching Profession through Hip-Hop Based Education” featured a panel that discussed The Patton College Brothers RISE initiative designed to retain African American males in the teaching profession, and shared info about the innovative Hip-Hop OHIO Patton Education (HOPE) curriculum designed to target African American males and other individuals who desire to work in urban school settings.

The Black Lives Matter Munch & Learn series is open to Ohio University and the community and will be hosted on Microsoft Teams Live. It will be recorded for those who cannot participate live and posted on The Patton College’s YouTube channel.

Join the discussion at noon on Oct. 26.

This session is sponsored by The Patton College Strategic Work Group: Academic Excellence.