Cynthia Dillard, the newly appointed dean of the College of Education at Seattle University, will discuss her book, The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers (Re)member, at a virtual event on Monday, Jan. 24. Dillard’s book explores how engaging identity and cultural heritage can transform teaching and learning for Black women educators in the name of justice and freedom in the classroom.
The event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. CT. Those who wish to attend can register here.
In her book, Dillard centers the spiritual lives of Black women educators and their students, arguing that spirituality has guided Black people throughout the diaspora. She demonstrates how Black women teachers and teacher educators can heal, resist and remember their identities in ways that are empowering for them and their students.
Dillard (Nana Mansa II of Mpeasem, Ghana, West Africa) has recently served as the Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include critical teacher education, spirituality in education and African/African American feminist studies. In February, she will become dean of the College of Education at Seattle University.
Dillard’s talk is sponsored by the Peabody Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; the Initiative for Race Research and Justice; the Vanderbilt Community Lab for the Intersectional Study of Black Women and Girls in Society; the Racial Justice Lab in the Department of Philosophy; and the Grand Challenge Initiative in Racial Justice and the Third Reconstruction in the College of Arts and Science.
For questions, please email EDI-Peabody@Vanderbilt.edu.