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Presumptions, Realities, and Strategies

Thursday, April 9, 2015
12:00 AM
3222 Angell Hall

Women of Color Faculty and the University Classroom

The 2012 publication of Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia systematically brought to glaring light the specific issues that women of color negotiate in university spaces as graduate students, researchers, instructors, and faculty members at all ranks. Lively online discussions demonstrate how urgent and compelling this work continues to be.

This roundtable will feature one of the editors of this landmark publication, Professor Carmen Gonzalez (Seattle University School of Law), who will begin our discussion of the challenges we face and the strategies we deploy as women of color in the university classroom. Following Professor Gonzalez's presentation, we will hear from a distinguished roundtable panel of UM scholars before we open up the conversation to actively include audience members. The lineup of speakers is:

  • Carmen Gonzalez, Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
  •  Leela Fernandez, Glenda Dickerson Collegiate Professor of Women's Studies and Political Science
  • Martha Jones, Associate Professor, Department of History and Department Afroamerican and African Studies; Affiliated LSA Faculty, Law School; and Co-director, Michigan Law Program in Race, Law & History
  • Lisa Nakamura, Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor of American Culture and Screen Arts? and Coordinator of the Digital Studies Program

Moderator: Ruby Tapia, Associate Professor of English and Women’s Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Women’s Studies

This is a unique opportunity to hear colleagues speak about their experiences in the classroom, share your perspectives and learn from others, discuss strategies, and build and strengthen our networks of support. We hope you will attend!

Sponsored by the Diversity Committee of the Department of English Language and Literature.  Contact Ruby Tapia (rtapia@umich.edu) for more information.