Thank you to everyone who joined us for the first ever annual DSPSA Winter Conference!

Please share your experience with us through the End-Of-Conference Feedback Form.

Make sure to join us in 2022 for our next conference!

The 2021 DSPSA Winter Conference is the first of hopefully many more student established and facilitated conferences at the Warner School of Education and Human Development. The DSPSA Winter Conference aims to offer both master’s and doctoral students, faculty and staff, as well as Rochester community members an opportunity to share their research, hone their presentation skills, receive feedback on their work, share work with the community beyond the university, and find out about the research interests of university peers. DSPSA seeks to encourage a wide-range of interests and participants, so though the conference has a theme that the keynote speaker and presenters are invited to speak to, all proposals on varying topics for presentations will be considered and accepted.

2021 Theme: Graduate students, faculty and staff (within and outside of Warner) are encouraged to share the ways the global pandemic, racial unrest and experiences over the last year have influenced their graduate research, course work, and overall well being. What have educators, students, and the educational field in general “learned” from COVID, the 2020 Election, Racial Uprisings, both nationally and globally - in terms of educational practices, pedagogies, etc. - that can better inform our work moving forward? How have you reimagined or redesigned your research, your career path, your personal goals?

• Friday, February 26th - Saturday, February 27th 2021

• Keynote Address by Dr. Bettina Love

Conference Highlights

• Dean Sarah Peyre, EdD of the Warner School of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester gave a presentation, “Build Trust When it Feels [like] the World is on Fire,” in which she shared with us her thoughts about the distinction between change and transformation, her framework for leadership, and her perceptions of being a leader during this unusual time

• Dr. Lisa Brown, the Director of Online Learning in the Institute for Innovative Education, University of Rochester, spoke about her experiences of supporting faculty, staff, and students during this time of remote teaching and learning, and the need for individuals to creatively rethink their pedagogical practices when designing material to be implemented virtually. A couple of pro tips that Dr. Brown shared with us all:

  • To lessen Zoom Fatigue, minimize the view screen so that the speaker box is smaller. When we have full-screen zoom interactions, it is almost as if we are sitting closer to another individual than we would be if meeting in person.

  • Cover your Zoom window with your course powerpoint or notes so that you can get a break from seeing yourself, as well as others on the screen.

• Dr. Bettina Love, PhD gave the presentation “We Gon’ Be Alright, But That Ain’t Right: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom,” in which she highlighted her Rochester roots, discussed her most recent book, and emphasized the exponential negative effects of racism in the United States. Some important takeaways:

  • The data on racism has been around for decades. Every year, institutions ask students to complete climate surveys. Yet nothing changes. Dr. Bettina Love strongly advocated that we recognize this revolving door of inaction and allyship and move towards abolitionist and co-conspirator actions.

  • Black history does not start nor end with trauma. If an educator is going to be an abolitionist, it is important that they know their students’ histories and cultures.

• Dr. Joanne Larson, PhD the Michael W. Scandling Professor of Education at the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development and Associate Director of Research at the Center for Urban Education Success gave the presentation “Myth Busting: Doctoral Programs at Warner,” in which she addressed common misconceptions about doctoral programs. The Q&A session that followed led to interesting conversations about how to support students while in the program, but also as they apply for tenure-track positions. Be on the lookout for more DSPSA workshops regarding finding funding, writing resumes, and building interview skills.

• The other presenters shared work on topics related to COVID-19: Institutions, Pedagogy, and Research and Social Justice, and emotional and academic support for students.