The goal of the iTHEM Working Group is to build a community of graduate students, post docs, and faculty who are striving to implement and develop inclusive teaching practices within the University of Utah Math Department. We hope to accomplish this by:
Learning from expert instructors how to implement inclusive teaching, social justice, and anti-racism practices in our classrooms.
Implementing inclusive teaching practices in the courses we teach/TA/coordinate in the U of U Math Department.
Learning together by sharing personal triumphs and challenges implementing inclusive teaching practices.
September 6: Introductions/Reflection Activity.
September 27: Assessing the climate of our classrooms.
October 25: Responding to climate concerns.
November 15: TBA
December 6: TBA
The GSAC EDI Book Club will meet on Tuesday's at 10-11AM in LCB 323 on dates when iTHEM workshop is not held. We will be reading: Read and Rectify: Advocacy Stories from Students of Color in Mathematics, by Drs. Pamela Harris and Aris Winger, published through Math Advocacy. The goals of the bookclub are:
Create awareness to the issues faced by students of color in mathematical sciences at Masters and PhD granting institutions.
From our discussions around the book, come up with action items to better advocate for students of color in our department.
Work with the EDI committee to find ways to better support our students of color in the department.
Here are the dates and planned reading assignments for the semester:
Sept 13: Chapter 9
Sept 20: Chapter 10
Oct 4: Chapter 11
Oct 18: Chapter 12
Nov 1: Chapter 13
Nov 8: Chapter 14
Nov 22: Chapter 15
Nov 29: Chapter 16
Feel free to pass on any part of a discussion. Feel free to leave the room/breakout room in parts of discussions if they might be triggering, harmful, or otherwise not productive for you. At the same time, keep in mind that discomfort can be productive and promote learning.
Strive for intellectual humility and listen actively with an ear to understanding others’ views. Be willing to be open to hearing and grappling with ideas that may challenge your own thoughts, experiences, and perspectives. Differentiate between your opinions and informed knowledge, which comes from lived experience, study, and practice. Be willing to engage with new research or ideas.
Treat people with respect even if your opinions differ. Constructively critique ideas, not individuals.
Allow everyone to speak: share space. Use WAIT (why am I/ am I not talking?). Listen respectfully without interrupting, and don't talk over others.
Acknowledge the role identity plays in our interactions. Recognize how your own identities (personal/professional) inform your perspectives and reactions to others in various roles such as students, instructors, colleagues, advisors. Avoid assumptions about any member of the community and generalizations about social groups.
Assume that people are speaking, writing, or sharing with the best intentions, but acknowledge impact. This guideline strives for giving people the benefit of the doubt when they are reflecting on their learning. However, this assumption values the intention of the speaker over the impact of those words on the people who are hearing them and leaves space for an individual’s unexamined opinion to hijack the conversation and potentially cause harm to others. Please think about the impact of your words before you speak them. If someone informs you that your words caused harm, please take responsibility for your words.
Respect confidentiality. Stories shared by participants of the workshop stay in the workshop. However, we encourage you to take with you (and share, if that's something you choose to do) the lessons and insights you acquire from your participation in this workshop. Here are two resources for more information about being a mandatory reporter: https://regulations.utah.edu/general/rules/R1-012.php; https://sexualassault.utah.edu/reporting/mandatory-reporters/
Be mindful when sharing your personal experiences. There may be participants in the workshop with mandatory reporting responsibilities. Please be mindful of this while sharing your personal experiences. You do not need to reveal or share anything in a public way that you would prefer not to share.
Honor the diverse perspectives and opinions in our community, especially those voices that have been historically silenced in US culture. We are striving to create a safe space for learning and discussion and presenting a broad set of views and perspectives. We will not ask anyone to leave the group for presenting dissenting ideas or opinions, but we will not tolerate inappropriate or abusive language, personal attacks, disrespectful conduct.
Mandatory Reporting Information: Here are two resources for more information about being a mandatory reporter.