Teaching Philosophy + Diversity Statement

Residential college communities are vital to fostering an environment for students to grow and change across myriad experiences. These are the spaces where students, some for the first time in their lives, begin to navigate new communities, social sphere, and political identities. As such, it is paramount that equity and inclusion be values firmly fixed in the foundation of institutional learning. Residential colleges represent microcosms, not only of the communities that they are situated within, but of the unique communities that their student, staff, and faculty residents bring with them from their own discreet social, cultural, and political spheres. It is invigorating to witness the ever-growing celebration, especially among younger generations, of particularity as an integral part of identity and community formation. For their communities, institutions should be responsive to issues permeating the boundaries of their campuses, and bound to bridging the gaps between making space for individuals to celebrate the fullness of their unique experiences and supporting the multiple perspective of the groups that are located under their umbrella.

Being in community requires us to find ways to connect with each other irrespective of our varied backgrounds and differences. Above all, students need to see that they can trust those that profess to be leaders. As I consider my career trajectory, I understand the importance of scholars situated in academic adjacent fields who can bring a robust and critical academic lens to bear on matters of social, cultural, and political concern in a real way. My experiences have led me to the knowledge that learning is a lifelong practice. As a first generation college student, this ongoing practice has been one of the greatest continuing privileges of my life, one that I feel called to pass on and provide openings toward for new generations of students, particularly those who might occupy underrepresented or underserved identity groups.

In my early life, many of my experiences were not visibly diverse. But as I began to grow physically, emotionally, and intellectually my awareness concerning the importance of diversity and inclusion has only increased. At my core I am driven by an innate desire to fight for equity and justice—to educate, to advocate, and to take my lead from diverse leaders in positions of power, enacting change where I can by forging meaningful connections through identifying future leaders and supporting their work as they become the faces of change in the world. My own research and advocacy, invested in disability justice initiatives, led me to the principle of Access Intimacy. Simply put, Access Intimacy is located in the anticipation of a need before one arises. It is a move toward de-centering the “normal” by recognizing the singular uniqueness of each individual body-mind. Applying access intimacy requires reflection that leads us to ask what is missing around us, and what we can do to eliminate physical, emotional, and intellectual barriers that create exclusion. This has led me toward pedagogy and advocacy that focuses on guidance and mentorship, acknowledging the fallacy of completely de-centered authoritarianism, but moving toward an antiracist framework for leadership and access in institutional spaces.

To me, this means prioritizing student centered environments that tear down colonial policies of merit within the classroom, divorcing suspicion from the “model student” metrics and relaxing the learning community to open toward highlighting full dignity and worth by virtue of our shared humanity. The beauty of access is that is does not foreclose the fullness of diversity from reaching beyond thinking specifically about disability, but opens toward thinking about race, gender, sexuality, and religious and spiritual life. My own journey has afforded me multiple opportunities to spearhead educational outreach and community centered programming serving racially, economically, religiously, and LGBTQIA+ diverse populations. As someone who aims to be situated within academic communities, but in a place that allows for a more active application of social justice and advocacy, I consider it vital to find innovative ways to highlight the value of diversity, equity, inclusion as inseparable from our understanding of ourselves and our communities, especially for new generations of learners.

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