Faculty Traininig

Description: Many of today’s social institutions rest on foundations rooted in historical legacies of structural racism. Educational inequities throughout the United States, and in higher education in particular, are products of these racist legacies. In this social-political context, what role do educators play in driving the status quo and how can they transform themselves and their inequitable educational institutions? In a talk intended for educators of all stripes, critical social psychologist Dr. Jose H. Vargas adopts an interdisciplinary lens and combines elements of social psychology, the humanities, and legal history in order to address this vital and timely question. A central theme of Dr. Vargas’ argument concerns the interplay between “the individual” and “the system” in the reproduction of racism and intergenerational injustice. Critical consciousness development is presented as one solution that can initiate the disruption and transformation of this interplay.