Office of Institutional Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Urban Cadence tells the multifaceted stories of two urban environments—Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa—experienced through the artistic expressions of photography and video.

African cities are growing rapidly, and these two cities have experienced this growth in diverse yet fascinating ways: the first as a mega-city, the latter as a center of industrial development. The street scenes in this exhibition represent the complex narratives of these urban areas: tales of migration, labor, desperation, success, hope, and imagination among others.

S.A.G.E. (Styles Advancing Graffiti’s Evolution)
Before urban fashion brands became a multi-billion dollar industry and synonymous with the fashion world, urban youth designed and created t-shirts, jackets, hats, etc with markers, paint and pure imagination utilizing graffiti aesthetics. This interactive workshop will explore the history of Graffiti writing/art and its evolution into Street Art and influence on urban fashion. Participants will learn how to design and customize t-shirts utilizing a variety of media and techniques inspired by graffiti aesthetics.

Education and Liberation

In our final event in the Teaching and Learning for Liberation Series, students from the Middlebury Education Studies Society (MESS) and faculty from the Education Studies Program as we examine culturally relevant pedagogy, antiracism, and inclusion as it relates to student learning. We will again ask how we can use our various talents to address the barriers faced when enacting equity-centered, justice-driven education. Students, staff, and faculty welcome.

Arts and Liberation

In this interactive panel discussion Associate Professor Christal Brown, Assistant Professor Lida Winfield, and Assistant Professor Laurel Jenkins of the Dance Department join Assistant Professor of Theatre, Olga Sanchez Saltveit, and Director of Beyond the Page, Craig Maravich to explore their work engages inclusion, antiracism, social justice, and freedom. We will hear from the panelist and then be invited into some movement and reflection.

STEM and Liberation

Next up in the Teaching and Learning for Liberation series Assistant Professor of Biology, Erin Eggleston, Associate Professor of Economics, Tanya Byker, Assistant Professor of Biology, Greg Pask and Assistant Professor of Geology, Joseph Holler engage in a discussion of how equity, justice, inclusion, and antiracism inform their teaching and their curricular approaches. Students, staff, and faculty welcome.

Please click here to register to join via Zoom.

Freedom Dreaming: Beyond the Script

Join lead student researcher, Charice Lawrence ‘23, Faculty Director of Equity Justice and Inclusion, Tara L. Affolter and other members of the research team, cast, and crew as they share the themes and findings that went into creating the theatre piece “Freedom Dreaming: Envisioning an Antiracist Middlebury.” We will share selections from the play and go beyond those words as we collectively discuss and dream of an antiracist Middlebury. Students, staff, and faculty welcome!

In this kickoff event for the Spring Teaching and Learning for Liberation series, Khuram Hussain VP of Equity and Inclusion and Associate Professor of Education Studies along with Tara Affolter, Faculty Director of Equity, Justice and Inclusion and Associate Professor of Education Studies invite faculty, and staff to consider: How do we reclaim the transformative tradition of critical education, against the backdrop of transactional culture in higher education?

Lisa Elfring currently serves as Associate Vice Provost of Instruction and Assessment at the University of Arizona, co-leading the University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology (UCATT). She is a continuing Specialist in Biology Education in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

This workshop explores the expansiveness of gender while aiming to address its limitations. In this, we will try to challenge our own understanding of gender through discussing how/why it was constructed, how this impacts social norms now, and where we go from here.

Shakia Barron is a choreographer, performer, and dance educator whose work is rooted in the African Diaspora, focusing on Funk Styles, Hip-Hop, House, and other African diasporic dance forms. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Mount Holyoke College. She graduated with her MFA in Choreography at Wilson College, she holds an Associate’s degree in dance and psychology from Dean College, a Bachelor’s in liberal arts from Westfield State University, and she received the National Dance Institute’s teaching artist certificate in 2009.