Inclusion in the Classroom
Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education is an ongoing effort. At Pearson, DE&I is one of our core pillars. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn. Join us for a conversation featuring industry experts, where we will discuss best practices for promoting an inclusive classroom to enrich learner outcomes.
Melissa Patrick – Moderator (Pearson)
Stacy Farina (Howard University)
Sam Sommers (Tufts University)
Bryan Dewsbury (University of Rhode Island)
Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education is an ongoing effort. At Pearson, DE&I is one of our core pillars. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn. Join us for a conversation featuring industry experts, where we will discuss best practices for promoting an inclusive classroom to enrich learner outcomes.
Recorded:
Duration:
About the speakers
Melissa Patrick, Pearson
Melissa Patrick, MSW, is the Director of Content, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) in Pearson’s Higher Ed division. She oversees the team's strategic vision and operations. In this role, she consults, trains, and advises business units throughout the division, from sales and marketing to product and content strategy. In addition, Melissa directs the DE&I Content Review Program. This program's purpose is to minimize bias and improve the accuracy and relevancy of products Pearson delivers to the market. The DE&I Content Review program staff hire, train, and certify DE&I readers who examine pre-production content, identify the content risks, then offer remediation recommendations to product teams.
Melissa is an engaging DE&I practitioner with an interdisciplinary background in Social Work, Education, Corporate Learning and Development, and Human Systems Change Management. Melissa established Equity & Expectations®, a business that offers training, coaching, and consultation on racial equity, ethnicity, and other diversity/identity dimensions. Adept at building client relationships to influence and manage change in the workplace, she has worked for over 25 years with clients who want workplaces and learning spaces that are psychologically safe, and equitable, and promote improved individual and organizational performance.
Melissa earned her MSW from Columbia University School of Social Work and a BA in Urban Affairs and Teaching from the University of Rhode Island. She is the mother of three young adults and pet mom to 3 cats and 1 fish.
Dr. Stacy Farina, Howard University
Dr. Stacy Farina is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Howard University, a research-intensive HBCU. She studies evolution and anatomy of fishes, and she implements Contract Grading and other innovative methods to help students tackle traditionally memory-intensive subject areas.
Sam Sommers, Tufts University
Sam Sommers earned his B.A. at Williams College, his Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Michigan, and he has been a faculty member at Tufts University since 2003, where he is currently Chair of the Psychology Department. Dr. Sommers’ research examines issues related to racial equity, intergroup relations, and group diversity, with a particular focus on how these processes play out in the legal system and in higher education. Dr. Sommers has won multiple teaching awards at Tufts, and his courses include Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology, and a team-taught course on the Science of Coping. He is a co-author of the Wade, Tavris, Sommers, and Shin intro psych textbooks and the Aronson et al. social psych textbook, and has written two general audience books: Situations Matter and This is Your Brain on Sports.
Bryan Dewsbury, University of Rhode Island
Bryan Dewsbury is an Associate Professor of Biology at Florida International University where he also is an Associate Director of the STEM Transformation Institute. He received is Bachelors degree in Biology from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, and his Masters and PhD in Biology from Florida International University in Miami, FL. He is the Principal Investigator of the Science Education And Society (SEAS) program, where his team conducts research on the social context of education. He is a Fellow of the John N. Gardner Institute and a Director at RIOS (Racially-Just Inclusive Open Science) institute. He conducts faculty development and support for institutions interested in transforming their educational practices pertaining to creating inclusive environments and, in this regard, has worked with over 100 institutions across North America, United Kingdom and West Africa. He is a co-author of the book Norton's Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching, available for free as an E-book. He is the founder of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Deep Teaching Residency, a national workshop aimed at supporting faculty in transforming their classroom to more meaningfully incorporate inclusive practices. Bryan is originally from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and proudly still calls the twin island republic home.