Race, Equity and the Learning Environment

At a time of impending demographic shifts, faculty and administrators in higher education around the world are becoming aware of the need to address the systemic practices and barriers that contribute to inequitable educational outcomes of racially and ethnically diverse students.

Focusing on the higher education learning environment, this volume illuminates the global relevance of critical and inclusive pedagogies (CIP), and demonstrates how their application can transform the teaching and learning process and promote more equitable educational outcomes among all students, but especially racially minoritized students.

The examples in this book illustrate the importance of recognizing the detrimental impact of dominant ideologies, of evaluating who is being included in and excluded from the learning process, and paying attention to when teaching fails to consider students’ varying social, psychological, physical and/or emotional needs.

This edited volume brings CIP into the realm of comparative education by gathering scholars from across academic disciplines and countries to explore how these pedagogies not only promote deep learning among students, but also better equip instructors to attend to the needs of diverse students by prioritizing their intellectual and social development; creating identity affirming learning environments that foster high expectations; recognizing the value of the cultural and national differences that learners bring to the educational experience; and engaging the “whole” student in the teaching and learning process.

Frank Tuitt is the Senior Advisor to the Chancellor and Provost on Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Denver and Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Morgridge College of Education. Dr. Tuitt’s research explores topics related to access and equity in higher education; teaching and learning in racially diverse college classrooms; and diversity and organizational transformation. Dr. Tuitt is a co-editor and contributing author of the books Race and Higher Education: Rethinking Pedagogy in Diverse College Classrooms, and Contesting the Myth of a Post-Racial Era.

Chayla Haynes is Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs Leadership at the University of Northern Colorado. Her research centers on innovations in college teaching, creating transformative and identity affirming learning environments, and applying Critical Race Theory (CRT) to postsecondary contexts and problems. Her most recent work is featured in The Sage Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence, the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals Journal, and includes the co-edited volume entitled Interrogating Whiteness and Relinquishing Power: White Faculty's Commitment to Racial Consciousness in STEM Classrooms.

Saran Stewart is a Lecturer of Comparative Higher Education in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. She is also the Coordinator for the M.A. in Higher Educational Management program and a Research Specialist in the Research and Grants Unit in the School of Education. Her work has been published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Student Affairs, Postcolonial Directions in Education Journal and the Applied Anthropologist Journal. Dr. Stewart most recently, received the International Scholars Award at the Research in Education Symposium from the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Lori D. Patton, Ph.D. is Department Chair of Educational Studies and Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs inthe College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Patton is known for scholarship on critical race theory, diversity initiatives on college campuses, Black women and girls in educational and social contexts, and college student development. The author of over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other academic publications, she has received national awards for her scholarship including being ranked among the top 200 educators in the US. She is frequently sought for expertise on education topics.