PEA Faculty Attend NAIS People of Color Conference

Last week, several faculty were absent from class because they were attending the annual National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference (PoCC) hosted in Seattle. The Academy sent a group of around thirty faculty to PoCC this year as part of the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative.

In accordance with the overarching theme 1619-2019: Before and Beyond, which acknowledged the 300th anniversary of the first arrival of enslaved people in North America, the majority of seminars and workshops during the conference’s four-day program touched on the influence of North America’s past on its present. “Workshops were based on reflections of where we were, where we are, and how much work has yet to be done to reconcile the atrocity of the enslavement of black people,” Science Instructor Kadeine Peterson said.

One of the many workshops presented at the conference was created by Exeter English Instructor Courtney Marshall, whose presentation, A Home Away From Home: Diversity and Inclusion in the Dorms, explored “the ways dorm spaces [think] about issues of diversity and the types of initiatives we do in other parts of campus.” Marshall said. “Oftentimes the topics are about building affinity spaces or things that pertain to classroom teaching so I’m hoping to get more people more experienced with talking about dorms.”

The Academy sends a wide range of both faculty and staff to the conference annually. Some instructors, like Marshall, have attended POCC the past, but faculty and staff who had not attended were also encouraged to sign up with Dean of the Faculty Ellen Wolff and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Stephanie Bramlett.

After deliberating the applications, Bramlett and Wolff send a select group of faculty, with the size of the group increasing each year.

Faculty who attended the conference praised the depth of its program, which is intended to bring allies and people of color together. “The sheer number of workshops to choose from was incredible,” English instructor Tyler Caldwell said.

Marshall credited POCC as a source of inspiration for developing her educational practices. “Another thing that happens at this conference is that I get to see things that other teachers do that I can then possibly bring [into my class] because I was teaching The Art of Protest and I wanted to have some ideas for things for people to do for my class.” she stated.

For Peterson, one of the main takeaways was that “colonization erased the history of scientific progression of non-white European peoples. I have already begun to incorporate some of what I learned at POCC into my lessons this term and plan on taking a more in-depth look at the biology curriculum as a whole,” she said. “As a black scientist, it is really important to me to tell the entire story of the field that I love and not just a deliberately scrubbed version.”

Caldwell enjoyed the opportunity to converse with other educators. “I appreciated the workshop because it provided time and space for us to discuss how we might foster dialogue back at school in a way that engages faculty, students, and alumni/ae,” he said.

Peterson appreciated that at the conference, she was able to take away new insights and feel validated as a black instructor. “Not only does it serve as a great opportunity for professional development and learning,” Peterson said, “it also helps to reaffirm me in my work as an educator of color.”