2023 STLHE Annual Conference Keynote Speaker

Conference Keynote Speaker: Barrington Walker, Wilfrid Laurier University
“The Scarborough Charter and Pedagogies of Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion“
This keynote presentation begins with an exploration of the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion, its calls to action and its demands for Black Inclusion and Black thriving in post-secondary education. The Charter is grounded in its engagement with the unique histories of Black people in Canada and building upon the foundation of these varied histories it provides principles and makes calls to action. A key part of the Charter takes up the issue of Black thriving in our institutions of higher learning. Focusing on students and faculty, this talk explores the possibilities of and the urgency for pedagogies of Anti-Black Racism and Black inclusion and how they can be mobilized to center Black lived experiences, epistemologies and facilitate Black inclusion, thriving and joy.

Barrington Walker, Ph.D. holds a doctoral degree in Canadian History from the University of Toronto (Canada) and is the inaugural Associate Vice President Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His research and teaching interests are in histories of Black Canada, race, immigration, and the law. Before coming to Wilfrid Laurier, Walker was a member of the History Department at Queen’s University Kingston for 18 years; during those years he taught both at the undergraduate and graduate levels and supervised and mentored over 40 graduate students in topics related to his research specialties. He is also often consulted for national television, print and radio media. He has published three books. Race On Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858-1958 (University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2010); The African Canadian Legal Odyssey: Historical Essays (University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2012) and The History of Immigration and Racism in Canada: Essential Readings (Canadian Scholars Press, 2008). He also currently working on two book projects: Colonizing Nation: A History of Colonization, Settlement and Canada’s Racial State and Dark Peril: Blacks and Violence in Canada’s Urban Landscapes (Wilfrid Laurier University Press). In 2012 Race on Trial was shortlisted for the Ontario Speaker’s Book Prize. He is also currently a member of the Board of the Federation for the Social Sciences and Humanities and Chair of its standing committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization. He is also a member of the Inter-Institutional Advisory Committee for the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion.
Conference Keynote Speaker: Christopher Knapper Lifetime Achievement Award – Plenary Session with Dr. Shannon Murray, University of Prince Edward Island
Shakespeare’s Guide to Teaching and Learning
Like many of us, I came to the vocation of teaching in higher education through a deeply obsessive love of one subject, in my case literature and especially Shakespeare. One of the truly wonderful things about college and university life is that it is full of people desperately and passionately in love with knowledge few other people care about. For me, Shakespeare has become the narrative soundtrack of my life, and especially my teaching life, as he teases out in practice on the stage some of the principles we grapple with in our daily teaching lives, like patience, empathy, hope, freudenfreude, and even the obsession with metrics. In this talk, I’ll offer some of his most helpful ideas to keep us sane and even joyful in the classroom: and you don’t need to know or like Shakespeare to join us!

Shannon Murray is a Professor and 3M National Teaching Fellow (2001), teaching Early Modern and Children’s literature at the University of Prince Edward Island. She is the recipient of the AAU Faculty Development Committee Award for distinguished Service and the Christopher Knapper Lifetime Achievement Award. She gives workshops and talks on Active Learning, Capstone Courses for Arts Majors, Global Experience Courses, Learning Communities, and Teaching Dossiers, including since 2002 for the Faculty Development Summer Institute on Active Learning. The founding editor of The Recorder, she has published on John Bunyan’s Book for Boys and Girls, on adaptations for children, as well as on the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is the President of the International John Bunyan Society, a former coordinator of the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, and the former Director of UPEI’s Teaching and Learning Centre. With her two 3M NTF collaborators Dr. Lisa Dickson and Dr Jessica Riddell, she has published Shakespeare’s Guide to Hope, Life, and Learning with the University of Toronto Press (2023).