The Equity Committee has organized a series of webinars for the fall 2025 / winter 2025 academic year around the theme “Equity and / in the Classroom.” In this series, speakers explore a range of issues and questions, such as: How do classrooms matter, and for whom? What does our curriculum “say,” often inadvertently and unintentionally? What are some of the (many?) ways in which assumptions about gender, race, sexuality, disability, language, etc. perpetuated in a range of commonplace pedagogical practices and activities? This webinar series invites STLHE / SAPES members to both (re)examine several ways in which inequities are in our classrooms and offer strategies and ideas for how to reimagine what we do every day.


2024-2025

Inclusive Teaching and Learning: What I Have Learned From My Students   

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2024 | 1:00-2:00 PM EST

Presenter: Cynthia Bruce, Concordia University

Description: Inclusive teaching and learning are often conceptualized in terms of strategies and techniques for teaching and assessment. My research with disabled students has highlighted relationships as equally important. Interestingly, my time in the classroom with a diversity of learners has made me rethink much of what I thought I knew; and in this talk, I will share some of the profound learning that has emerged from teaching and learning spaces. 

Cynthia Bruce is an Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Chair of the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Concordia University in Montreal. As a blind activist scholar working at the intersection of Critical Disability Studies, Music Therapy, and education, she works to mobilize lived disability knowledge to expose systemic inequity and formulate more just approaches to research and practice. She focuses on accessibility in higher education and self-advocacy as essential lived knowledge that can generate deep understandings of inequity and elucidate possibilities for progressive change. Dr. Bruce recently co-led the development of a comprehensive set of recommendations for an accessibility standard in education in Nova Scotia and is a collaborator with the Canadian Accessibility Network.


Learning in Colour: Building Safer Classrooms for Black, Indigenous, and Racialized Students

Date: Monday, January 27, 2025 | 2:00-3:00 PM EST

Presenters: Maddie Brockbank and Renata Hall, McMaster University

Description: This webinar explores the origins, development, and implementation of “Learning in Colour,” a resource that consolidates information and recommendations for all educational shareholders regarding the facilitation of safer and more inclusive classroom spaces for Black, Indigenous, and racialized students. Beginning in 2019, the Learning in Colour team sought to work across disciplines and connect with various campus and community partners to develop the first university-wide resource committed to tangible action regarding anti-racist classroom facilitation. This project, which is published as a PressBook, invited students of colour to (1) discuss their experiences of racism in higher education and (2) participate in articulating tangible recommendations as informed by these experiences. In this webinar, the co-leads of the project discuss the core issues emerging from these conversations, which is then followed by an intentional exploration of specific strategies and approaches that facilitate safety, challenge racism, and ultimately contribute to more equitable and inclusive postsecondary institutions. We invite attendees to peruse the resource by visiting: https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/learningincolour/.

Maddie Brockbank (she/her) is a PhD Candidate and Vanier Scholar in the School of Social Work at McMaster University. Her research, practice experience, and community organizing initiatives have been in anti-violence work with men, specifically in exploring the links between gender-based and sexual violence prevention, anti-carceral feminisms, and engaging men. Maddie has been recognized for her academic excellence and community leadership as a recipient of the Young Woman of Distinction Award (YWCA Hamilton), the President’s Award for Excellence in Student Leadership (McMaster University), and the Wilson Leadership Scholar Award (McMaster University).

Renata Hall (she/her) is a PhD candidate, published Black feminist scholar, Woman of Distinction 2022 Awardee, co-creator of the Learning in Colour digital platform, and Inclusion and Anti-Racism Education Manager at McMaster University. Renata lives all things social justice through her counselling, teaching, and research pursuits. She loves building community connections, challenging the status quo, and amplifying the voices of the margins across Hamilton and the GTA.

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