Everyday Anti-Racism: Small Steps Toward a More Equitable Cooper Union

Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 1 - 2pm
Thursday, April 29, 2021, 6 - 7:15pm
Thursday, May 6, 2021, 6 - 7:15pm

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Presented by the Center for Writing, this series of three events with Dr. Alford Young, Jr. is open to all Cooper Union faculty and staff.

Dr. Young is the Edgar G. Epps Collegiate Professor of Sociology and Afroamerican Studies at the University of Michigan. He is co-editor (with Mark A. Chesler) of Faculty Identities & the Challenge of Diversity: Reflections on Teaching in Higher Education (Routledge, 2013).

Where Do Healthy Institutional Cultures Come From? 
Lecture + Q&A 
Wednesday, April 21st, 1-2pm EDT 
Write to Pam Newton (or check your email) for the link 
In this talk, Prof. Young will discuss how building a healthier institutional climate starts with our everyday work. He will consider the space of our classrooms, the materials we use in our teaching, our own identities, and the identities of students in a course. 

Working With Difference: Practices for Building a Learning Community 
A Collaborative Workshop  
Thursday, April 29th, 6-7:15pm EDT 
Register for this event
Through small group activities, Prof. Young will help us examine scenarios where differences of race, class, gender, and more can visibly or invisibly shape how each member of a community learns and interacts. 

Understanding and Navigating “Hot Moments” in the Classroom 
A Collaborative Workshop  
Thursday, May 6th, 6-7:15pm EDT
Register for this event
Teachers often find themselves in tense moments where questions of difference—race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.—arise in provocative ways. We can sometimes be confused about how these moments happened in the first place, and what to do in their wake. This workshop will give us strategies and frameworks for navigating these “hot moments.”

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.