Resources

Becoming Anti-Racist and Catalysts for Change Virtual Symposium Using Mobilization Pedagogy Leadership Melanie Harris, Ph.D., Texas Christian University Jennifer Harvey, Ph.D., Drake University Paul Myhre, The Wabash Center Participants Anthony Bateza, St. Olaf College Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, North Park Theological Seminary María Teresa Dávila, Merrimack College Teresa Delgado, Iona College Michal Beth Dinkler, Yale Divinity School Holly Hillgardner, Bethany College Michael S. Hogue, Meadville Lombard Theological School Deborah M. Jackson, Sewanee: The University of the South Beatrice Marovich, Hanover College Michael Brandon McCormack, University of Louisville Angela Nicole Parker, Mercer University - Atlanta Heike Peckruhn, Daemen College Justin Michael Reed, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Nathaniel Samuel, Loyola University Chicago Tyler Schwaller, Wesleyan College Katherine A. Shaner, Wake Forest University Divinity School Deanna Ferree Womack, Candler School of Theology - Emory University Yvonne Zimmerman, Methodist Theological School in Ohio Description 0f Cohort The most recent protest activities of the Black Lives Matter coalitions have rekindled the national consciousness and served to nurture moral courage across our society. The pervasiveness of white supremacy in higher education contexts adversely affects the formation of all students as well as the vocational trajectory of faculty and administrators. In this moment, there is a desperate need for professors and administrators of religion and theology to discuss issues of race and racism, and these conversations have to then mobilize actions of equity, reparation and healing. Talking about race means naming the reality of white privilege, hierarchy, and the pain of the oppressed and the oppressor; it is a risky conversation, but worthwhile if change is to occur. This virtual symposium will gather colleagues, representatives of schools, for six sessions (November to June), while, at the same time, those representatives also meet regularly with colleagues at their respective schools. The meetings with colleagues at each school will be to metabolize, disseminate, and design based upon the discussions with Harris and Harvey. In so doing, the gathered conversations with Harris and Harvey will seed and inspire embedded projects in multiple locations about the nature and workings of race, racism, and white supremacy. The two layers of discussions along with the embedded project will be catalysts for institutional change toward health and wholeness of many campus climates and institutional ecologies. Embedded Project In additional to participation with the cohort group, which will meet regularly with Dr. Harris and Dr. Harvey, each applicant is asked to create a conversation group at their own institution. The applicant, as the leader of the institutional conversation group, will recruit 2 to 5 members of your institution (staff, faculty, administration) who will meet from November to June to: (a) hear your report and continue the discussion on racism as sparked by the conversation with the cohort group and Drs. Harris and Harvey and, (b) design an embedded project which will mobilize your school on an issue of race, racism and healing. The embedded project is eligible for a non-competitive small grant from Wabash Center. See guidelines for Small Grants Proposal on the Wabash Center website. The small grant deadline is May 12, 2021. Goals This cohort experience, coupled with the embedded project, is meant to: Equip faculty to be active and able participants in classrooms and institutions that are, or are becoming, racially diverse. Grapple with the ramifications and realities of working in a school that remains racially unjust. Create space to conceive strategies to help facilities learn to function well in racial diversity. Mobilize faculties toward projects of equity, reparation, and healing. Model being and feeling equipped to talk about race, anti-racism in classrooms of religion and theology. Dates and Times Cohort will convene via Zoom with Harris and Harvey on the following Wednesdays, 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Time: Wednesday, November 11 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, December 9 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, February 10 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, March 24 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, April 14 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, May 12 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, June 9 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Grant Application Deadline: May 12, 2021 How to be anti-racist: Speak out in your own circles features quotes from Jennifer Harvey, symposium leader. Important Links Payment of Participants Policy on Full Participation Travel and Accommodations Travel Reimbursement Form Questions about the Symposium? Dr. Paul O. Myhre Senior Associate Director myhrep@wabash.edu. Honorarium Participants in the Symposium will receive an honorarium of $3,000 for full participation in the online sessions. Honorarium for members of the embedded project is $250 each. Read More about Payment of Participants Social Media Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flicker Lilly Endowment, Inc. Other Lilly Supported Initiatives

Teaching and Improvisation Virtual Symposium Using Creativity Pedagogy Leadership Victor L. Wooten, Five Time Grammy Award Winning Bass Player Author of The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music Description Teaching in these times of the unforeseen and the unforeseeable necessitates the skills and abilities of making use of the context, feeling the moment, knowing how to make use of whatever is at-hand. There is, perhaps, no better time than this unpredicted moment of COVID 19, Black Lives Matter national activities, economic downturn, and higher education upheaval than to be part of a cohort of teachers, artists, and creative people discussing the necessity of improvisation. What would it mean to incorporate improvisation as a pedagogical and spiritual practice into your teaching and learning life? Who better to assist with honing creativity, spontaneity, and rhythm than five-time Grammy award winning bass guitar player Victor Wooten? We will be reading Victor’s book The Music Lesson as well as his soon to be released second title: Spirit of Music. We will learn from Victor know-how about ways of freeing one’s self from a script and letting go to the power of the Spirit in any moment, and most especially, in the teaching moment. This cohort is convened by invitation only. Goals Through the use of creativity pedagogy, the overarching goal of the symposium will be to engage in sustained reflection with a musician known for improvisational skills to get a deeper sense of the teaching life in terms of imagination, performance, artistry, and creativity. We will do this through: Reflecting mindfully on the teacher as improvisor Opening-up our imaginations in conversation about the art, task, burden and joy of teaching Hearing one another’s stories and considering the formation and deformation of teachers who struggle to be and become creative Exploring the ways musicians participate as band members, band leaders, composers and creative engineers and making parallels with the teaching life Exploring the embodied wisdom and know-how affiliated with the work and world of jazz and the accompanying skills, crafts, and knowledges of that world Exploring the significance of a “life as a student of creativity,” and the necessary relationships for a deep spirituality when attempting to sustain a vocational life in the institutional settings of higher education Dates and Times Cohort will convene via Zoom with Victor Wooten on the following Wednesdays, 3:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Time: Wednesday, October 7, 3:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Wednesday, November 4, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Wednesday, December 2, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Wednesday, January 6, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Wednesday, February 3, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Wednesday, March 3, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Wednesday, April 21, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Wednesday, May 19, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Participants Esther E. Acolatse,University of Toronto Wonhee Anne Joh, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Tim Lake*, Wabash College/The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion Boyung Lee, Iliff School of Theology Tat-siong Benny Liew, College of the Holy Cross AnneMarie Mingo, Pennsylvania State University Paul O. Myhre*, The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion Nathan Myrick, Mercer University - Macon Stephen G. Ray, Chicago Theological Seminary Leopoldo A. Sánchez, Concordia Seminary (MO) Mitzi J. Smith, Columbia Theological Seminary Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Perkins School of Theology, SMU Lisa L. Thompson, Vanderbilt University, The Divinity School Katherine Turpin, Iliff School of Theology Ralph Basui Watkins, Columbia Theological Seminary Nancy Lynne Westfield*, The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion *Symposium staff Important Links Payment of Participants Policy on Full Participation Our Philosophy of Workshops Travel and Accommodations Travel Reimbursement Form Questions about the Symposium? Dr. Paul O. Myhre Senior Associate Director myhrep@wabash.edu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONEnFyj73w Social Media Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flicker Lilly Endowment, Inc. Other Lilly Supported Initiatives

Wabash Center Symposia Becoming Anti-Racist and Catalysts for Change Leadership Melanie Harris, Ph.D.,Texas Christian University Jennifer Harvey, Ph.D.,Drake University Paul Myhre, The Wabash Center Description of Cohort Teaching and Improvisation Leadership Victor L. Wooten, Five Time Grammy Award Winning Bass Player Author ofThe Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music Description of Cohort Important Links Payment of Participants Policy on Full Participation Travel and Accommodations Travel Reimbursement Form Questions about the Symposia? Dr. Paul O. Myhre Senior Associate Director myhrep@wabash.edu. Social Media Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr Lilly Endowment, Inc. Other Lilly Supported Initiatives