Tia Brown McNair, "From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education" (Jossey-Bass, 2020)

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear:

• Why it is so important to have the conversation about “Equity in Higher Education” and why now is the time to do so
• What equity means; for whom, and what equity entails in thought and action
• What it means to perform equity as a routine practice in higher education
• What makes individuals equity minded

Today’s book is: From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education, draws from campus-based research projects sponsored by the AAC&U and the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California. The book is a practical guide on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. The authors offer advice on how to build an equity-minded campus culture aligning strategic priorities and institutional missions to advance equity.

Our guest is: Dr. Tia Brown McNair, is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair also directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and Truth, Racial Healing, & Transformation Campus Centers. McNair currently serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives: "Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Centers," "Strengthening Guided Pathways and Career Success by Ensuring Students Are Learning," and “Purposeful Pathways: Faculty Planning and Curricular Coherence.”

Our host is: Dr. Zebulun R. Davenport, Vice President for Student Affairs, West Chester University.

Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:

• AAC&U’s Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus Guide for Self-Study and Planning.
• AAC&U’s Step Up and Lead for Equity: What Higher Education Can Do to Reverse Our Deepening Divides.
• Five principles for enacting equity by design by E.M. Bensimon, A.C. Dowd, and K. Witham in Diversity & Democracy 19 (1)
• Engaging the “Race Question”: Accountability and Equity in U.S. Higher Education, Multicultural Education Series by A.C. Dowd and E.M. Bensimon. (Teachers College Press).
• Heutsche, A.M. and Hicks, K. (2018). Embedding equity through the practice of real talk. In: A Vision for Equity: Results from AAC&U’s Project: Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus-Based Strategies for Student Success. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges.

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