Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair
The University of Windsor has created an Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair (ARPTLC) beginning in July 2021. The ARPTLC is selected from among permanent, full-time faculty members who will devote much of their service and, in some cases, elements of their research activities, to leading and supporting teaching and curricular initiatives focused on anti-racism pedagogies in their faculties and across the campus. In creating this new, focused Teaching Chair position, the University of Windsor will position itself as a leader amongst Canadian institutions of higher learning focused on teaching and learning enhancements by implementing an ARPTLC position. The Ontario Undergraduates' Student Alliance, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, and the Council of Ontario Universities have all advocated for establishing teaching chairs. Supported by central funds, this initiative has the potential to impact thousands of students, to replicate successes in one unit across other units efficiently, to foster support for necessary systemic change, and to create internal and external networks and opportunities and funding for cutting edge innovation. It will support faculty engagement and development, improve the student academic experience, and further engage the University of Windsor in national dialogue and efforts to foster anti-racism and anti-racist pedagogy and curriculum development.
March 31, 2021
The Office of the President and the Centre for Teaching and Learning have announced that Andrew Allen has been selected as the Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair.
Dr. Allen, associate professor in the Faculty of Education, said he is excited about taking on the role and looks forward to the opportunity to continue to work with colleagues across the university, and at other institutions.
“I want to help to interrogate issues of race and racism in what some are calling an age of ‘post truth’,” said Allen. “I want to help infuse into and raise awareness and understanding of anti-racism pedagogies into our university curricula — whether intentional, unconscious, or systemic racism — and to dismantling the barriers, practices, and policies that perpetuate all forms of oppression within our society.”
Anti-Black racism strategic planning officer Marium Tolson-Murtty said that part of the purpose of the position will be to help decolonize the curriculum and to ensure information presented to students is multi-dimensional, rather than unidimensional, or predominately through a Eurocentric lens.
“We know that to engage learners, you want to be able to provide a variety of perspectives, and sometimes students that are from various communities, racial backgrounds, or cultural backgrounds can be more engaged in the work if they know that there's some kind of a historical cultural racial reference point,” said Tolson-Murtty.
She said that students who feel more engaged and connected to material may lead to a snowball effect where ultimately, they feel like they can make a difference.
Allen echoed that sentiment.
“The goal is for all our students to see themselves as agents of change and for them to collectively help to develop productive and constructive strategies for change,” he said.
Tolson-Murtty said that Allen was chosen because of his strong background in working with racialized and marginalized communities.
“I applied for this position because I still want to help to make a difference, as when I first began this journey into teaching as a classroom teacher in inner-city Toronto,” said Allen. “I am looking forward to getting to build on my current service and research activities, to leading and supporting teaching and curricular initiatives focused particularly on anti-racism pedagogies.”
Allen teaches Elementary Mathematics Methodology and Mathematics Foundations in the Faculty of Education’s pre-service program. He is currently the co-ordinator of the Urban Education Partnership teacher education program. His international development work includes rebuilding and supporting an orphanage and school in the Singida region of Tanzania in East Africa. He and his colleagues in the Faculty of Education have taken education students to Tanzania since 2008.
The Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair will be a two-year position that will start July 1.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Dr. Andrew Allen, Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair
Aallen@uwindsor.ca