As the diversity of our student population increases, we as faculty can better include all learners in our classrooms by raising our own awareness of microaggressions and addressing them when they occur. In order to do that, we can learn about and practice microresistance. Microresistance techniques allow us to address microaggressions in productive and educational ways that attempt to open, instead of shutting down, dialogue. In this interactive faculty development session, we will discuss a variety of microresistance techniques and then practice them in a low-stakes environment, so that we are more prepared when they occur in our own classrooms, labs, or studio spaces.

Dr. Cynthia Ganote has been teaching classes on race, class, and gender inequalities at the university level for 25 years, starting at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, then at Saint Mary’s College of California in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now at the University of Louisville in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Over her career, she has served as a tenured sociology professor, a Director of Faculty Development, an Assistant Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement, and most recently as a consultant on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for colleges and universities across the U.S. Cynthia’s most recent writing can be found in the book Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education: Strategies for Teaching (2021, Rita Kumar and Brenda Refaei, Editors); in Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal (2022, Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Editor); and in the forthcoming SAGE Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies (George Goethals and Scott Allison, Editors).

Cynthia Ganote, Navigating Courageous Conversations: Meeting Classroom Microaggressions with Microresistance