In this session, we will discuss ways to address difficult topics in the classroom. Instead of fearing these topics, we can actively frame them in ways that are much more likely to create vibrant, respectful dialogue that leads to new insights for our students and ourselves.

Lunch is included with registration for this event.

About the facilitator:

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, Teaching Difficult Topics