The Poynter Institute

Diversity Across the Curriculum, seminar

In this online group seminar, journalism educators will learn how to infuse diversity and inclusion into their teaching aspects.

This course will allow journalism educators to make a real impact on American newsrooms' future diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts when they model those values in the classroom. This online group seminar will empower you to examine your current teaching materials and curriculum with an eye toward inclusion and representation and give you the tools and skills to diversify your lessons, examples, speakers, and more. Diversity Across the Curriculum is a reincarnation of a beloved Poynter program from the early 2000s. The call to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom persists two decades later — and is perhaps more urgent than ever. Poynter is proud to bring it back to serve the needs of educators in a post-2020 world.

Your lead faculty is Dr Earnest Perry, associate dean of graduate studies at the University of Missouri, a researcher, educator, and consultant specializing in diversity and inclusion issues. Barbara Allen, Poynter's college programming director, will be your guest faculty and coach as you transform your classroom.

You will learn how to modify your current teaching to include more diverse classroom examples, readings, videos, and speakers. You will understand where, how, and why to examine materials for diverse voices. You will develop the instinct to audit the makeup of the topics, sources, and authors you introduce into your teaching and how to pivot to ensure diverse voices are represented.

In 2020, Black Lives Matter became the largest social justice movement in U.S. history and stirred a (re)awakening about America's anti-Black racism. The race will be a key consideration during this seminar, and you will also be discussing all kinds of diversity, including gender, ability, religion, class, ethnicity, sexual preference, and more.

Participation is limited to 25 people to ensure active participation and personalized feedback. If you allow it, this experience will be meaningful, personal, and powerful. It might even change the way you work forever.

Participants will learn how to:

Examine your existing curriculum for oversights and opportunities

Apply strategies to develop new materials that emphasize diversity and inclusion

Devise concrete ways to infuse inclusion and diversity into your existing teaching.