Bryan Dewsbury, University of Rhode Island

Education as a practice of freedom involves both engaging knowledge and its nuances as well as cultivating relationships and the presence of students toward meaning and purpose. The latter is where many practitioners find inclusive practices challenge. In this talk we will discuss the strategies for teaching students, not content, with evidence for how that approach sets a new standard for excellence in the higher education classroom.

Bryan Dewsbury is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Rhode Island. He is the Principal Investigator of the Science Education And Society (SEAS) research program where as a team they blend research on the social context of teaching and learning, faculty development of inclusive practices and programming in the cultivation of equity in education. He is also a Fellow with the John N. Gardner Institute where he assists institutions of higher education cultivate best practices in inclusive education. He was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. He immigrated in 1999 and attended Morehouse College for his Bachelors of Science in Biology after which he attended Florida International University for a Masters and PhD also in Biology. From there he transitioned to URI where his research focuses on inclusion and equity. Among his many publications is his 2019 piece “Deep Teaching in the STEM classroom” (CSSE) that recentralizes dialogue as the basis for good teaching. He has conducted faculty development and given plenary addresses on this topic to over 50 institutions of higher education, corporations and K12 institutions across North America.

List of inclusion resources referenced in presentation: https://ucdavis.box.com/s/aq73u12og4m7wtr8m3mo8vq7fpvb7wig

Session moderated by: Janine Wilson & Marco Molinaro