A Work in Progress

A pioneer in the field of social justice education, Maurianne Adams put UMass Amherst on the map as the premier research institution for critically examining systemic oppression in educational and societal contexts. By all accounts, she was instantly viewed as a luminary when she joined the School of Education faculty in 1982. Adams’ influence endures to this day, not only in the litany of books, articles, book chapters, and courses she produced, but in the form of a landmark estate gift of $646,000.

Adams’ gift is emblematic of one of her favorite quips, “We are all works in progress.” The funds are reserved to support a variety of initiatives in the Social Justice Education (SJE) program, all of which are testaments to the ongoing nature of emancipatory research and praxis. SJE faculty, alumni, and students will have increased opportunities to collaborate, attend conferences, and conduct research thanks to Adams’ generosity.

Maurianne Adams (center right) with the original editors of Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, taken in her Amherst home. Photo courtesy of Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries.

Appreciating the context of Adams' generosity is key to understanding her impact as a scholar, activist, and humanist, says Sidonio Ferreira (’08M.Ed.), special assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life. “It’s not just about money, it’s about access,” he said. “It’s Maurianne’s core philosophy.”

Rachel Lynn Wagner (‘14Ed.D.), now an assistant professor in the College of Education at Clemson University, agrees. She notes that, even posthumously, Adams found a way to be an advocate for distributive justice.

“One of the reasons it took me 10 years to complete my degree was that I couldn’t afford to be a graduate student,” she said. “This gift provides opportunities for folks who otherwise don’t have the luxury of getting a doctorate, when they have to manage food and shelter for themselves and their dependents. The reality is that higher education is every bit a class issue.”

The beauty in Adams’ support of the SJE program is that it elicits memories about the astonishingly rich life she led. Adams was a true mainstay on campus, holding various leadership roles from 1973 to her retirement in 2008. An academic at heart, Adams continued to teach part time for another seven years, until 2015. She died at the age of 82 on October 6, 2020, after a long battle with cancer. As a tribute to her legacy, her closest colleagues, collaborators, and friends reflect on what she meant to them.

A Legacy Unmatched

When an undergraduate student picks up Readings for Diversity and Social Justice Education and learns about transgender oppression and LGBTQ+ rights for the first time, Adams (and her many co-authors and co-editors) present an entirely new discourse and framework for experiencing the world.

 “When you were around Maurianne your mind was exploding with insights and curiosity and a thirst for more."

- Warren Blumenfeld, a former student of Adams’ who went on to co-edit Readings and teach in the SJE program.

Adams’ influence is also responsible for galvanizing cultural inclusivity in the student body at large, according to Claire Hamilton, associate provost and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at UMass Amherst.

“Our undergraduates enter UMass with affirming personal values to contribute to the welfare of people and promote inclusiveness in society,” she said. “These same students graduate from UMass with a deeper and shared understanding of cultural diversity because of Maurianne’s leadership and contributions.”

In the end, Adams’ tenacity as a thinker-scholar-practitioner shaped the SJE program into what it is today: a space of dialogue where people of all backgrounds–often diametrically opposed–can come together to unpack their differences in concert with one another.

Katja Hahn D’Errico, one of Adams’ closest friends and frequent co-lecturers, espouses this idea. They taught weekend seminars together, focusing on topics like antisemitism or religious oppression. History, said Hahn D’Errico, would position her German heritage at odds with Adams’ Jewish heritage. Nevertheless, the two women were able to better understand their identities in relation to one another, through the power of conversation and reflection. When this happened, especially in the classroom, pedagogy and lived experience coalesced.

“We were teaching with our lives,” said Hahn D’Errico.

The Sage

When it came to helping others get their foot in the door with a conference paper, grant proposal, or even professional development, nobody was better than Adams at encouraging others to fulfill their innate potential.

“Maurianne recruited me to be a reviewer for Equity & Excellence [in Education], and reminded me of the value in everyone’s efforts to build a more equitable educational system,” said Theresa Austin, a professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture program. “I was charged with building a nurturing collaboration with new colleagues. I have taken that lesson to heart and continue it today.”

For Jamila Lyiscott, co-founder of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research (CRJ), Adams’ influence is central to the research agenda of the center.

“Maurianne’s unapologetic centering of social justice in education is foundational to the ideologies that CRJ is built on,” said Lyiscott. “She made social diversity in education a necessary gen ed course at UMass Amherst, which created pathways for how we at CRJ conceptualize racial justice as not a siloed matter in education, but one that should permeate all facets of students’ lives on campus.”

Teaching and Readings

A quick glance at Adams’ curriculum vitae tells the story of a prolific scholar, someone adept at publishing interdisciplinary research for more than 40 years. However, two of her publications warrant special attention: Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice (3e) and Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (4e), both published by Routledge.

Teaching and Readings have garnered almost a mythological reputation in the field of social justice education. When Teaching was first published in 1997, it was groundbreaking in its critical methodologies and conceptualization of oppression.

“That was cutting edge at the time—it examined different manifestations of social oppression,” says Ximena Zúñiga, professor of social justice education. “At the time, most people in higher education focused on racism, sexism, and classism. Maurianne helped us expand its focus to include oppression of elders, youth, religious identity, and transgender identity.”

 “She felt strongly about the pedagogical value of engaging students with different forms of injustice—cognitively and experientially—to foster deeper learning and intersecting social justice commitments.”

- Ximena Zúñiga, on Adams' influence as an educator.

Adams’ command of educational theory was indispensable to the editorial process, says Lee Anne Bell (’82EdD), one of her longtime co-editors. Bell recalled that Adams’ insistence on specificity—on explaining how theories actually translate into practice—prompted everyone involved in the first edition of Teaching to meticulously refine their prose.

“She could write the longest sentence I’ve ever seen,” joked Professor Emerita Pat Griffin, an original editor of Teaching. “There was a really basic starting ground of love and respect for each other.”

EDUC 210: Social Diversity in Education

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are one of the most prominent aspects of our cultural zeitgeist, especially at institutions of higher learning. However, it wasn’t always commonplace to deconstruct ideology, oppressive norms, and systems of inequity, especially in higher education curricula. There was instead a tendency to focus on the canon, and to supplement reading lists with a few selections addressing one or two forms of social injustice.

When Adams came to the School of Education in 1982, she was immediately plugged into conversations led by Dean Bailey Jackson about organizing a doctoral program for social justice education. Adams supported these initiatives while also presenting the social justice education methodology to the university at large. She advocated in earnest for a general education diversity requirement that addressed the four “isms”: racism, sexism, classism, and antisemitism.

Teaching EDUC 210 constituted a rite of passage for many SJE doctoral candidates. Michael Funk (’12EdD), now a clinical associate professor at NYU, revisits his experience every time he develops a new course.

“The model was to bring the content to life through personal identity and experience,” he said. “We would talk about the ‘isms,’ and then we would have a panel to talk about things like meritocracy, white supremacy. [It was about] vulnerability with your students.”

Fast forward to 2022, and students at UMass Amherst continue to unlock insights into identity, power, and difference thanks to Adams' work on the general education curriculum. For Elizabeth Powers '24, a double major in Psychology and Community Education and Social Change, taking a class on Intergroup Dialogue was beneficial in unexpected ways.

"The most important lessons that I learned from this course were that you never know what someone is going through, and [that] racial justice is a journey of learning and continuous growth," she said. "Through hearing my peers' stories, I was surprised that they were carrying such heavy experiences since they presented so strongly. I was moved by the vulnerability, strength, and insights that all of my peers displayed during this course."

Fatma-Azahra Sayeh '24, a legal studies major, discovered that she and her peers were gradually willing to open up to one another thanks to the small group dynamics of the class. 

"Going into a class that is strictly about discussing difficult topics such as race and ethnic identity was definitely anxiety inducing, especially considering the climate of our society," said Sayeh. "But, what surprised me the most was everyone's (in the class) ability to work toward a deeper understanding of one another. The commitment to truly hearing out one another, self reflecting, and intentional communication was immensely refreshing."

"This course...helps us show up better for each other as humans. It breaks down a lot of misconceptions and helps people form bonds across identities. Specifically for me as a future educator, this course will help me be more conscious about how my students may show up for class differently because of their experiences."

- Elizabeth Powers '24

Many faculty of Adams' caliber draw a line between their personal and professional lives. In Adams' case, she encouraged the intersection of the two, inviting graduate students and colleagues to her Amherst home for intellectual soirees.

“She would always have this huge pot of chicken stew,” recalls Warren Blumenfeld, a long time lecturer in SJE and a former graduate student of Maurianne’s. “She was like the mother hen feeding all the baby chicks. She was always accessible to us.”

Chase Catalano (‘14Ed.D.), assistant professor of higher education at Virginia Tech, vividly remembers the day he defended his dissertation. Immediately following his defense Adams invited him to her home.

“The conversation we had from then on was completely different,” Catalano recalled. “She went from being my chair to my mentor. I could feel this profound shift–she’s my touchstone.”

Michael Funk likened the scene at 14 Beston Street to “the sage and her pupils,” with Maurianne captivating the group for the better part of an hour with her knowledge and interest in everything under the sun.

The Next Generation

From the onset, the Social Justice Education program was never intended to be a complete project, a collection of courses and degree requirements that never changed. Rather, it was a “work in progress,” a palimpsest of new theories, case studies, and engagements with the social fabric of contemporary society.

As Professor Emerita Barbara Love recalls, Adams continually urged SJE faculty to remain skeptical about the curriculum and learning outcomes of their fledgling program.

“We were always thinking deeply about who were the people we were admitting to the program,” said Love. “There was no ‘typical applicant’...and that meant we were always thinking about what adjustments to make, what guidelines to change.”

Rani Varghese ’13EdD, whose background and training are in social work, experienced the interdisciplinary magnetism of the SJE program after noticing that social justice was the common thread uniting her teaching and practice. Now an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Adelphi University, Varghese credits Adams with emboldening her to find her identity as an academic.

“Maurianne served as a bridge between my skill sets and academic training,” she reflected. “We talked about women’s and gender studies, sexuality studies training. She was able to hold all of those identities [in her head] and think through how they were connected.”

 "She helped me think about the value that I bring in academic spaces...She pushed me to find my voice."

- Rani Varghese, on Adams' influence as a mentor.