Keynote: ‘Coming to Consciousness: Rethinking Community Engagement in the Wake of Pandemics’

On Thursday, April 21 at 3 p.m., the Department of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning (CESL) will host a keynote address, “Coming Into Consciousness: Rethinking Community Engagement in the Wake of Pandemics,” by Tania Mitchell, University of Minnesota. The event will be held in the Bernie Dallas Room in Goodell Hall and also livestreamed.

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Informed by the stewardship and activism that has guided the formation and ongoing work at the intersection of 38th and Chicago in South Minneapolis where George Floyd's life was taken in May of 2020, this keynote explores the possibility for a redefinition and new approach to partnerships in community engaged work. Centering community voice, strategies for mutual aid, and a commitment to social justice, Mitchell considers how higher education community engagement can be an active contributor to building more just and equitable futures.

Tania Mitchell is an internationally recognized scholar in service learning and community engagement and an associate professor of higher education at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development. Mitchell's teaching interests include social justice theory, civic discourse, public service, leadership, college student development, action research methods and the pedagogy, philosophy and practice of service-learning and community engagement in higher education. Much of her research focuses on service-learning as a critical pedagogy to explore civic identity, social justice, student learning and development, race and racism and community practice.

Contact CESL Director Joseph Krupczynski at jkrup@umass.edu with questions.