On February 22, the 2020-2021 cohort for Faculty Institute for Inclusive Excellence (FIIE) hosted the sixth annual presentation and award ceremony for faculty across all colleges and recognized Anna Lavoie, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources for practicing inclusive excellence in her classroom.
The awards ceremony is held annually to both honor the year’s cohort and showcase their initiatives for creating inclusivity in classroom environments, curriculum, culture and delivery methods through individual presentations detailing their efforts.
Lavoie’s presentation offered ways for students and faculty within Warner College of Natural Resources and HDNR to be involved in activities that introduce equity, inclusivity and diversity in environmental conservation and natural resource management.
In the project proposal, titled the Rights, Equity, Access, Diversity & Inclusion (READI) Club, Lavoie states that by focusing specifically on human dimensions in environmental themes, the READI Club events will cultivate appreciation for the “diverse ways of knowing and alternative narratives to environmental history, and the importance of reconciliation and healing for oppressed minoritized people including, and not limited to, Native Americans and African Americans.”
The way Lavoie creates diversity and inclusion in her own classroom is a layered framework. When introducing concepts of access to natural resources, there is a focus on decision-making processes based on gender, race, social class, and power over resources among others. Secondly, she follows the teaching pedology of Paulo Freire, which encourages active learning.
“Freire opposed the classic “banking” education pedagogy in which facts are deposited into the minds of passive students,” she said “Rather, Freire’s model practices and promotes problem-posing education where students come to a critical consciousness of his or her learning, or conscientization for active change. Therefore, my class activities are discussion based for active learning, and inclusive content is covered in discussion.”
The Warner College’s Diversity and Inclusion Program works to implement and embody the Principles of Community at CSU. Through strategic and mindful collaboration, READI will be an extension of the standards set by the university to create an experience that engages students and faculty with diversity and inclusion in innovative, creative ways.
