Early Career Scholar Forum: Navigating and Surviving the Academy as a Social Justice Scholar Thursday, April 7, 2016, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

CESJ Early Career Scholar Forum: Navigating and Surviving the Academy as a Social Justice Scholar

Thursday, April 7, 2016, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Location: TBA; Washington, D.C.

The Critical Educators for Social Justice SIG will offer a pre-conference forum for early career scholars (non-tenured). The forum is open to early-career tenure track faculty, non-tenure track faculty, and postdoctoral scholars. During the forum, participants will gather with scholar-mentors from CESJ to discuss various topics related to research and scholarship, teaching, community-engaged scholarship, and service. The purpose of the forum is to provide early career scholars with 1) a sense of community with scholars committed to critical scholarship and social justice; 2) mentorship from a range of scholars (junior and senior level colleagues); 3) practical tools and strategies for navigating academic contexts; 4) a chance to network and build community with other CESJ early career scholars.  This is the SIG’s first year offering this event and has been modeled after our highly successful Graduate Student Forum. The CESJ Early Career Scholar Forum will be a powerful gathering of scholars across the country committed to producing and supporting critical scholarship and practice within education. We hope you decide to join us!

*Refreshments will be served throughout the seminar.

Forum Themes and Topics:

This forum is designed to help social justice oriented scholars thrive in institutional settings, build community with like-minded scholars, and gain sustainable strategies for navigating the academy. Themes and topics explored during the forum may include:

• Navigating different university contexts as a social justice scholar
• Negotiating, confronting, and challenging whiteness in the academy
• Publishing and advocating for justice-oriented scholarship
• Balancing scholar-activism, wellness, and the demands of the academy
• Finding mentors, community, and solidarity as faculty member
• Understanding the importance, risks, and strategies of public scholarship
• Articulating your scholarship outside of the academy
• How to create a successful tenure dossier as a social justice/critically engaged scholar
• How to define one’s self as a social justice and/or critically engaged scholar
• Additional topics may be added based on participants’ interests noted in registration

Registration Process:

Space is limited and participants will be accepted on a first come first serve basis. Those who are interested in attending should complete our registration form as soon as possible! To apply for the forum, CESJ members should:

1.   Use this link to complete the registration form http://bit.ly/1PoCy67

2.   The registration form will require the following information in order to facilitate planning:

(a) The applicant’s general background

(b) The applicant’s current academic position and relevant aspects of the institutional setting

(c) The applicant’s research interests

(d) A description of one or two significant challenges facing the applicant as a CESJ scholar and description of what you hope to gain from your participation in the seminar

Space is limited and the deadline for registration is Friday, January 29th, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. (PST).  Participants will be notified by email in mid-February 2016.  

The Critical Educators for Social Justice (CESJ) Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) is committed to the struggle for social justice, human rights and democracy in education for diverse communities. We promote research, teaching, and activism including but not limited to cultural, racial, linguistic, political, and economic self-determination within our classrooms, schools, and communities. A significant objective of CESJ is to promote communication and collaboration among critical educators and researchers working in public schools, universities, and community education programs. We believe that education, as a form of critical understanding, plays a crucial role in transforming society; therefore, we encourage the participation of educators whose work is founded upon these principles.

Registration Link: http://bit.ly/1PoCy67

Please direct any questions about the Early Career Scholar Forum to organizers Bianca Baldridge (bbaldridge@wisc.edu) or Cleveland Hayes (chayes@laverne.edu).

Early Career Scholar Forum Planning Committee:

Bianca J. Baldridge, University of Wisconsin-Madison 

Alison Dover, Northeastern Illinois University 

Cleveland Hayes, University of La Verne 

Lamar Johnson, Miami University 

Petra Robinson, Louisiana State University