RRJ Events
RRJ Presents: RRJ Jumpstart Conference (Virtual)
Date: July 31, 2024
Time: 9:00 am-4:00 pm CT
The Initiative for Race Research and Justice will host their fifth Jumpstart Virtual Conference on July 31, 2024.
Wise is the author of nine books, including his latest, Dispatches from the Race War (City Lights Books). Other books include Under the Affluence, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority and Colorblind (all from City Lights Books); his highly-acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, (recently updated and re-released by Soft Skull Press); Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White; Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male; and Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama.
Click Here to Register!
RRJ’s Past Events
RRJ Presented: Spring 2024 Lunch & Learn with Dr. Ana Christina da Silva
Date: April 3, 2024
Time: 12:00 pm-1:30 pm CT
The Initiative for Race Research and Justice invited Dr. Ana Christina da Silva to discuss her latest book, Re-Designing Teacher Education for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children. The event was held on from 12:00 pm -1:00 pm CT. The first ten registered attendees received a free book!
RRJ Presented: Restorative Practices Training (Virtual)
Dates: March 2 and March 9, 2024
Time: 9:00 am-3:30 pm CT
This training was designed for those both new to Restorative Practices and those hoping to deepen their understanding and application. The training was facilitated by Laura Fittz Parks, a Restorative Practitioner, International Institute of Restorative Practices licensed trainer, and current PhD Candidate at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College.
RRJ Presented: RRJ Fall 2023 Early Career Professional Learning Series
Dates:
October 21, November 4, November 11, December 2
Time: 9:00 am-2:30 pm CT
Many graduate and professional programs do an exceptional job preparing their students with core knowledge and skills needed for success in their career paths. However, programs often neglect or struggle to help their students develop other necessary skills students that are often unaware they need until they have entered their chosen careers. For many early career (and experienced) professionals, developing these other skills can be the difference between building a strong foundation for enduring professional success in their chosen career, and leaving their career behind due to underperformance, lack of job satisfaction, or burnout.
How can you develop much needed knowledge, understanding, and skills to help advance your career and build a foundation for success?
Join the Vanderbilt University Initiative for Race Research and Justice (RRJ) for its Early Career Professional Learning Series. The Series is designed to support those interested in deepening their knowledge, understanding, skills, and practices in interrelated areas that are critical for future professional success.
Our inaugural Fall 2023 Series consists of four sessions covering the following topics:
(1) Teaching and Mentoring, (2) Grant Writing, Philanthropy, and Fundraising, (3) Writing and Publishing Across Genres, and (4) Wellness, Healing, and Mindfulness. Each session will feature experienced subject matter experts who will share research, experiences, and unique perspectives to help you prepare for success in your career.
RRJ Presented: Fall 2023 Lunch & Learn with Dr. Rich Milner
Date: September 13, 2023
Time: 12:00 pm-1:00 pm CT
The Initiative for Race Research and Justice had director Dr. Rich Milner (Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University) speak about his latest book, the Race Card . The event was held on from 12:00 pm -1:00 pm CT.
The first ten registered attendees received a free book! A limited number of Dr. Milner’s books were available for purchase at the event.
RRJ 2023 Jumpstart Virtual Conference
Date: July 25, 2023
Time: 9:00 am- 4:00 pm CDT
The Initiative for Race Research and Justice hosted their fourth JumpStart Virtual Conference on July 25, 2023, as we reignited the fire for racial justice.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, PhD, is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of sociology at Duke University. He received his BA in Sociology with a minor in Economics in 1984 from the Universidad de Puerto Rico-Río Piedras campus. He received his MA (1988) and PhD (1993) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He worked at the University of Michigan (1993-1998), Texas A&M University (1998-2005), and has been at Duke University since 2005.
He gained visibility in the social sciences with his 1997 American Sociological Review article, “Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation,” where he challenged analysts to study racial matters structurally rather than from the sterile prejudice perspective. His book, Racism Without Racists (6th edition, 2022), has become a classic in the field and influenced scholars in education, religious studies, political science, rhetoric, psychology, political science, legal studies, Africana Studies, and sociology.
Leslie T. Fenwick, PhD, is noted for her expertise in public policy, character leadership, and ethics. A lifelong educator who has worked in every sector of education, Dr. Fenwick is known as a “fearless voice” for educational equity and equal opportunity. In 2020, she was a finalist for the U.S. Secretary of Education post. Additionally she is a U.S. Presidential appointee to the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA) where she has served since 2017 as a MCLC Senior Fellow occasionally lecturing about character leadership and ethics.
A former Harvard University Visiting Scholar and Visiting Fellow, and Salzburg Global Fellow, she is author of the award-winning and bestselling book Jim Crow’s Pink Slip (Harvard Education Press, 2022). Jim Crow’s Pink Slip has been referenced by the New York Times and is an NPR Book of the Day. It is also winner of the 2023 Gloria Ladson-Billings Outstanding Book of the Year Award. And, is an Amazon #1 Bestseller in Education History. Dr. Fenwick is recipient of the WEB DuBois Higher Education Leadership Award for her national efforts to expand equal educational opportunity and access to higher education.
David Stovall, Ph.D, is a professor in the department of Black Studies and in the department of Criminology, Law & Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His scholarship investigates three areas 1) Critical Race Theory, 2) the relationship between housing and education, and 3) the intersection of race, place and school. In the attempt to bring theory to action, he works with community organizations and schools to address issues of equity, justice and abolishing the school/prison nexus.
His work led him to become a member of the design team for the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School for Social Justice (SOJO), which opened in the Fall of 2005. Furthering his work with communities, students, and teachers, his work manifests itself in his involvement with the Peoples Education Movement, a collection of classroom teachers, community members, students and university professors in Chicago, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area who engage in collaborative community projects centered in creating relevant curriculum. In addition to his duties and responsibilities as a professor at UIC, he also served as a volunteer social studies teacher at the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School for Social Justice from 2005-2018.
RRJ Presented: Spring 2023 Lunch & Learn with Dr. Nicole Joseph
Date: March 30, 2023
Time: 12:00 pm-1:00 pm CST
On Thursday, March 30th The Initiative for Race Research and Justice, invited Dr. Nicole Joseph (Associate Professor, Mathematics Education, Department of Teaching and Learning) to speak and discuss her new book, Making Black Girls Count in Math Education: A Black Feminist Vision for Transformative Teaching, it was held in the Rotunda in the Wyatt at Vanderbilt University from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm CST.
A free book was given to the first ten (10) registrants who register and attend. A limited number of Dr. Joseph’s books will be available for purchase at the event.
RRJ 2022 Presented Lunch & Learn with Dr. André Churchwell
Date: November 9, 2022
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm CST
Join the Initiative for Race Research and Justice on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, 12:00pm- 1:00 pm CST as Dr. André Churchwell (Vice Chancellor of Outreach, Inclusion, and Belonging and Chief Diversity Officer for Vanderbilt University) discusses his book, The Other Side: A Collection of Writings & Drawings.
RRJ 2022 Jumpstart Conference
RRJ 2022 Jumpstart Conference RRJ is proud to announce that they successfully hosted their third virtual conference that took take place on Monday, August 1, 2022 from 9:00am-4:00pm CST. Our keynote speakers included Dr. Cheryl E. Matias, Dr. D-L Stewart, and Dr. Gholdy Muhammad. Educators from across the U.S. attended and enjoyed the in-depth conversations about Racial Justice Work in the Midst of Policies and Practices Designed to Maintain Inequity. The conference was held to jumpstart the 2022-2023 academic year.
RRJ Fall 2021 Lunch & Learn Series with Dr. Chezare A. Warren
The Initiative for Race Research and Justice held their Fall 2021 book talk on Wednesday, September 15, as Dr. Chezare A. Warren (Associate Professor of Equity & Inclusion in Education Policy) discussed his latest book, Centering Possibility in Black Education, at 12:15 pm CST.
A free book was given to the first 10 registrants who registered and attended.
Author Bio:
Dr. Chezare A. Warren, is an Associate Professor of Equity & Inclusion in Education Policy. He was a classroom teacher and school administrator before completing the Policy Studies in Urban Education doctoral program at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Prior to joining the LPO faculty, Dr. Warren was a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and faculty member in the Michigan State University College of Education. He has also held visiting appointments at Stanford University and New York University’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. He is a scholar of race and intersectional justice with particular interests in understanding the conditions that facilitate Black boys’ education success. More broadly, Dr. Warren employs primarily qualitative research methodologies to critically examine factors that both enable and sustain humanizing experiences of school for Black youth in the United States. His work as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI has garnered more than $750,000 in funding from foundations that include Spencer, William T. Grant, and Kellogg.
Book Description:
Improving education outcomes for Black students begins with resisting racist characterizations of blackness. Chezare A. Warren, a nationally recognized scholar of race and education equity, emphasizes the imperative that possibility drive efforts aimed at transforming education for Black learners. Inspired by the “freedom dreaming” of activists in the Black radical tradition, the book is comprised of nine principles that clarify how centering possibility actively refuses limitations for what Black people can create, accomplish, and achieve. This interdisciplinary volume also features over 30 original images, poems, and lyrics by Black artists from around the United States, each helping to breathe new life into the concept of possibility and its relevance to remaking Black children’s experience of school. Warren draws on research in history, cultural studies, and sociology to cast a vision of Black education futures unencumbered by antiblackness and White supremacy. This justice-oriented text will inspire innovative solutions to eliminating harm and generating education alternatives that Black students desire and deserve.
RRJ Spring 2021 Lunch & Learn Series with Dr. Sandra L. Barnes
The Initiative for Race Research and Justice held their Spring 2021 book talk on Tuesday, April 27, as Vanderbilt University Professor Dr. Sandra L. Barnes (Human and Organizational Development and Sociology) discussed her latest book, Kings of Mississippi, at 12:00pm CST. A free book was given to the first 10 registrants who attended. See below for an author biography and description of the book.
Author Bio:
Dr. Sandra L. Barnes is joint appointed Sociology Professor in the Dept. of Human and Organizational Development and the School of Divinity at Vanderbilt University. She also served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion from 2016-2018. Her research and teaching areas include: Sociology of Religion, inequality, urban sociology, statistics, and African American studies. A Phi Beta Kappa recipient, her record includes: 9 books; 3 edited volumes; over 60 peer-reviewed articles; 10 book chapters; 4 documentaries; and, PI or Co-PI on grants totaling over $2.5 million dollars. Her articles have been published in SOCIAL FORCES, Social Problems, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and Journal of African American Studies. She also created the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Gary, Indiana: A Tale of Two Cities.” Sandra Barnes has presented her research in Beijing, China, Curitiba, Brazil, Dublin, Ireland, and at the Congressional Black Caucus of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C.
Book Description:
Kings of Mississippi: Race, Religious Education, and the Making of a Middle -Class Black Family in the Segregated South (Cambridge University Press 2019) documents a 20th century anomaly – a middle class black family living in rural Mississippi. The Kings did not reflect the “well-scrubbed black middle class,” but experienced economic challenges as they lived and worked alongside the many struggling black and white sharecroppers and farmers in Gallman, Mississippi. Narratives and census data across time and a socio-ecological lens help assess how race, religion, education, and key employment options influenced economic and non-economic outcomes. Family voices explain how intangible beliefs fueled socioeconomic outcomes – under the ever-present specter of racial, gender, and economic stratification. The study provides an unexpected glimpse at how a family’s ethos can foster upward mobility into the middle class.
Racial Justice in Teaching, Leading and Curriculum Summer Virtual Conference
RRJ is proud to announce that they successfully hosted their second virtual conference that took take place on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 from 9:00am-4:00pm CST. Keynote speakers included Dr. Geneva Gay, Dr. Tyrone Howard, and Dr. Lori Patton- Davis. Educators from across the U.S. attended and enjoyed the in-depth conversations and teaching about racial justice in teaching, leading and curriculum. The conference was held to jumpstart the 2021-2022 academic year.
RRJ Welcomed Dr. Tyron- Douglas
Dr. Ty-Ron Douglas, the inaugural Associate Athletics Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the University of California, Berkeley, gave a talk entitled, “When Research is Insufficient: Reflections on Colonialism, Campus Uprisings, & College Sport” on Thursday, September 9, 2021. The talk was insightful and gave a new perspective to Colonialism, Campus Uprisings & College Sport from Dr. Douglas’s perspective.
Racial Justice in Education and Society Virtual Conference
On Saturday, December 5, 2020 from 9am to 4pm CST, The Initiative for Race Research and Justice hosted its first annual virtual conference. Keynote speakers included Dr. Bettina Love, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, and Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings along with seventeen other scholars who facilitated important conversations related to racial justice in education. Over 1,400 attendees were present throughout the day and it received much praise and recognition of a job well done across the globe.
Take a look at some of the moments below from Dr. Nicole Joseph, Dr. Olga Welch, Dr. Tyrone C. Howard and Dr. Christine Sleeter.
. 
.
RRJ 2020 Lunch & Learn Series with Dr. Ebony McGee
On Wednesday, October 7, 2020 from 11:45am-1:00pm CST, the Initiative for Race Research and Justice hosted its very first annual Lunch & Learn Book Talk with Dr. Ebony McGee. Attendees learned about how to advocate and address structural racism, stereotyping, conscious and unconscious bias and microagressions within the field of STEM to promote more inclusivity within the professional fields of STEM. The talk was very informative and well received.