Dillard to deliver keynote address at 16th annual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference

• Date: Monday, March 22
• Time: Noon-1 p.m.

Cynthia B. Dillard (Nana Mansa II of Mpeasem, Ghana, West Africa), Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, will deliver a keynote address titled, “An Invitation, a Sanctuary and Space to Live Your Legacy: Embracing the Spirit of Education” at the 16th annual Mary Frances Early College of Education Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference.

Registration information is coming soon.

An Invitation, a Sanctuary and Space to Live Your Legacy: Embracing the Spirit of Education

What does it take to be joyful in the work of teaching, learning, and living? As students, staff, and faculty, our first thought often focuses on pursuits of our minds, on high achievement, being successful, or doing well. Missing is attention to what animates us or the spirit of our work. In this lecture, Dillard will explore the essential role of spirit in education, very particularly how (re)membering is a key part of being whole and being well in our work. Examples will be drawn from Dillard’s forthcoming book, “The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers (Re)member” (Beacon Press).

This work is based on a seven-year study of Black women teachers and the joy and healing they experienced through (re)membering Black cultural and heritage knowledge. While Black women are not the only people who can (re)member, we do embody multiple intersectional and cultural identities that educational professionals need to know and learn from. Exploring the power and humanity of Black women as we articulate the conditions required for healing and joy, all in attendance will find important lessons on their own journeys to being the teachers and educational professionals that Black students deserve and that all students need.

Dillard’s research interests include critical teacher education, spirituality in education, and African/African American feminist studies. Beyond numerous published articles, book chapters, and scholarly presentations across the globe, two of her books, “On Spiritual Strivings: Transforming an African American Woman’s Academic Life” (SUNY Press, 2006) and “Learning to (Re)member the Things We’ve Learned to Forget: Endarkened Feminisms, Spirituality and the Sacred Nature of Research” (Peter Lang, 2012) were selected as Critics’ Choice Book Award winners by the American Educational Studies Association.

Her fourth book, “The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers (Re)member” will be published in fall 2021 with Beacon Press. In addition to receiving numerous awards for her teaching, research, and service, Dillard was awarded the prestigious Taylor and Francis AESA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. She is also the recipient of the 2012 AERA Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award, given for her distinguished research and practices that advance public understanding of gender in education. She also received the prestigious Division G Henry T. Trueba Award at the 2016 AERA annual meeting, which honors a researcher whose scholarship and teaching has led to the transformation of the social context of education.

Dillard is also the director of UGA’s Ghana Study Abroad in Education Program and has founded and directs a preschool and elementary school in Mpeasem (M-pee-a-sem) in the central region of Ghana, West Africa. There, she also holds the distinct honor of being enstooled as Queen Mother of Development (Nkosua Ohemaa) for the village, an esteemed lifetime leadership position in the community. She also offers numerous popular retreats to Ghana, West Africa through her small business, Full Circle Retreats Ghana. In addition, Dillard serves as the executive director and president of GIVE.BUILD.SHARE, a nonprofit organization designed to support educational opportunities for children and families by building schools in Ghana.