Acknowledging LGBTQIA+ Identities and Needs in the Classroom
Melissa Bender and Alison Bright
Description
Even though great strides have been made at UC Davis in promoting the goals of DEI in our classrooms, anecdotally we know that many LGBTQIA+ students continue to feel invisible and that their needs are not being acknowledged. In this presentation, we discuss the importance of addressing this issue in a classroom setting and present a number of pedagogical practices instructors across disciplines may use to validate LGBTQIA+ identities without placing the burden for representation on students themselves. Without engaging in such practices as educators, we cannot fully contribute to the university’s mission to embrace diversity and prepare students to enter into dynamic futures. The presentation will also include resources that audience members can later consult to further their understanding.
Link to the video [video.ucdavis.edu]
Access the presentation slides (PDF)
About the Presenters
Melissa M. Bender (she/her) is a Continuing Lecturer in the University Writing Program. She teaches a range of upper-division writing courses, including environmental writing, writing in biology, and writing in the health professions. She is the author of Who’s Your Source: A Writer’s Guide to Effectively Evaluating and Ethically Using Resources (Broadview 2020), and the editor of Contested Commemoration in U.S. History: Diverging Public Interpretations (Routledge2020). Melissa was awarded the Academic Federation Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2022. She identifies as a queer, cisgender woman.
Alison Bright (she/her) is a Continuing Lecturer in the University Writing Program at the UC Davis, where she teaches a range of writing courses including writing in education, writing for social justice, advanced composition, writing in the health professions, as well as writing courses for graduate students and first year students. She is also a teacher-consultant with the National Writing Project and serves as the University California representative on the Advisory Board for the California Writing Project. She is the author of A Student's Guide to Academic and Professional Writing in Education (Teachers College Press, 2019). Alison identifies as a straight, cisgender woman.
