Day 2 : “The World as It Is: Celebrating Collective Transformation” Conference

Starr Foundation Hall (UL102)

Words like race, class, gender are the common terms that shape our identities and communities both inside the university and out. Deva Woodly, the founding director of the Mellon Initiative  for Inclusive Faculty Excellence, suggested that these terms are often used to frame the world in ways that serve the interests of power. Instead, Woodly argued that we need to make use of these terms to re-envision “the world as it is,” showing how terms like race, class, and gender, are used to distort our experience of the world rather than simply describing it. These common terms can be reclaimed as ideas that speak to the inalienable importance of equality, diversity, and community at the heart of the political project of our time. The values and commitments that ground the Mellon Initiative are not merely aspirational, but actually speak to the world as it is, unfettered by the deliberately distorted vision of power in the hands of the few. The work of the Mellon Initiative is to foster community and scholarship, recognizing that reinforcing these connections – both within the university and between the university and the communities that intersect and surround it – means also reinforcing the transformative potential of the terms we hold in common and a vision of a shared future.

“The World as It Is: Celebrating Collective Transformation” showcases and celebrates the work fostered and generated over the last four years as a culmination of the Mellon Initiative for Inclusive Faculty Excellence.