Meg Paceley selected as one of the nine Mellon DEI Teaching Scholars


Center for Teaching Excellence at KU announcement:

Nine faculty members have been selected as Mellon DEI Teaching Scholars, an initiative that is designed to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at KU through teaching and leadership. The program is jointly sponsored by CTE and the Lied Center. The Scholars will work in conjunction with a Mellon-funded project at the Lied Center that uses the work of performing artists from historically marginalized groups (such as Red Sky, pictured above) to promote diversity, equity and inclusion on stage and in classes. The project is also intended to build DEI leadership at the university. It begins this semester and will run through Spring 2023. The Scholars are:

  • L. Marie Avila, KU Libraries
  • Sean Gullickson, Spanish & Portuguese
  • Julius Kyakuwa, Music Education
  • Sarah Ngoh, English
  • Megan Paceley, Social Welfare
  • Markus Potter, Theatre & Dance
  • Kwangok Song, Curriculum & Teaching
  • Emily Tummons, Latin American and Caribbean Studies
  • Fithawee Tzeggai, Sociology

The Mellon DEI Teaching Scholars will form an interdisciplinary work group led by Betsy Esch, CTE Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of American Studies, to develop pedagogical strategies and models for implementing curricular innovations designed by the artists and the Mellon Lied Center Curriculum Team. That team is comprised of Darren Canady, Professor of English and CTE Faculty Fellow; Emily Gullickson, Curriculum Writer; Anthea Scouffas, Lied Center Education Director; and Jancita Warrington (Prairie Band Potawatomi, Menominee and Ho Chunk), Indigenous Consultant.

Scholars will also help create an intellectual community of colleagues who are interested in fostering a more inclusive and equitable learning environment and in using the performing arts to achieve DEI goals in the classroom, and develop their skills and strategies for leading change in university settings, particularly in the area of DEI.

Watch for information about the group’s outreach activities in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023.