Joint Curricular Task Force on Racial and Social Justice

Charge

This task force is being co-charged by both the Presidential Select Commission on Racism, Bias, and Community Safety and the University Faculty Senate to review the undergraduate curriculum. The specific task force mission is to develop and strengthen an equity-centered curriculum, drawing on the research and pedagogical expertise of Penn State faculty, particularly those from departments, centers, institutes, and other units where social difference, inequality, and cultural diversity are topics of teaching and scholarship. The following charges for the subcommittee are to:

1. Develop recommendations to Faculty Senate for an equity-centered curriculum. Work with the Senate committees on Education, Educational Equity, and Curricular Affairs on report(s) for curricular recommendations. These should include:
   • Developing antiracist and intersectional learning objectives and outcomes, applicable across the curriculum, that include social justice literacies;
   • Defining curricular structure(s) through which students will be able to achieve these outcomes by:
     • bringing the General Education curriculum in alignment with antiracist learning objectives and outcomes, including the US/IL and other cultures requirements;
     • avoiding additive and fragmented approaches to the curriculum. Instead, curricula must “decolonize” and strengthen Penn State’s current curriculum by embedding antiracist work in every degree program;
     • considering how co-curricular programs support, and how they extend formal curricular requirements;
   • Making recommendations for evaluation of antiracism learning outcomes for undergraduates, both in specific courses and holistically through (program and general education) curricula. Include evaluation of learning that takes place in co-curricular activities.
   • Making recommendations for faculty-led curricular proposal and approval processes (when/after curricular changes are approved).

2. Develop recommendations, with the Senate committees on FA, IRC, and Educational Equity, on antiracist and intersectional teaching and learning practices. Prepare a report to the Faculty Senate for university-wide adoption and implementation that:
   • Defines and recommends goals for maintaining (consistent) antiracist pedagogies;
   • Reports on what work is being done in this space within individual units, organizations, etc.; defines best practices; identifies opportunities and gaps;
   • Recommends strategies for instructor professional development for antiracist pedagogies at the local, campus, and university level; and
   • Recommends mechanisms by which faculty report/reflect on/self-analyze their pedagogies and inclusive, antiracist practices.
3. Make recommendations for administrative implementation of approved curricular changes, via an advisory or consultative report through Faculty Senate committees Educational Equity, SCCA, FA, IRC, which may include:
   • Identifying resources and funds to help departments and programs embed antiracist pedagogy throughout our core curriculum, including support and incentives for University-wide partnerships with a network of experts to help ensure consistent implementation and collaboration across the Commonwealth;
   • Creating an accountability model that sets expectations for each college, campus, and unit for antiracist curricular revision processes and the impact of expectations on the unit strategic plan;
   • Incentivizing the development of integrative courses focused on social justice and antiracism;
   • Developing and implementing an accessible database of the course and program student outcomes; and
4. Providing transparency for our Learning/Course/Program outcomes, to enable faculty self-reflection and identify opportunities for additional support and improvement.

Membership: