Harvard Graduate School of Education

Race and Higher Education
Rethinking Pedagogy in Diverse College Classrooms

Edited by Annie Howell and Frank Tuitt

Over the last few decades, U.S. colleges and universities have witnessed increasing diversity in their student bodies. Yet faculty members, operating on the notion that one pedagogy fits all students, continue to employ traditional modes of instruction. This adherence to outdated pedagogies has created potentially harmful learning environments for all students—and particularly for students of color.

Race and Higher Education addresses this persistent problem, guiding educators toward a better understanding of how changes in the student population have resulted in the need for new approaches to classroom instruction. By including voices from inside classrooms along with analyses from scholarly researchers, this volume provides college and university teachers, administrators, students, and scholars with a critical instrument for improving higher education.

Praise:

“This timely volume presents indispensable perspectives on changes we need to introduce into our college and university classrooms in order to enrich those classes and enhance the academic achievement of minority students. Race and Higher Education is a must read for all teachers, administrators, and students who have a stake in the ever-greater diversity of our colleges and universities.”
—Dean Whitla, Director, National Campus Diversity Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“This is an informed, balanced, carefully researched series of essays on a timely and important topic. It offers clear insights into the benefits and problems of racial diversity in higher education.”
—John B. Williams, College of Education, University of Maryland

Contributors:

Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Eric L. Dey, Paulo Freire, Gerald Gurin, Patricia Gurin, Annie Howell, Sylvia Hurtado, Kevin K. Kumashiro, Donaldo P. Macedo, Frances A. Maher, Sondra Perl, Beverly Daniel Tatum, Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault, Frank Tuitt, Barbara Vacarr, Kathleen Weiler

About the Editors:

Annie Howell is a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she works as a teaching fellow and a facilitator for the Harvard Institute for School Leadership and is a former cochair of the Harvard Educational Review. Her research centers on adult transformational learning.

Frank Tuitt is an advanced doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a research assistant for the National Campus Diversity Project. He is also a former cochair of the Harvard Educational Review. His dissertation, "Black Souls in an Ivory Tower: Understanding What It Means to Teach in a Manner That Respects and Cares for the Souls of African American Graduate Students," seeks to identify the pedagogical practices and learning conditions that African American graduate students identify as most beneficial to their learning.