SOURCE SHEET: Howard Stevenson on University of Missouri/Yale University protests

Friday, November 13, 2015

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Penn GSE Psychologist and Race Expert Available for Comment on University of Missouri Protest/Yale Protest

Media Contact: 

Kat Stein        (215) 898-9642/m: (215) 500.1593/katstein@gse.upenn.edu

*Note for TV and radio: The University of Pennsylvania has an on-campus ISDN line and ready access to a satellite uplink facility with live-shot capability.

*Note for TV and radio: The University of Pennsylvania has an on-campus ISDN line and ready access to a satellite uplink facility with live-shot capability.


 

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Dr. Stevenson can discuss how people can develop constructive coping strategies when dealing with racial stress – and what role schools play in addressing stress caused by race, in particular within the context of the University of Missouri/Yale University protests.

Howard Stevenson

Schools are entering a new arena of racial awareness, strife and stress. They need to rapidly invest in developing an understanding of how to use the events at the University of Missouri and Yale University to create a healthier, safer climate for students, staff and faculty.

Unfortunately, social justice ideology and rhetoric (what schools, leadership and individuals profess to believe) and racial literacy skills (being equipped to listen, converse and negotiate racially stressful topics and encounters) are different coping strategies. Cultivating racial literacy in schools is crucial for addressing these trauma experiences and moving race relations forward in a productive manner." 

                                                --Dr. Howard Stevenson

 

Credentials:

  • Dr. Stevenson’s 2014 book, Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences that Make a Difference focuses on how educators, community leaders, and parents can emotionally resolve face-to-face racially stressful encounters that undermine student emotional well-being and academic achievement in the classroom.
  • Founding Executive Director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative (REC) at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education; Professor of Africana Studies.

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