GOOD TROUBLE: ILLUMINATING ANTI-RACIST
APPROACHES TO EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS

A free and virtual event

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2023
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET

For centuries, minoritized communities in the U.S. have labored under the admonition to “not borrow trouble,” to refrain from questioning the systems that structure and shape their lived realities. However, civil rights icon and Congressman, John Lewis, had a very different perspective. He believed that we had to “get in good trouble…to redeem the soul of America”. An examination of our nation’s educational history reveals that good trouble is necessary, as good trouble is the disruption of the foundation upon which our system was built. Our PK-20 system was established on a platform of exclusion and segregation. The effects of this design ricochet down the darkened chambers of history and continue to be reproduced today. It is up to us, as educational change agents, to shine a light into these dark places and use our voices and our research to disrupt the systems of oppression. It is critical that we become the torch bearers to illuminate the path, and move forward towards a more equitable, anti-racist educational system. We cannot shy away or back down from “good trouble” and the mandate that we have been given.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Tina Richardson, Chancellor, Pennsylvania State University Lehigh Valley 

Tina Q. Richardson joined Penn State in July 2015 as chancellor of the Lehigh Valley campus and has focused on strategic priorities related to the academic portfolio, enrollment growth and retention, and campus infrastructure. She has been a passionate champion of innovative initiatives including LaunchBox, Invent Penn State and diverse, inclusive, and equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems both locally and University-wide. She founded Lehigh Valley LaunchBox Ladies Council which engages, empowers and supports women entrepreneurs through programming, mentoring and networking. Her most notable achievements in this role are spearheading DEIB initiatives, a $16 million campus expansion, and collective impact partnerships resulting in significant fundraising opportunities.

Richardson came to Penn State Lehigh Valley from Drexel University, where she served as associate dean of academic affairs for the School of Education. She also served as director of the University’s Assisted School Initiative to improve K-12 public education in West Philadelphia’s Promise Zone which included multi-millions fundraising for in- and -out-of-school time programming. During her tenure, she founded the lecture series Critical Conversations in Urban Education.

Poet

Sope Lartey, Undergraduate Student, Drexel University's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

Sope Lartey is a Nigerian-born multi-disciplinary artist. She is an animator by day and a writer by night. She infuses art and technology in her career, as she primarily focuses on game design, worldbuilding, and virtual environments. Her secondary interests are film and poetry which she utilizes to explore emotions, childhood experiences, and the various faces of human hardship. In her spare time, Sope thinks of new ways to arrange the heavy hardcover books in her library: by color, author’s name, or genre.

Sponsors