The Culturally Inclusive Educator

The Culturally Inclusive Educator asks educators to consider what they can do differently to create a welcoming, inclusive, and exciting environment for the 21st century. Based on the author’s national research and consulting work, this book examines the discrepancy between the current educational cultural climate and the need for educators and their institutions to prepare for a growing multicultural population. It asks what constitutes effective preparation, and provides guidance on overcoming personal and institutional challenges to cultural inclusiveness (stereotype threats, microaggressions, colorblindness/identity-blindness, implicit bias, among others). Samuels begins with the challenges facing the higher education community and then offers 8 transformative steps to help build cultural inclusiveness that any educator teaching any subject can utilize to increase their effectiveness. Culturally inclusive leadership is highlighted as the model for educators and institutions to embrace for success in today’s world.

Book Features:

• Diversity training and inclusiveness strategies for transforming curricula.
• Reflective practices that unearth personal biases and behaviors.
• Insights about faculty preparedness drawn from an unprecedented national study.
• Attention to specific issues and intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability.
• A lens for understanding cultural inclusiveness as a fundamental leadership practice.

Dena R. Samuels teaches women’s and ethnic studies at the University of Colorado–Colorado Springs, and is the director of the Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity and Inclusion. She provides seminars and consultation to schools, campuses, and organizations nationally and internationally on the processes of integrating diversity and building cultural inclusiveness.

"The Culturally Inclusive Educator is an important and timely addition to the literature exploring campus and classroom inclusivity."

—Teaching Sociology

“This book provides the research and the tools for transforming ourselves and our practice; it is up to us to do the work.”
—Gary R. Howard, Equity and School Change Consulting

“At last—an empathetic and inspiring book that says the way to educate all students more successfully is to awaken teachers' higher awareness.”
—Peggy McIntosh, National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum