Sarah Jones, Izzi Stern, Steven Crudele, Juliana Martinez, Ashley Roccamo, Luis Alvarado, Roshan Abraham, Caroline Hausmann, Shaina Spann, and Darien Smith

AUx2 Working Group

The AUx2 working group is continually improving the program, the curriculum, and pedagogy—all with a commitment to ensuring inclusive and equitable experiences for our undergraduate students. As the AUx program matures and the country grapples with the devastating impacts of structural racism, the AUx2 working group recognized that our work requires a deliberate focus on the needs and experiences of our BIPOC students.

Over the past year, the AUx2 working group has revised AUx2 learning outcomes to deliberately name and focus on antiracist content, practices, and pedagogy, examining race and racism as a socially constructed system, evaluating how racism intersects with other systems of oppression that create power, privilege, and inequality in relation to society or themselves, and examining liberation, resistance, or cultural celebration efforts led by historically marginalized people and communities that confront or disrupt systems of oppression, such as racism and white supremacy. Students practice dialogue and self-reflection as examples of antiracist principles.

AUx2 launched the Raise Your Voice program, three pilot affinity sections for Black-identifying students, taught by Black instructors, and a student self-assessment pilot, as an example of antiracist teaching practice.

"The AUx2 working group has made antiracism a central feature of the AUx2 curriculum, so all first-year AU students have foundational antiracist knowledge and skills. They have also partnered with their UEAS colleagues to lead a systematic effort to build a unit-wide set of antiracist commitments and everyday practices," said Amanda Taylor, AVP of Inclusive Excellence.

The AUx2 working group is helping AU make strides in building and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion across our campus and serves as an example of the outstanding talent and progress our community offers to develop and improve inclusive excellence.

Congratulations to theAUx2 working group for being selected as the 2021 Inclusive Excellence Award recipients, and thank you for all that you do for American University.