For the second time in just over a month, Kellogg Community College’s Center for Diversity and Innovation will bring an author to Battle Creek to discuss issues of race and white privilege with the public.
The KCC CDI invites the community to participate in an experiential workshop titled, “For the Love of Humanity: Becoming a Witness to Whiteness and Responsive to Injustice,” with author Shelly Tochluk from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 20, at Burnham Brook Community Center, 200 Michigan Ave. W, Battle Creek. Admission to the event is free.
Tochluk is the author of “Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It,” a book that seeks to help people understand why race remains an essential issue and how it affects their daily lives by offering practical recommendations for serving the cause of racial justice. The KCC CDI workshop will introduce the Witnessing Whiteness model as an approach to developing a more antiracist identity, exploring the various types of knowledge and skills required to confront racism and increase the capacity to implement those skills.
An educator, with a background in psychology, Tochluk worked as a researcher, counselor and teacher in California’s public schools for 10 years. She earned her PhD in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2005, where she investigated how white racial identity impacts friendship relationships, and now trains teachers to work with diverse school populations in Los Angeles as the chair of the Education Department at Mount St. Mary’s University.
Tochluk has presented her work at the annual White Privilege Conference; the Southeastern Conference on Cross-Cultural Issues in Counseling and Education; the YWCA National Conference; the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly; the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education; Stanford University; the University of California, Davis; the Association of Independent Schools in New England; and at many other schools and universities.
The KCC CDI’s “Fort the Love of Humanity” workshop is the second author event hosted by the organization since March 19, when the College collaborated with Bridges to Cultural Understanding to bring Debby Irving, author of “Waking Up White,” to Battle Creek for a community conversation about white privilege. For a list of upcoming KCC CDI events that are open to the public, visit www.kellogg.edu/kcccdi.
For more information about the upcoming “For the Love of Humanity” workshop event with author Shelly Tochluk, contact Tha Par, KCC Center for Diversity and Innovation program assistant, at 269-565-2123.
For more news about Kellogg Community College, view our latest news releases online at daily.kellogg.edu/category/news-releases.