Service is an integral part of my job and ethos. I have led workshops and trainings on the following:
- supporting Appalachian, first-generation, and LGBTQIA+ college students
- creating equitable assessment practices within an open-enrollment college
- Safe Zone training for faculty, staff, and students
- alternative assessment practices, both specific to composition classrooms and more broadly for university instructors across disciplines
I pull from ideas of service best represented by thinkers such as Kazu Haga and other practitioners of nonviolent communication, beloved community spaces, and whole earth interconnectedness. The work we do at universities does not happen in isolation, nor can we unbraid the threads of ourselves, our work, and our communities.
I also engage in service that does not easily map onto a CV, such as mentoring undergraduate students and graduate instructors of record; serving my community through volunteering; and doing care work for my loved ones. Despite their lack of academic cache, these acts of service sustain my workplace, community, and fellow human beings, all of which matters deeply to me as an educator.
Feel free to reach out (ebrier [at] wcu [dot] edu) with opportunities to speak in your classroom or at your institution.
Em Brier 