Introducing “Context for Discourse” webinars

New College’s “Context for Discourse (C4D)” is a new series designed to spark discussions about issues that impact the campus community and the world.

The Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence (OOIE) is hosting these free events for students, faculty and staff.

From noon to 1:15 p.m. Wed. Feb. 17 via Zoom, psychologist Andrea Blanch, Ph.D. will lead the first webinar, entitled “Trauma, Healing and Inclusive Conversations.”

Blanch has spent 30 years working to create a trauma-informed society. She is the director of Sarasota’s Center for Religious Tolerance and a founding member of SRQ Strong (a growing group of Sarasota residents striving to build “a community that cares for itself”).

She was a 2009 fellow in the Women, Religion and Globalization Project at Yale University, and she is currently a consultant for Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation.

Blanch’s talk will kick off several meaningful conversations throughout the course of the academic year.

The C4D series will explore perceptions, values, identities and concerns that affect how people engage with each other at a conscious—and, more often—subconscious level.

Participants will learn about how systems can operate to sustain or reverse long-standing inequities; as well as how individuals can develop the capacity to serve as anti-racists, equal rights advocates, feminists and champions for neurodiverse and differently-abled community members.

Building on the learnings of New College’s 2020 “Inclusive Campus Climate Training” webinars, C4D and the subsequent “Kitchen Table Conversations” provide attendees with opportunities to practice engaging in positive, productive ways (even with those whose values and perceptions may be somewhat different).

Workshop participants will also be invited to share their personal experiences in small, interactive, virtual discussion groups.