Education Studies

Imagining the University Differently: The Tactics of Transformation

FREE SEMINAR MAY 15, 2025: In this conversation between Dr. Kaelie Giffel and Dr. Reham El-Morally, they discuss how the university fails to serve the majority of people that move through it and what can be done about these failures. Themes discussed will include oppression and knowledge production in the university, divisions of labor between faculty, staff, and students, what aspects of the university are worth keeping, and tactics for transforming the university, from within and without.

Reverse Engineering as a Curriculum Development Process

FREE SEMINAR NOV 13, 2025: In this conversation between Anne Cecil and Dr. Reham El-Morally, they discuss the practice-based pedagogy of starting with current trends and deconstructing their influences – not only to build connections between the past and present but also to encourage students to reflect on how historical cycles, subcultures, and innovations influence contemporary identities and cultural narratives.

Purple neon letters on a wall that spell out "Education Should Be Free."

A University for the Many, Not the Few

Are we willing to fight for educational spaces that protect women and marginalized people? Organizing for a better university requires all of us. Author Kaelie Giffel offers strategies to move beyond the narrow roles prescribed to us by culture to reimagine educational spaces that work for all participants.  

Two young kids playing; walking along a short stone wall.

Family Advocacy: Zero-Sum Parenting and Educational Equity

Family advocacy varies widely in relation to a family’s social identity and, as educators, we need to walk into the world of family advocacy directly and deliberately. Certain types of “unproductive” advocacy can pull resources and attention away from other forms of meaningful family advocacy.

From “My Child” to “Our Children” – Fostering Positive Family Advocacy as a Path to Educational Equity

A conversation between Liz Dempsey Lee, author of Parents as Advocates: Supporting K-12 Students and their Families Across Identities and Janise Hurtig, Lived Places Publishing Collection Editor. Liz and Janise discuss how recognizing and addressing family advocacy is critical to creating educational equity. They also explore how conflict is a normal and expected byproduct of the family-school relationship and how demystifying and educating families around effective advocacy can build relationships and move educational communities from a focus on “my child” to a focus on “our children.”