EMU Today

YPSILANTI – To engage the body within the learning process,  Eastern Michigan University’s NEXT Scholars Program will host its second student-organized event EdTalks. This year’s event is titled, Decolonizing the College of Education: Student-Led Conversations for Faculty. The event will happen from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the Porter Building on EMU’s campus.

The EdTalks event includes several experiences and discussions that will focus on decolonizing educational practices, spaces, bodies, and foods, among others. The itinerary will include breakfast and lunch from three of the Scholars representing the Asian-Indian, Hispanic, and African-American cultures. The foods will introduce stories and history about the families who consumed and prepared the meals in the past.

Dr. Imandeep Grewal, director of NEXT Scholars, explained that decolonizing the body focuses on the ability to free the body in an effort to free the mind. According to Grewal, “in education, little attention is paid to the role the body plays in learning,” said Grewal. “This session will focus on how critical it is to actively engage the body in the learning process.”

The NEXT Scholars program goals are to increase enrollment, retention and expand the success of education majors from historically underrepresented communities. The NEXT Scholars program operates as a third-space program providing undergraduate education majors with a community that focuses on supporting them on their journey of becoming transformative educators. 

“We hope to see the NEXT Scholars feel empowered by this event and to know it will fuel them to continue their journey of being and becoming transformative educators,” said Grewal. “Through the NEXT Scholars program, the Hope Partners program, and EdTalks, we want to make meaningful contributions towards a practice of education that is humanizing, democratic, collaborative, transformative, and loving.”

This event is free to the general public, and LBC approved. For more information or to register, visit the Ed-Talk event registration page.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 16,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and, its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.