Cecilia Montesdeoca, ISU assistant professor of Anthropology (started in 2017); pioneer student for Stevenson Center’s Applied Community & Economic Development Fellowship program, presents: “A Millennial Teaching Diversity”
Cecilia is a Diversity Advocacy Specialist at Illinois State University. Her young career has focused on service work, leadership development, fostering practices that promote inclusion and increase engagement, and conducting collaborative initiatives with young adults and underrepresented communities. Cecilia served as the pioneer graduate student for the Stevenson Center’s Applied Community and Economic Development anthropology program. Her professional practicum was as a community organizer in North Dakota during the Water is Life protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. She is grateful for the opportunity to bring her social and environmental justice background into the field of higher education.
From early on we are taught how to navigate space in certain ways according to our identities. For people of color, navigating systems, institutions, and cultural norms that protect and glorify whiteness is difficult. And it’s difficult for a reason. This talk challenges the things we take for granted: education, democracy, and how we make real change. Focused on stories of vulnerability and community, Cecilia provides calls to action for humble listening and the deconstruction of racist frameworks.
