Plenary Session - Wednesday, May 25th @ 9:30am

Session Theme: “Engaging the Wisdom of Music and the Body”

In this session, we will engage music and the body. Music and the body are important points of inquiry, investigation, and reflection. The presenter, Dr. Nicholas Grier (also a pianist), will engage music and play the piano as tools to reflect on our collective experiences and create worlds that we envision on our terms as BIPOC faculty. Music and the body provide avenues to reveal the true state of our well-being. They also provide a medium for us to give full, authentic, and meaningful expression of our lives. This session engages music and the body as points of inquiry to nurture healing, groundedness, restoration, and wholeness as people and professors at predominantly white academic institutions. A goal is to privilege the wisdom, genius, and experiences of our ancestors, our own experiences, and our collective intellectual thoughts as BIPOC faculty. This session seeks to nurture healing, connection, and wholeness in our lives, remembering our ancestors, our lives, and the lives of future generations.

Closing Session - Thursday, May 26th @ 10am

This session will be a reflection on our time together and point a way forward to nurture healing, restoration, and connection for BIPOC faculty in the Pacific Northwest. We will also reflect on our retreat experiences of hiking, making ceramics, practicing yoga, and wine tasting as points of insight for our flourishing. An aim of this session is to inspire and invigorate us for our collective journey ahead and position us to engage in the marathon of our important and creative work of leading change in a world and at institutions in dire need of our liberating, creative, intellectual, and healing presence.