Eligibility: Full and part-time faculty, staff, and graduate students

Amount: Each participant will receive $500 in professional development funds

Submission: Online Application

Due Date: May 15, 2021

Purpose and Description

The purpose of this community is to build cross-discipline alliances and collaboration that support the expansion and growth of the field of Disability Studies at Miami University. The main focus of the field of Disability Studies has been to develop a social, political, legal, philosophical, representational and cultural critique of the interlocking systems that disempower and oppress disabled people through prejudice, stereotype, structural and material violence, exclusion and neglect. 

The goals associated with the FLC include:

• investigating and incorporating ways in which bodymind differences can enhance teaching and learning
• increasing faculty collaboration across disciplines and divisions
• creating and enhancing the coherence of learning across disciplines
• fostering faculty alliances for the Disability Studies minor that is interdisciplinary in nature.

Activities

• Members will read and discuss core scholarly articles from disability studies, lay out an overview of the history of the discipline, integrate perspectives from grassroots disability communities and the impact of their activism in the actualization of the field. 
• Members will develop an understanding of disability studies as an interdisciplinary field and outline the impact of the discipline's theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches in the development of cross-discipline collaboration, both in teaching, research, and community outreach. 
• Members will organize a two day retreat to be held in the during J-term (January 2022). Participants of the retreat will choose one of four goals involving incorporating disability studies in their work through a syllabus revision, grant proposal, conference presentation, or a publication. Participants will have the opportunity to consult with a guest speaker with expertise in these subjects during the retreat. 
• Members will organize a symposium to be held in the Spring of 2022 where work from the retreat will be shared. 
• Members will be be expected to attend FLC meetings every 3 weeks. 

2021-2022

• Sara M. Acevedo, Educational Psychology; Co-facilitator
• Darren Cosgrove, Family Science and Social Work
• Colleen Floyd, College of Education, Health, and Society
• Ashley Johnson, Educational Psychology; Co-facilitator
• Callie Maddox, Sports Leadership and Management
• Meghann O'Leary, Educational Psychology
• Jacqueline Rioja Velarde, Global Initiatives
• Sujay Sabnis, Educational Psychology
• Jaclyn Spraetz, University Libraries