Our diverse learners carry a multitude of needs. In light of initiatives such as EO1110 and GI 2025, it is all the more urgent to address these needs. In this interactive session, facilitated by faculty educators and student educators, participants will be introduced to, and examine, the practice of care work. “Care Work(s)” centers the strategic ways self and collective-care can nurture student success. Informed by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s book Care Work, care work is the basis of community building, love, and liberation. With roots in the work of queer, disabled activists of color, care work has yet to find its place in academia.

Participants will examine their current practices and learn about the significance of radical vulnerability, openness, and supporting our bodymindspirits through construction of a classroom culture that includes routines, reflection, and transformative writing opportunities within the academic institution. They will articulate the meaning and importance of care for learners and educators as well as produce a “care web” artifact which will demonstrate outcomes.