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This paper details a critical ethnography I conducted in my own classroom--an undergraduate children's literature course for pre-service elementary educators--in which I analyze white students' emotional responses to multicultural children's literature through the lens of a cultural politics of emotion (Ahmed, 2015; Zembylas, 2008). In my paper I use critical whiteness studies and critical emotion studies to analyze the effects of these emotional responses, complicating the assumption that emotions are a bridge to empath and exploring how white emotional performativity often serves to deflect from authentic critical discourse, reinforcing white supremacy in educational spaces. I look reflexively at my own pedagogy as a white educator, noticing the ways in which my failure to critically interrogate white emotions contributed to a classroom culture that valued majority voices over the voices of students of color. I conclude with the impacts of this study on my own commitments as a teacher-researcher.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant transition towards online education in pre-K-12 schools, prompting school administrators to confront the disparities revealed by the remote learning model. This paper includes the findings of a multi-phase research project exploring the intersection of educational leadership, technology, and systemic inequities aimed to guide administrator preparation programs to meet relevant, post-pandemic leadership standards. Phase One of the research project, conducted early in the pandemic, highlights the findings from a survey administered to technology directors in Minnesota. The survey aimed to understand how school districts were addressing the technology disparities encountered by students and families during hybrid and distance learning models. Phase Two of the research project, conducted as the pandemic waned, focused on school leaders' evaluation of which practices developed and implemented during remote learning should be sustained. Technology directors participated in a focus group and asserted that the pandemic was an opportunity for educational leaders to reimagine schools for the success of all students. Findings call for revised administrator preparation standards, the implementation of technology plans in every state, and continued focus on identifying and addressing educational inequities.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a dramatic shift to online learning for K-12 public schools, requiring school districts to address inequities that surfaced in the remote learning model. This paper includes the findings of the second study of a multi-year research project exploring the intersection of technology and educational inequities through the pandemic. As the pandemic waned, practitioners evaluated which practices developed during remote learning should be sustained. Five Minnesota technology directors participated in a focus group to discuss how inequities are being addressed in their schools post-pandemic. Technology directors explained that the pandemic was an opportunity to reimagine schools for the success of all students through an infrastructure that includes actions relative to three domains: effective instruction, school-home partnerships, and law and policy. Further research is recommended, such as broadening the geographical location of participants outside of Minnesota, expanding participants beyond the role of technology director (i.e., students, teachers, parents), and analyzing student enrollment in K-12 online schools through a longitudinal study.

The University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP) is a selective, five-year accelerated mathematics program for students in grades 6-12. During the program, students take college mathematics courses on University of Minnesota campuses, starting with algebra and continuing through logic and proofs, linear algebra, and multivariable calculus. The majority of UMTYMP students come from two demographic groups: White and Asian/Asian American. In 2020, we surveyed UMTYMP students to understand the impact of model minority stereotypes (MMS) on Asian/Asian American students, particularly girls, who are labeled as "gifted" and/or "talented." In this paper, we reveal the preliminary results of this study, discuss their implications, and provide recommendations for addressing the MMS in mathematics programs.

In the spring of 2021, staff from the University of Minnesota Morris participated in Fika Coffee Time gatherings, inspired by a Swedish tradition to slow down, have coffee, conversation, and a treat with friends or colleagues. As Minnesota is the state with the largest number of Swedish Americans, it has a great deal of institutions that celebrate this heritage. With the backdrop of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the COVID-19 pandemic, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Sandra Olson-Loy presented the idea of fika to connect with other staff members. Olson-Loy scheduled five sessions, invited all Student Affairs staff members, organized with the campus coffeeshop, and asked Student Affairs units to "host or cohost" a session. This paper reflects on the context and inspiration for the sessions, their success, and the future of the program.

This paper describes the development and execution of an exhibition in an academic museum setting. The exhibition is presented as a self-directed learning intervention. The development process included conceptual development, the selection of exhibition materials, the creation of didactic written materials, spatial arrangement of the materials, organizing the flow and interaction of the exhibition, and analysis of the results of the exhibition. We find that interactivity is a viable means to drive interest in the subject(s) of an exhibition and that crowds can make informed decisions about the perception of displayed objects. We propose that interactive didactic exhibitions such as this show potential for successful self-directed learning in a variety of contexts and that further study of the results of such exhibitions are necessary.

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the digital divide revealing an expanse of inequity among students who had access to the internet, personal devices, and parental support during remote learning and those who did not. Framed with the theoretical lens of equity literacy, this paper details the results of a survey completed by 56 Minnesota district level technology directors. The survey asked how school districts were addressing the technology inequities experienced by students and families while in hybrid and distance learning models. Results reflected that districts' efforts to provide students technology devices were efficient and successful. Of greatest concern for respondents was the lack of students' attendance and engagement in learning. Recommendations for further research are provided including advocacy for the expansion of broadband service, the pandemic's impact on the mental health of students, and efforts to sustain access to technology for all learners after the COVID-19 pandemic concludes.

We detail our experience running an annual four-day workshop at the University of Minnesota, called the Mathematics Project at Minnesota (MPM). The workshop is for undergraduates who come from groups underrepresented in mathematics and aims to increase the participation and success of such groups in the mathematics major at the University. In this paper, we explain how MPM is organized, discuss its objectives, and highlight some of the sessions that we feel are emblematic of the program's success. The paper concludes with an analysis of achievements and obstacles in the programs' first three years. [Funding for the Mathematics Project at Minnesota was provided by the National Science Foundation.]

Conventional wisdom and antiquated stage development theories have had a negative effect on children's spirituality. This paper looks at an innovative spiritual practice (embodied prayer) that instead promotes children's agency and embodied engagement in multi-layered meaning making. It traces both the ways in which children respond to higher levels of trust in their ability to reflect on spiritual ideas and experiences, as well as challenges and changes in understanding and practice that adult facilitators experience as they learn new ways of supporting children's spiritual development.

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the need for schools to strengthen their relationships with families in order to support remote learning. Framed with the theoretical lens of the traditional partnership model, this paper details the results of a survey completed by 56 Minnesota district level technology directors. The survey asked how school districts were responding to the technology needs of students and families while in hybrid and distance learning models. Three main themes emerged from the survey data: maximizing caregiver support to improve student learning, increasing attendance and engagement in the online learning environment, and building technology savviness in parents and caregivers. Recommendations for further research include the formation of focus groups with technology directors from Minnesota and beyond. As a growing number of districts offer online schools and there is an increase in families choosing to sustain online learning, it is important to discover how schools and homes can continue to partner together in support of student learning.

As anti-Black ideologies continue to prevail in Asian American communities, this autoethnography explores how two Southeast Asian American (SEAA) scholar-activists and community organizers contended with anti-Blackness, racism, and social justice research in their cross-racial and cross-ethnic solidarity community-organizing and educational curriculum. Utilizing an autoethnographic approach, the authors, both educational anthropologists, engage in critical analysis of their personal experiences as scholar-activists to examine the cultural experiences of being ethnic insiders and researchers. Pheng, a second-generation queer Khmer American scholar, examines the tensions in building cross-racial and cross-ethnic solidarity in Refugee Youth Organizing Training (RYOT), a multi-ethnic community-based SEAA youth leadership program in Philadelphia, PA. She argues that transformative dialogue in support of coalition building requires SEAA youth to first grapple with their historic and contemporary trauma as the descendants of SEAA refugees in the United States. Xiong, a first-generation HMoob American, details the successes and challenges of building cross-racial solidarity as a community-engaged researcher and activist within Solidarity Holds Our Unity Together (SHOUT), a Black and SEAA nonprofit organization in Dane County, WI. She points out that cross-racial and ethnic coalition building requires maintaining long-term relationships between all communities. Pheng and Xiong situate their experiences working with each organization within the context of the Minnesota Uprising and the COVID-19 global pandemic. Noting that both critical and polarizing conversations emerged within Asian American communities post-George Floyd's death, the authors argue that their position as scholar-activists played a central role in facilitating educational workshops and dialogues to bridge SEAA organizations and the academic community. Specifically, this paper reveals how researchers can produce anti-racist scholarship alongside their community and cultivate reciprocal relationships that benefit minoritized communities. This autoethnography offers insights on the practices of socially-just and community-engaged scholarship in addressing anti-racism and coalition building in community-based educational spaces.

In this paper, we explore moments of racial awakening among East African communities in Minnesota. We examine how the events around the George Floyd protests have opened up racial conversations (and gave permission) for many East African Americans in Minnesota, to voice their own pain of being racialized. We call these private and public stories of racial resistance. We highlight stories that take place in private spaces of the community, where experiences of racial violence are silenced, avoided, or outright denied because they cause shame, which mirrors other types of supremacist ideologies within East African societies. We find that these narratives add complexity to notions of Blackness and Black suffering. By looking closer, they are motivated by a desire to struggle against white supremacy. We draw on three of our own stories from two distinct contexts: community conversations and George Floyd protest site in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We do this to examine the different discourses surrounding notions of Blackness and Black sufferings. Through lived experiences of racialization, we interrogate the issue of Black voice, and particularly Black immigrant voice as a site of complex and competing interest that seeks to reconcile different ideologies around Blackness. We put phenomenology of race in conversation with Coloniality and anti-colonial literature to tease out tensions surrounding Blackness and Black suffering in US context. We end with suggestions on alliance building that recognizes and builds on the collective humanity of Black diasporic people.

Immigrant community college presidents are working to ensure the unpleasant, even frightening experiences of their younger years are not replicated among the current student body. Immigrant leaders interviewed by "Community College Journal"--Dr. Steady Moono, president of SUNY Schenectady County Community College; Dr. Lin Zhou, president of Bates Technical College; Dr. Claudia Habib, president of Porterville College; and Dr. Adenuga Atewologun, president of Riverland Community College--discuss the importance of being both visible and accessible to students uncertain about their future success due to attributes they cannot control.