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Scholar, Author and Educator Dr. Kymberly Pinder to Become Dean at Yale School of Art

Scholar, Author and Educator Dr. Kymberly Pinder to Become Dean at Yale School of Art

By goodblacknews on June 29, 2021

[Dr. Kymberly Pinder, seen with a black and white drawing by Jami Porter Lara. Photo by Eve Caughey via news.yale.edu]

Starting July 1, Dr. Kymberly Pinder, renowned scholar of race, representation, and murals, will become Dean of the Yale School of Art.

Pinder, who earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in art history at Yale, most recently was acting president of Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Prior to that, Pinder served as  dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico.

Pinder also taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1996 to 2012, during which time she edited the book Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History (2002). She also taught courses that led to the creation of murals in Chicago and Albuquerque.

To quote from jbhe.com:

“The Yale School of Art provides an unmatched platform for promoting excellence while effecting positive change,” said Dr. Pinder, who earned her Ph.D. in art history from Yale in 1995.

“I look forward to working with colleagues and students across the campus, the city, and the globe to extend the boundaries of arts practice and education. Objects and their making unlock and shape dialogues in some of the most transformative ways for both makers and viewers. It is an honor to return to Yale to help nurture its rich culture of rigorous inquiry. I am excited to bring my Yale education full circle.”

Pinder’s most recent book-length publication is 2016’s Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago, where she explores how Black imagery in the public sphere empowered communities in that city. Pinder collaborated with local artists, from well-known muralists to anonymous graffiti writers and worked with different artists and local officials.

California’s State Board of Education Unanimously Approves Ethnic Studies Curriculum for K-12 Schools After Years of Debate

California’s State Board of Education Unanimously Approves Ethnic Studies Curriculum for K-12 Schools After Years of Debate

By goodblacknews on March 19, 2021

California’s State Board of Education yesterday unanimously approved a model curriculum of coursework in K-12 schools to guide how the histories, struggles and contributions of Black, Asian, Latino and Native Americans — and the racism and marginalization they have experienced in the United States — will be taught to millions of students, according to latimes.com.

Across the nation, so far Oregon and Vermont are the only two states to require ethnic studies classes be taken by its students. A bill in California to make a high school ethnic studies course a graduation requirement is currently making its way through the Legislature.

To quote the latimes.com article:

Although criticism still emerged Thursday, the curriculum approval culminates two years of difficult discussions, protests and rewrites over which groups should be included and how their stories should be presented. Drafts were alternately pilloried for being left-wing propaganda or capitulating to right-wing agendas, and defended as providing an essential means for students of color to see themselves reflected in public school curriculum. It comes at a time when educators are seeking concrete lessons and strategies to address racism.

“The passion that we hear about this topic illustrates why ethnic studies is so important,” board president Linda Darling-Hammond said after nearly eight hours of presentations and discussion. “Much of it is a quest by each person or each group for a sense of belonging and acknowledgement.”

“Ethnic studies demands that we understand the forces that stand in the way of our shared humanity so that we can address them,” she said. “We need the more complete study of our history that ethnic studies provides and the attention to inequality that it stimulates.”

For now, the model curriculum serves as a guide for school districts that want the option to offer ethnic studies. But its lessons stand to become a flashpoint for debate again in the months ahead, as a bill to make a high school ethnic studies course a graduation requirement — believed to be the most far-reaching law of its kind nationally — makes its way through the Legislature.

The final vote came four years, four drafts and 100,000 public comments after state law mandated that educators create a model studies ethnic studies curriculum.

To read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/ethnic-studies-finally-approved-california-schools

[Photo credit: Melissa Minton via Flickr/creative commons]