UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On June 17, nearly five dozen members of the Penn State community gathered at the University Park campus to launch the Penn State Dickinson Law Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) scale-up. The “POD” launch event provided participants with information about how they will be divided into focus groups (aka PODs) to develop projects that disrupt systemic racial inequality and intersectional injustice across the Penn State University ecosystem.
The ADI aims to dismantle structures that scaffold systemic racial inequality, using a three-pillar system based on systems design, institutional antiracism, and critical pedagogy. The University recently approved a five-year plan for a significant scale-up of the ADI to support and grow strong, interdependent and interdisciplinary partnerships to advance institutional antiracism and bolster diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts using systems design and critical pedagogy frameworks — processes of inquiry and examination that disrupt traditional hierarchies and prioritize empathy to redesign systems that work for everyone.
The scale-up underscores the conscious and deliberate investment in antiracism efforts while University leaders, administrators, faculty, and staff remain laser-focused on achieving sustainable budgets through dynamic fiscal stewardship. A future leadership POD may be developed to explore how the ADI's framework could aid in those efforts.
The launch introduced the ADI’s objectives and how PODs will be structured. Each POD will utilize systems design and design thinking practices to develop projects in areas such as transformative justice, leadership and reimagining higher education policy.
The ADI is stewarding the POD formation process based on feedback from a post-workshop survey sent after the event. Several PODs in the project areas above and others based on feedback and discussions have been created, with expectations that the groups could meet prior to the start of the fall semester. POD members are invited to share their progress as part of the ADI’s second annual convening (registration).
At the event, Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway, the ADI’s executive director, and University Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Tracy Langkilde spoke about taking action on a blueprint for real and impactful change leading to racial equality and intersectional justice at Penn State.
“We are very excited to begin this process and get this work done,” said Conway. Speaking to members of the Penn State community who were gathered, she added, “The ADI will be in conversation with you and work beside you the entire way.”
Langkilde said, “I hope the incredible ideas, actions and passion seen here today can be utilized to spread the ADI initiative across other areas at the University.”
Attendees said they appreciated the invitation to take action.
“You have to provide a space for this work to happen. We are all busy people, but this work is critical, and we must prioritize it. The ADI scale-up offers an opportunity to do that,” said Wanda Knight, Penn State Harrisburg assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion. “This is a perfect space to meet with other likeminded people interested in transforming a culture where we envision spaces where there is an absence of racism or systemic oppression that ultimately is a barrier to different people thriving. We want to help people not survive but thrive.”
Approaching antiracism using design thinking
The POD event opened with breakfast and an introduction to antiracism, including a chance for each attendee to share what they hoped to bring back to their respective academic units. ADI Program Manager TaWanda H. Stallworth and ADI Education Program Coordinator Serena Hermitt detailed the ADI’s pledge to steward the development of POD groups, arrange schedules and meetings, and provide remuneration for the work.
Efraín Marimón, associate teaching professor of education, and Ashley Patterson, associate professor of education and women's, gender, and sexuality studies, then facilitated a workshop on systems design and design thinking. They urged openness to new ways of thinking and learning, presenting exercises to encourage experimentation with design thinking. Patterson and Marimón are also systems designers for the ADI’s upcoming book series in partnership with the University of California Press, titled “Building an Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession.”
“There is a quote from Nelson Mandela that says, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,’” said Patterson. “We are providing education for students of the highest caliber, and antiracism has to be folded into the architecture of that experience.”
Marimón, who also directs the Restorative Justice Initiative and the Social Justice Fellowship, said, “I really enjoyed this space to collaborate and not hold onto thinking we have to have answers, or we have to leave here with solutions. If we knew those, we would not be here. We embrace the idea that we are all learning in spaces together.”
‘Dismantling systems that are not working for everyone’
The pod launch took place at the Chambers Building, which houses the College of Education.
“We are engaging with a broader set of individuals across the University to attempt dismantling systems that are not working for everyone,” said College of Education Dean Kimberly Lawless. “Anywhere you work in the College of Education, you will find people doing antiracist work, whether it is faculty in our classrooms or staff engaging in thinking about the processes and procedures they do for finance or filling out requisitions or helping people move.”
After lunch, the workshop shifted focus to systems design practice and what design thinking implementation can look like, with an exercise led by Dermot Groome, Dickinson Law Professor of Law and Harvey A. Feldman Distinguished Faculty Scholar and the ADI’s associate director, and Nicole Dyszlewski, assistant dean for curricular innovation at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. Groome and Dyszlewski are co-editors of and chapter contributors to the University of California Press book series.
The day wrapped up with a presentation by Anu Gupta, author of “Breaking Bias” and founder of Be More with Anu, an edtech company that trains organizations in breaking bias using science-backed tools.
“Because of systemic racism, a lot of university and law school students are not taught the basics of how we came to inherit the world we have inherited,” said Gupta, who is also a systems designer and chapter contributor to the University of California Press book series. “The opportunity now is that educational institutions like Penn State can educate our future leaders to understand how we got here and equip them with tools, such as systems design thinking, to do something about it.”
Attendees said they left the event with a better understanding of antiracism and the potential benefits of PODs.
“I am happy to help turn words into action,” said Penn State DuBois Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer Jungwoo Ryoo. “I was very interested in learning more about how the PODs will be implemented. They took abstract concepts and showed us how to operationalize them. I am very hopeful about these next steps.” Patrick Mather, dean of the Schreyer Honors College, praised the workshop’s high level of engagement.
"The active learning element kept us engaged and talking. It was very effective. No one was on their phone or email,” said Mather. “And the win-win was that while we were active, we were also using the principles they were modeling as a way to do this kind of work."
During a final Q&A, Conway emphasized the flexibility of the ADI POD approach.
“Design thinking is an iterative process. There is not a right or wrong way to do this,” said Conway. “Each POD will look different. One might be intensive and have weekly check-ins. Another might be a bit more informal. It might take some PODs longer to get off the ground. That is all OK.”
Attendees said they walked away energized and ready to work. Inginia Genao, Penn State College of Medicine vice dean of diversity, equity and belonging, said she was already discussing potential POD collaborations with people sitting at her table during the event.
“Having the opportunity to come together in a place where you can express your opinions and have them resonate with others is a very special feeling. You get the sense you are not alone,” Genao said. “You did not see anyone leave early. People were engaged. Everyone had a voice.”
Learn more by visiting Penn State Dickinson Law’s Antiracist Development Institute.