Dr. Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt is the Edith Green Distinguished Professor at Linfield University in Oregon where she teaches in the English Department and also co-coordinates the Gender Studies program. She is the author of the monograph, The Postcolonial Citizen: The Intellectual Migrant and is also the lead editor of Civility, Free Speech and Academic Freedom in Higher Education: Faculty on the Margins. As a public intellectual Dutt-Ballerstadt writes frequently about the state of marginalized faculty in various national publications along authoring scholarly articles on the intersections of critical race theory, decolonization and transnational feminism. She also mentors both students and BIPOC/BIWOC faculty to navigate various barrier in higher ed. Dutt-Ballerstadt also serves as the editor for Inside Higher Ed’s column “Conditionally Accepted,” a column for marginalized faculty in higher education. In 2021 she founded Academic Trauma in Higher Ed and leads various national level workshops centering BIPOC faculty and staff. Writing as a Public Intellectual: Speaking Truth to Power
Workshop Description
Who or what is a public intellectual? How can we as BIPOC educators, scholars, researchers, creative writers begin to expand and articulate our thoughts and ideas beyond the academy, so that these ideas resonate with a broader public? What are some particular rewards and risks of writing as a public intellectual?
Whether you are a humanities scholar or a scientist or social scientist, in this workshop you will learn some strategies and techniques of how to both write and pitch ideas for a broader public and potential avenues for publications beyond the peer reviewed journals in your field. Being a public intellectual can be impactful in various ways, including contributions to public policies, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, critiquing the university to advocate for the creation of a “just” university, along with adding your voice to issues that you are passionate about. In addition, you can also begin to present your research to a much broader audience, a demographic that may or may not have access to your research.