The process of learning is ideological, and therefore must engage topics of inclusion and equity. As such, I have always been dedicated to centering DEI in all my courses. For instance, in my rhetoric courses, I foreground global perspectives, such as ancient African rhetoric, to decenter the traditional white, male, western voices that have dominated the discipline. I also actively include readings by more women, Black people, and people with LGBTQI identities. By doing so, I introduce students to a diverse body of knowledge and shift their—and the discipline’s—paradigms. In my upper-division classes, I do not shy away from ideological conversations, guiding students to interpret their role in maintaining or dismantling systems of power. The foundational framework for my recent COM 318: African American Rhetoric class, for example, was counter-storytelling. Students explored how and in what ways African American speakers are often responding to dehumanizing stories by producing their own liberatory rhetoric. These purposeful curriculum choices not only enact my values, but also give students the tools to question systems of power around them and be inclusive of diverse and global perspectives.

Another area of teaching where I dedicate an enormous amount of energy is co-creating strong classroom environments with my students to ensure they feel agentic and respected. While I have always used tactics such as the establishment of classroom norms at the beginning of each semester, I have also more recently worked to institute teaching methods and metrics that give students additional voice and choice in order to empower their own learning. This includes not only developing specifications grading metrics where students opt into various levels of academic rigor for themselves, but also being responsive to the midterm student feedback that I solicit, and requiring reflective participation check-ins where students can make cases for their preparatory and in-class behaviors. Interpersonally, I strive to spark joy in the classroom by being a high energy, relatable, and crystal-clear lecturer. And one strength that multiple students have remarked on during informal conversations is my ability to connect students’ discussion contributions to the larger discussion or purpose of the lesson. This helps them feel as if their participation is impactful and connected to the classroom learning.  Indeed, in a recent peer faculty observation of my public speaking class, one colleague noted– “Dr. Farzad-Phillips has created a classroom environment in which students feel comfortable contributing to the discussion, even if they are unclear about the ‘right answer.’ She has developed this classroom into one that is open to ideas and dialogue.”

I ask my students to identify and deepen their civic commitments through applied, engaged learning about pressing societal problems. Eight years ago, I developed my Public Speaking class with service-learning pedagogy that incorporated introductory oral communication learning goals. Since then, each semester I require my students to partner with a local organization to address a specific social issue in their speeches, and to then research and develop a community project. They write critical self-reflection essays, ask questions about their own power and privilege when assessing community need, and analyze various practices of social change including, and beyond, public speaking. My other courses require students to apply real world problems to classroom theories and materials. For instance, each student in my Advocacy class creates multimodal portfolio about a cause they are passionate about, using various mediums through which one can advocate. They write editorials, produce videos, present research talks, and more while reflecting critically on audience, strategy, and design. The goal is to give them opportunities to see the applied impact of their learning and to be motivated by their own voice as a source of power. Overall, my classes have served as a crucial intervention in students’ growth as problem solvers. As one student commented: “this course taught me how to approach the problems of the world I am going to inherit.”