We have all seen stories/videos of students harassed on campus by peers and in some instances faculty or administrations questioning their mere existence within that space. A student at Yale had a suite mate call the police on her when she fell asleep in the common area. A faculty member called campus police on another faculty member because he didn’t think she belonged in the space she was occupying, a classroom eating her lunch before class started. Microaggression happens in classrooms due to power differentiation, in-group/out-group identity and lack of interaction. This conversation will center around microaggression, which are those everyday subtle comments made to those in marginalized communities that are hurtful and have lasting impacts.  When discussing microaggressions we must include a conversation about implicit bias, which is something we all have, but may not be aware of how it impacts our engagement with those outside of our groups.

Dr. Tammy Hodo earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Urban Studies, with a minor in Sociology in which she specializations in Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity. She worked in academia for over 18 years in a variety of positions, including faculty and university administrator. Tammy continues to be active in academia as she writes academic articles relevant to the experiences of minorities in America. Her most recent publications include two chapters in an academic textbook entitled African American Families: Research, Theory, and Practice (Cognella, 2021). Her contribution to the book were the chapters on “The Urban Experiences of African American Families” and “Theoretical and Methodological Issues of Studying the African American Family. She recently signed a new book deal with Routledge to co-author “Having the Hard Conversations on Race, Ethnicity, Politics, and Social Justice in Workplace and Educational Settings” with some of her colleagues. She is the owner of All Things Diverse LLC, an educational consulting company. Tammy has provided training to local and national organizations all under the umbrella of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has written course content on implicit biases and microaggressions for a national educational vendor that is being used at hundreds of colleges and universities. She is a TEDx speaker. Her talk is entitled: The Social Implications of Race. She is originally from Milwaukee, WI and is a service-connected disabled veteran of the U.S. Navy.