Faculty Spotlight: Geneva Gay | UW College of Edutn

Contents:

• GENEVA GAY: A LEGACY OF ELEVATG MULTICULTURAL TN TO PROMENCE
• GENEVA GAY
• CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ALLEGEDLY FIR GAY ACH FOR SAYG LGBTQ PEOPLE BELONG THE CHURCH
• CULTURALLY RPONSIVE TEACHG: THEORY, REARCH, & PRACTICE: GENEVA GAY
• FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: GENEVA GAY

GENEVA GAY: A LEGACY OF ELEVATG MULTICULTURAL TN TO PROMENCE

When Profsor Geneva Gay began her reer as a high school social studi teacher more than four s ago, the ncept of multicultural tn was still s fancy. This July, Gay will retire followg a 29-year reer at the Universy of Washgton College of Edutn which her ternatnally-regnized scholarship has advanced the field profound ways — while makg clear the sential role of multicultural tn an creasgly diverse and ternnected world.

Growg up ral Geia, Gay experienced what was like to grow up wh ltle the way of tnal opportuny.

“It was hard work and as a kid I thought there mt be a better way to live, ” Gay said. After pletg her bachelor’s gree, Gay took a teachg posn a rintially segregated school system Akron, Oh. “When I first started teachg, I was a posn wh my own inty of tryg to overpensate for the notns that society had imposed on Ain-Amerins, ” Gay said.

GENEVA GAY

Yet Gay also felt tensn relatnships wh her Black stunts, notg that when she stepped to a “profsnal” role to give the school district le, stunts would ph back. When Gay was reced to the Universy of Texas to enter s PhD program, the opportuny me to make better sense of those relatnships. “The Geneva Gay my stunts were seeg was not the Geneva Gay I was tryg to be.

CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ALLEGEDLY FIR GAY ACH FOR SAYG LGBTQ PEOPLE BELONG THE CHURCH

As Gay’s doctoral studi progrsed, she dug eper to why she had been more succsful bondg wh her Black stunts than other, more experienced teachers — even though wasn’t an tentnal strategy on her part. “That ultimately led to what I do the days, ” Gay said.

In 1987, Gay eded “Exprsively Black: The Cultural Basis of Ethnic Inty, ” a llectn of says explorg different aspects of the Black cultural experience, cludg chapters on Black style, kship and fay ti, munitn, learship, art, relign, physil exprsivens and cultural ntuatn. Gay’s first experience at the UW College of Edutn me the summer of 1989, thanks to a visg profsorship arranged by Profsor Emer Jam A.

CULTURALLY RPONSIVE TEACHG: THEORY, REARCH, & PRACTICE: GENEVA GAY

Two years later, Gay, then a full profsor at Purdue Universy, was succsfully reced to jo the College’s faculty. Followg her arrival at the UW, Gay would go on to wre or ed several foundatnal works multicultural tn and the term “culturally rponsive teachg” to fe an approach that emphasiz g the cultural knowledge, prr experienc, am of reference and performance styl of ethnilly diverse stunts to make learng enunters more relevant to and effective for them.

In her book, Gay not the child is the meang-maker and that the teacher's rponsibily is to build stctur and create strategi that help all children gather meang om their surroundgs. In “Culturally Rponsive Teachg: Theory, Rearch, and Practice, ” recipient of the Amerin Associatn of Colleg for Teacher Edutn’s 2001 Outstandg Wrg Award, Gay monstrat that all stunts will perform better on multiple measur of achievement when teachg is filtered through their own cultural experienc. As edor of the 2003 book “Beg Multicultural Edutors: Personal Journey Toward Profsnal Agency, ” Gay offers 14 pellg stori of teachers learng how to work wh stunts om a wi range of ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: GENEVA GAY

Gay scrib herself as a teacher-scholar, wh an emphasis on her role as teacher helpg numero graduate stunts enter the field and make their own unique ntributns.

“The greatt ntributn om my viewpot is the number of graduate stunts I’ve been able to mentor at the College, ” Gay said.