Virtual Liberatory Consciousness Framework Conference
The Virtual Liberatory Consciousness Framework Conference hosted by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Social Work will allow those in attendance to learn how faculty, staff, and students have applied Dr. Barbara Love’s Liberatory Consciousness Framework (LCF). The LCF is designed to address antiracism and oppression. The framework consists of four components: awareness, analysis, action, and accountability/allyship. The LCF has been used to guide curriculum development, inform pedagogy and teaching strategies, students’ practicum experience, and work in the community.
The conference will feature presentations on how to apply the LCF to curriculum development, teaching, and in practicum settings. At the conclusion of the conference, those in attendance should be able to apply the LCF in their own schools. Attending the full conference provides 3 continuing education hours (social & cultural competence).
The keynote speaker, Dr. Chase J. Catalano, is an associate professor of higher education at Virginia Tech. Chase’s career in higher education began in student affairs where he had roles in residence life, fraternity and sorority life, and admissions. His final appointment before he transitioned to faculty was as Director of the LGBT Resources Center at Syracuse University. His research focuses on social justice education and pedagogies, trans and queer issues in higher education, and higher education graduate program curricula. His current research projects focus on the liberatory potentials of Safe Zone trainings (LGBTQ+ social justice educational interventions) and trans and queer center(ed) diversity work in the midst of these politically tumultuous times. Chase received a Spencer Foundation Conference Grant and, in the summer of 2023, brought together practitioners and scholars to think with each other about how to engage in racial justice and anti-racism work in LGBTQ+ Centers. He was also on the Project Team for a 2024 National Endowment of the Humanities summer institute on the history of higher education as the Higher Education Pedagogy Facilitator.
He is a co-editor of Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, 4th edition (Routledge, 2018) and the forthcoming 5th edition, as well as Advising and Supporting in Student Affairs (Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 2021). He is currently working on two different co-edited volumes, one on trans and queer center(ed) diversity workers (Peter Lang) and learning from trans and queer studies (Routledge). Beyond his various book chapters, his publications appeared in Equity & Excellence in Education, Transgender Studies Quarterly, The Review of Higher Education, and the Journal for Diversity in Higher Education.