Free Webinar: Having Conversations About Race in the Classroom

Stephanie A. Jirard, professor of criminal justice at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and author of Criminal Law and Procedure: A Courtroom Approach, will discuss “Having Conversations About Race in the Classroom” in a free webinar on June 30.

The nationwide protests of the past few weeks sparked by the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, have created new and hopeful dialog around centuries-old systemic racism and inequality, but action from that dialog depends in large part on how courageous each of us is willing to be to have difficult conversations on and off campus. In this hour-long webinar, Jirard will offer suggestions on how to approach this topic in the classroom in ways that facilitate critical thinking, social justice, and change.

Prior to teaching at Shippensburg, where she is also the Title IX coordinator, Jirard was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General Corps. From there she was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division; a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office; an assistant public defender at the Federal Public Defender’s Office; and a death-penalty defense lawyer with the Missouri Public Defender’s Capital Litigation Unit. As a professional coach, she also provides training on diversity and inclusion to organizations and agencies.