CAFE Winter Institute

About Winter Institute 2026

The goal of CAFE Winter Institute 2026, Teaching to Transform: Anti-Racist and Disability Justice Practices is to empower faculty with practical pedagogical tools, robust scholarship, and a community of peers to develop courses based in anti-racist and disability justice principles that promote equity, justice, and success for all students. 

The goal of the Winter Institute aligns with campus goals to reduce racialized equity gaps in courses and to create a welcoming campus climate via offering accessible and positive classroom experiences for all students. The Winter Institute contributes to CAFE’s mission which is to foster a vibrant faculty community in which faculty are connected to one another and feel confident to offer the best possible classes and learning experiences for students. 

Whether you have participated in CAFE’s previous Institutes for Anti-Racist Teaching & Learning (2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025) or not, you will gain valuable knowledge from the Winter Institute, as we hope to build on our past sessions as well as introduce new topics. 

Faculty of any discipline and any stage in the faculty career are welcomed and encouraged to participate. We have capacity for 40 faculty participants and hope to have a mixture of new and returning participants. 

Thanks to the generous collaboration with the Office of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies, we are able to offer $600 stipends for full participation and completing "deliverables." You will be able to choose from several options for deliverables that best address your courses and your own priorities. Graduate Teaching Assistants are welcome to participate but unfortunately cannot be paid. 

We are grateful to Dr. Shayda Kafai, Associate Professor of Ethnic and Women's Studies and Director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies (OIES) for closely collaborating on the program’s theme, outcomes, content, and activities.

Format and Schedule

This is a 4-day Institute, to be held on the CPP campus. Please plan to be on campus in person Wednesday, January 7 and Thursday, January 8; attend virtually on Friday, January 9; and on campus in person on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. All sessions, in person and virtual will be held from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

We will provide an optional justice-grounded meditation each day, 4:10 - 4:30pm. 

In addition to featuring speakers and community discussions, the schedule includes ample time for private work on Institute deliverables. Individual coaching and feedback will be available.

Outcomes

1. Understand and articulate the core concepts of anti-racist pedagogy and disability justice. 
2. Reflect on how institutional systems and disciplinary traditions perpetuate racism and ableism in teaching and learning.  
3. Explain how equity-minded, asset-based, and accessible pedagogies enhance student learning and belonging.  
4. Analyze how their own identities and positions influence teaching practices.  
5. Describe and integrate classroom strategies that interrupt inequities rooted in race and disability.  
6. Collaborate with peers to design equitable, accessible, and culturally sustaining approaches to teaching.  
7. Learn with faculty peers, in a community that centers reciprocity and care. 
8. Develop a plan to implement and sustain these practices beyond the Institute.