SEED Program

Wellesley SEED

The Wellesley SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) group is open to faculty and staff who want to engage across roles and responsibilities in order to better understand how aspects of identity (gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, age, race/ethnicity, religion, nationality, etc.) interact with systems to promote equitable learning spaces and to explore ways to create more inclusive campus environments for every member of the Wellesley community. The goal of SEED is to create conversational communities that drive change.

  • Who would benefit: Faculty and Staff members
  • Program Commitment: 5 virtual sessions, Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m:
    • Feb 6
    • March 6
    • April 10
    • May 8
    • June 5
  • Program Start: No Fall Cohort / Spring Cohort: Feb 6 - June 5
  • Contact: Claudia Rodriguez, working@wellesley.edu
About the SEED Program

In 1987, Dr. Peggy McIntosh, Senior Research Scientist at Wellesley Centers for Women and author of the classic paper “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” founded SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) to help primary and secondary school teachers to create their own local, year-long, peer-led seminars in which other teachers used their own experiences and those of their students, children, and colleagues to open important conversations that in turn create classrooms and workplaces that are more inclusive.  In the years since SEED has expanded to include all educators, parent groups and communities as well as some workplaces. The SEED project is now in its 38th year and since its founding, SEED seminars have engaged over 30,000 participants to date. We are excited to offer the SEED program on campus to Wellesley faculty and staff again this year and invite you to participate.

The goal of SEED is to create conversational communities that drive change.  The Wellesley SEED group is open to faculty and staff who want to engage with each other across roles and responsibilities in order to better understand how aspects of identity (gender, class, sexual identity, ability, age, race/ethnicity, religion, nationality, etc.) interact with systems to either promote equitable learning spaces or not, and explore ways to create more inclusive and equitable campus environments for every member of the Wellesley community.

It is our hope that participation in the Wellesley SEED group will deepen collaborative relationships among participants, heighten awareness of the issues that concern students, as well as generate actionable strategies that will lead to an increased commitment to equity for all members of Wellesley College community. In order for this to happen part of the commitment of participating is to attend all sessions barring emergencies – please review the meeting dates below before committing to joining the group.

 

SEED's unique methodology involves:

  • facilitating ongoing, structured, group conversations in which all voices can be heard
  • examining how our own stories relate to social systems
  • learning from the lessons of our own lives as well as from texts
  • turning oppression and privilege into agency and action
Feedback from past participants:

Some of our participants have said that one of the most valuable aspects of seed was “getting to build relationships across campus” and that the seminars left them with “a better sense of the complexity of the place”.  Another piece of feedback was “it’s not always the case that you can find spaces to have open and honest conversations with colleagues” and that “it can be hard emotional work but transformative and empowering”.