The Center for Christianity and Scholarship will host an online discussion on "How Can Christian Faculty Excel as Researchers, Teachers and Leaders of Racial Equity?" that will be moderated by Duke Chapel Dean and Duke Divinity School Professor Luke Powery. The event features a panel of Duke faculty members from Trinity College, the Sanford School, the Divinity School, and the Law School.

The conversation will be on how Christian faculty and faculty-in-training at Duke can be agents of racial transformation and healing. Based on their experiences and expertise, panelists will share their perspectives on two key questions. How do current understandings of institutional racism help us understand the roles that churches and universities have played in shaping the pervasiveness of racial injustice? What practical steps can Christian faculty take to be sources of racial transformation and healing at Duke, in their academic disciplines, and in their broader communities?

After panelists make brief presentations and engage in dialogue, the audience will have opportunities to ask questions. It is recommended that audience participants read Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise in advance of the event.

Patrick Smith, an associate research professor of theological ethics and bioethics at Duke Divinity, as well as a senior fellow within the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, will be one of the panelists. Along with his appointment at the Divinity School, Smith is associate faculty with the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. He has specific academic interests in the areas of bioethics, social ethics, Black Church studies, and philosophical theology. He was named a 2016-2017 Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology. His work and service in bioethics and social ethics has spanned academic, professional, community, and ecclesial spaces.

The discussion, which is co-sponsored by Duke Chapel, is open to all Duke graduate students and faculty members.

Registration is required.