T H E T U S C A R O R A R E V I E W 2 0 2 3 3 9 feeling on the inside. And I got hired. They were willing to accept me for who I was and for what it is that I aspired to be. Since I’ve been here, I’ve fallen in love with the place. One of the reasons is because it’s allowed me to do work that I love. That work started with conversations about race that began with the death of Freddie Gray, in Baltimore. There were riots, and it was really close to home. We had campus book discussions that allowed me to enter and facilitate several of those conversations. We read Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, Michelle Alexander’s, The New Jim Crow. Now we’re reading Tommy Orange’s book, There There. FCC has given me the space to talk about issues that are important to me. They’re not always easy, but it’s easier when you know that the institution supports them. Goss-Harris: We understand that you’ve spent a major part of your career serving community colleges—what made you want to work at community colleges? Dr. Dardello: This is going to be another space where I’m just real. I didn’t have a clear vision for working at community colleges. I was a first generation student, I had graduated college, and I needed a job. And my major was English—there wasn’t a lot I could do besides teach. It made sense that I would be a community college educator. I wanted a job in a part of the country that allowed me to explore my identity as an African American woman. So, since that time, I’ve become a champion of community college students because many of them are like me. Many of them have experienced poverty, they are first generation students, they’re marginalized—many of them feel as if they’re searching for their place in their identity. And that’s who I was as a college student. I want to see community college students become successful, and I want to help instructors know how to help community college college students be successful in their classes. Goss-Harris: Are there any pivotal experiences that made you want to work in diversity, equity and inclusion? Dr. Dardello: I developed a professional development course for faculty called Teaching with Dignity, which is a way to help students to be seen, heard, valued, and safe in the classroom. It helps students bridge what they know to where we want them to Grow and Glow. I think that was really pivotal. My work with culturally responsive teaching, conflict resolution through restorative practices—learning how to talk across differences and lean into challenging conversations—prepared me for this work, and makes sense when you think about it in terms of my fulfilling this interim role.
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