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Please join us for our second Brown Bag Talk on November 6, 2026. More information below.
Dr. Charles Wilkes
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at the UC Davis School of Education
Date: November 6, 2026
Time: 12-1:30pm
Venue: Hart Hall, Room 3201
Please RSVP using this
link.
Title:
Who Belongs in Mathematics? Disrupting Racial Storylines and Acknowledging Competence
Abstract:
Mathematics classrooms communicate powerful messages about who is capable, whose ideas matter, and who belongs. These messages take shape through everyday instruction and relationships, often reflecting broader racialized and gendered narratives about mathematical ability. This talk brings together two co-authored papers to explore how teachers can disrupt racial storylines about Black girls in mathematics and acknowledge students’ competence in ways that foster belonging. The presentation first examines teaching content and building relationships as interconnected opportunities to challenge limiting narratives about Black girls as mathematics learners. It then considers acknowledging competence as an instructional practice through which teachers make students’ mathematical thinking and contributions visible and valued. Bringing these perspectives into conversation, the talk explores how teachers’ responses to students’ ideas can shape opportunities for participation, recognition, and positive mathematics identity development. Centering questions of race, gender, and the construction of mathematical “smartness,” this talk invites discussion about how educators can create classrooms where Black learners are recognized as capable mathematical thinkers and experience a sense of belonging.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Charles E. Wilkes II is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis. His research examines mathematics teaching and learning across K–16 contexts, with a particular focus on equity, identity, and the educational experiences of Black learners. One strand of his research focuses on mathematics teacher education, particularly practice-based approaches to preparing teachers to enact equitable mathematics instruction. Through this work, he investigates how teacher candidates learn to implement instructional practices, such as acknowledging competence, that support students’ mathematical understanding, sense of belonging, and positive mathematical identity development. Another strand of his research examines how race, identity, and conceptions of mathematical smartness shape Black learners' educational experiences. Specifically, he investigates how teachers’ beliefs, knowledge, and instructional practices explicitly and implicitly communicate messages about what it means to be smart, who is smart, and how these messages influence students’ opportunities to learn, sense of belonging, and mathematical identities.
Join us for our first Brown Bag Talk on October 2, 2026. More information below.
Jann Murray-García, MD, MPH
Clinical Professor Emerita, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
Date: October 2nd, 2026
Time: 12-1:30pm
Venue: Hart Hall, Room 3201
Title:
How Health Professionals Are Historically Scripted Not To Listen To Black Women"
Abstract:
Nearly three decades ago, Jann Murray-García, MD, MPH and Melanie Tervalon, MD, MPH, two African American pediatricians, made the distinction between Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility in defining training outcomes for health and human service professionals. Their original 1998 paper has been cited over 5,900 times. The Cultural Humility framework asks us to become familiar with the sociopolitical history of the groups we serve, so we do not miss or disdain the valuable expertise that members of minoritized groups can offer u as clinicians. We use the case study of Black women in the United States to illustrate how what we do not know about the history of U.S. race relations can render today’s "performances" of harmful "scripts" of inequality invisible to us as health and human service providers. This invisibility places these scripts outside of our ability to identify, interrupt, and transform them into scripts of equity, respect, and professional effectiveness. Dr. Murray-García's presentation, "How We Are Historically Scripted Not To Listen To Black Women," connects the dots from Patricia Hill Collins' "controlling images" directly to the often-cruel and inhumane inequity that shows up in our clinics and hospitals today. The chapter is from their upcoming textbook, scheduled for release in February 2028, Cultural Humility: History, Concepts, Cases, and Practice.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Murray-García is a pediatrician and Health Sciences Clinical Professor Emerita at the UC Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. She co-founded with Dr. Melanie Tervalon and has written a textbook on the internationally recognized concept of Cultural Humility. Their textbook is due out in February 2028. She has developed several highly-rated immersive experiences at UC Davis Health, including the 3-day Anti-Racism and Cultural Humility (ARC) Training Program for staff, clinical leaders, faculty, and administrators; the 4 week Summer Institute on Race and Health for medical students; and the overnight Interprofessional Central Valley Road Trip, a 2-day intergenerational exploration of the diverse cultural histories and current population health challenges of this critically important region of the country. Dr. Murray-García received her BA in Human Biology with Honors and with Distinction from Stanford University, her MD from UCSF, and completed pediatric residency training at Oakland Children’s Hospital, followed by an MPH from UC Berkeley. She is widely published in the health sciences literature. Her greatest achievements are her marriage in 1992 to her boyfriend of 33 years, Dr. Jorge García, her three children, and three grandchildren.
