Theater troupe explores department politics

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The Michigan Players are visiting RIT on Dec. 11 and featuring their production of “Navigating Departmental Politics.” The Players enact situations and conversations that take place in academic settings as a way to engage faculty and administrators in dialogues about current issues related to improving campus climate.

Navigating department politics, understanding issues in faculty hiring practices and improving departmental climate may be considered high drama.

The Michigan Players, an interactive theater troupe from the University of Michigan, will enact some common, and nuanced, scenarios that play out in academic department meetings in a workshop/performance at RIT on Thursday, Dec. 11. The event takes place from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Vignelli Center, located in Booth Hall. (A continental breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m.)

The interactive performance, sponsored by AdvanceRIT, will feature “A Faculty Meeting: Navigating Department Politics.” It is free and open to faculty. Registration is requested and can be done online. (A similar interactive performance is being offered for department heads and senior leadership in the afternoon, and is by invitation-only.)

The Michigan Players perform common scenarios about faculty dynamics and academic experiences. They also interact with audience members about their perspectives on issues, how to communicate effectively within these settings and how to address behaviors and patterns of interaction that might negatively affect colleagues. Some sensitive topics they explore with audiences include the effects of race and gender in departments, power relationships among colleagues and bias in hiring decisions and promotion, for example.

At RIT, the troupe will focus on faculty hiring practices and departmental climate. They’ll stage a variety of interactions between individuals in a department currently seeking a new faculty hire including conversations that take place and the subtle messages of unconscious bias.

The Michigan Players troupe was established in 2000 and is based in the university’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. When the University of Michigan received its NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant, it was one of several initiatives developed by the grant team and the center to engage faculty in discussions about recruiting and retaining female faculty in STEM programs in higher education. All members of the troupe are professionals with theater training and familiarity with academia.

AdvanceRIT is a long-term, multi-faceted project designed to increase and advance women faculty in STEM disciplines at RIT. Funded through a $3.4 million National Science Foundation Institutional Transformation ADVANCE grant, with additional support provided by the university, this research-based project includes enhancements to faculty development programming, refinements to policies, as well as examines the challenges experienced by women faculty of color and deaf and hard-of-hearing faculty, adapting interventions to address the needs of these populations.

Contact the AdvanceRIT office at advancewomen@rit.edu for more information about the program or to register.