Promoting a Just Wage through Mediation

Kevin Hawkins ’81, Community Fellow at the Institute for Social Concerns, Mediation Technology Specialist at the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service

The discussion of workplace economics has long been a stressor on the relationship between labor and management. Questions about employee compensation, benefits, and providing a dignified quality of life are balanced against growth and fiscal prudence. What responsibility do workers and management have in each of these areas to show respect and understand each other’s perspective? How do we humanize the discussion? Listen to this conversation with Kevin Hawkins ’81 as he discusses his career as a labor mediator and research at the center on components of a just wage. 

Social Justice Teacher Book Clubs

Kati Macaluso, PhD, Assistant Teaching Professor, Institute for Educational Initiatives; Mike Macaluso, PhD, Assistant Teaching Professor, Institute for Educational Initiatives

In this Forum, Professors Mike and Kati Macaluso share results from a recent study that surveyed 800 Indiana middle and high school English teachers about their curricular practices.  share their research on issues surrounding social justice in middle and high school curricula across the state of Indiana. The presenters have asked questions about the nature of the most frequently assigned and taught texts in Indiana middle and high school English classrooms. The results of their work inspired their “Social Justice Teacher Book Club,” a project supported through the Center for Social Concern’s Community Impact Grant.  With nearly 20 teachers participating in the book club, the goal is to introduce new books into the classroom curriculum that could inspire social change, foster empathy, and build solidarity across differences while supporting teachers’ goals for students’ literacy achievement.