Dean Danielle Conway speaking at the ADI's Annual Convening in 2024

Antiracist Development Institute

Penn State Dickinson Law created the Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) to dismantle structures that support systemic racial inequality and intersectional injustice using a three-pillar system based on systems design, institutional antiracism, and critical pedagogy.

  1. Institutional Antiracism

    Acknowledging the complicity of law in the design of systems of oppression, acquiring knowledge about the American system of laws, and acting on this knowledge are the three elements of institutional antiracism. Those elements are implemented through systems design and critical pedagogy.

  2. Systems Design & Design Thinking

    The systems design approach is a user focused way to relentlessly innovate, empathize, and humanize with others to solve problems or resolve issues. Systems design is fundamentally user-centered, experimental, responsive, intentional, and tolerant of failure.

  3. Critical Pedagogy

    The two main goals of critical pedagogy are to help students see the world as capable of change, and to help students discern how they will use their talents, lived experiences and education to effect positive societal change in whatever field they ultimately work in.

Learn More About Our 3 Pillars
Group photo at an ADI event
Participants at an ADI workshop

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adi@psu.edu

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Our work is made possible by the generous support of the LSAC, the AccessLex Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Emily and G. Griffith “Griff” Lindsay.