ANTIRACIST DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE HOSTS BOOK SERIES LAUNCH AND CHAPTER CONTRIBUTOR CONFERENCE

June 2022 — Penn State Dickinson Law’s Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) hosted the “Building An Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession” book series launch and chapter contributor conference virtually on Monday, June 6 and Tuesday, June 7, 2022.

The ADI was created to dismantle structures that scaffold systemic racial inequality using a systems design approach for the purpose of achieving systemic equity and offering organizations across the country systems design-based approaches to implementing antiracist practices, processes, and policies throughout each of their functions. The Institute is led by an accomplished team of experts including Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway, Professor of Law and Harvey A. Feldman Distinguished Faculty Scholar Dermot Groome, and Program Manager TaWanda H. Stallworth.

This week’s book series launch and conference brought together more than 100 colleagues from the legal academy, legal profession, and adjacent organizations for thought-provoking discussion about antiracism and problem solving based on design thinking. Attendees hailed from 28 states and the District of Columbia, representing more than 60 law schools and adjacent organizations.

“It was an exceptional event that gathered academics and industry thought leaders from across the country for an extremely productive two days,” said Professor Groome. “Their enthusiasm for the project and willingness to work with Dickinson Law reaffirmed the importance of this project and their confidence in us. The richness of the presentations and the productivity of the workshops made it a remarkable event.”

There was significant conversation about the eight proposed volumes, including proposed chapter topics and titles and the collaborative plan to accomplish the writing of each volume, led by a trained systems designer.

The ADI hopes to gather this extraordinary group of individuals together again in the future for a virtual or in-person conference. Learn more about the history and future plans of the Antiracist Development Institute here.