Seventy-Eight Institutions Selected to Participate in AAC&U Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Centers

Washington, DC—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today the seventy-eight higher education institutions selected to participate in its 2021 Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers. Fourteen of the participating institutions serve as host sites for existing TRHT Campus Centers; an additional sixty institutions and four to-be-selected Texas-based institutions will send teams to learn more about the TRHT framework and facilitating Racial Healing Circles and to explore their interest in hosting new campus centers. The Institute will be held virtually from June 22–25.

“AAC&U is thrilled to partner with colleges and universities of all types and sizes across the country to advance the TRHT effort within higher education,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. “We look forward to the opportunity to learn with and from the participants in the 2021 Institute and to support their efforts to promote racial equity and healing on their campuses and in their communities.”

Hosted by individual colleges and universities, and in partnership with AAC&U, TRHT Campus Centers pursue the shared goal of preparing the next generation of leaders and thinkers to break down racial hierarchies and to dismantle the belief in a hierarchy of human value. Each center implements its own visionary action plan, based on the TRHT framework, to promote racial healing through campus-community engagement. The AAC&U Institute on TRHT Campus Centers is designed both to support the ongoing work of existing centers and to provide an introduction to the TRHT effort for institutions interested in hosting a new campus center.

“The annual Institute reflects the intentional efforts and deep commitment of TRHT leaders from across the United States in addressing racism and eliminating racialized practices, systems, and structures,” stated Tia McNair, AAC&U’s Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Student Success and the Executive Director for the TRHT Campus Centers. “Without their partnership and collaboration, the progress we have made and need to make in building just and equitable communities wouldn’t be possible.”

The Institute curriculum is focused on developing and refining transformative action plans to advance the five components of the TRHT framework: narrative change, racial healing and relationship building, separation, law, and economy. Together, these five areas encompass the individual, communal, and systemic structures that perpetuate arbitrary divisions based on race. Twenty leaders and changemakers from existing TRHT Campus Centers were invited to serve as mentors and work closely with teams during the Institute. This work will culminate in an opportunity for discussion and feedback from mentors, participants, evaluators, and the AAC&U TRHT team. Concurrent workshops will also be offered as learning opportunities for participants throughout the Institute.

In addition to four Texas institutions still to be selected, the following institutions will send teams to the 2021 Institute:

• Albany State University
• Bard College
• Barry University
• Benedictine University
• Bethel College (Kansas)
• Brandman University
• California State University Long Beach
• California State University Sacramento
• Cedar Crest College
• College of Lake County
• College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
• CUNY Kingsborough Community College
• CUNY Queensborough Community College
• Delaware County Community College
• Dixie State University
• Fort Valley State University
• Georgia Highlands College
• Haverford College
• Holy Names University
• Hope College
• Iona College
• James Madison University
• La Salle University
• Loyola Marymount University
• Maryland Institute College of Art
• Marymount University
• Mercer County Community College
• Miami Dade College
• Middlesex Community College
• Misericordia University
• Montgomery College
• New York University
• Northern Virginia Community College
• Northwest Missouri State University
• Pasadena City College
• Penn State University, Brandywine
• Pepperdine University
• Portland Community College
• Rollins College
• Rutgers University–Camden
• Seton Hall University
• Sonoma State University
• Southeast Missouri State University
• St. Petersburg Higher Education Consortium for Racial Justice
• Suffolk University
• SUNY Plattsburgh
• The College of New Jersey
• The University of Toledo
• Thomas Nelson Community College
• Tougaloo College
• Trinity College
• University of California Davis Health
• University of Hawaii at Hilo
• University of Minnesota–Rochester
• University of Mount Union
• University of Northern Iowa
• University of St. Thomas
• Western Michigan University
• Westminster College

The following existing TRHT Campus Center host institutions will send teams to the 2021 Institute: