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Educating for a Democracy in Question

30-Minute Session

Remembering with Courage, Reimagining with Purpose: Educating for Democracy by Confronting History, Cultivating Transformative Change

Thursday, January 22, 2026
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: Mint - Level M4

    Primary Presenter(s)

  • Sarah Reardon

    Program Officer
    Jessie Ball duPont Fund, United States

    • Co-Presenter(s)

  • Kv

    Kirt von Daacke

    Research Professor, University of Virginia, and Executive Director, Universities Studying Slavery
    University of Virginia, United States

  • CE

    Caroline Emmons

    Elliott Professor of History
    Hampden-Sydney College, United States

  • Geoff Pollick

    Associate Professor of Religious Studies
    Radford University, United States

How can confronting an institution’s past serve as a powerful act of democracy—and a foundation for a more inclusive future for students? This thirty-minute session will feature a diverse panel from Radford University, Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Virginia, and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund—each confronting histories of slavery, segregation, and exclusion. These institutions are embedding historical reckoning into place- and project-based learning that cultivates democratic habits such as critical thinking, discourse, and collaborative problem-solving. Their work highlights how historical research can inform institutional change and transform campuses into living laboratories for democratic renewal. Through this panel session, participants will explore the complexity and promise of higher education’s role in building a pluralistic democracy—preparing students not only to understand the past but to engage meaningfully in shaping a more inclusive future.