Educating the next generation of educational leaders
Timothy Berry is a lifelong Minnesotan who grew up on the North Side and is now helping prepare future school principals and district superintendents. Off campus, Berry celebrates Black culture through his talents in music and the arts. He uses both roles to remember and build on those who came before us in the effort to move ourselves forward.
Berry, who has been teaching at Minnesota State University Mankato for 13 years, is currently interim associate vice president for faculty affairs and equity initiatives. He now teaches graduate- and doctoral-level courses and advises students in developing their master’s thesis, doctoral projects, and dissertations.
Through the university’s administrative office, he is working to implement equity initiatives that improve student outcomes. “My role is teaching [and] advising as well as doing some work university-wide, particularly as it relates to racial justice.” During his time at the university, the makeup of his department’s faculty and staff has changed.
“I was the first Black professor in my department,” he says. “But since my time in the last 10-12 years, we have given intentional efforts to change that. Now the department has several other faculty [members] who are Black and brown.”
At the graduate level university-wide, there were disparities in the number of students who finished their master’s and doctoral programs. Students of color entering some programs have increased from 2% to 35% in educational leadership over the years.
“In our master’s program and our principals leadership cohort, we have pretty high graduation rates across the board, which includes our students of color,” he says. “Universally though, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Retention rates are also on the rise with decreases in the number of class dropouts, withdrawals, and failure rates. Historically, Berry says universities were created to “weed out those deemed undeserving to move to the upper echelons of society.”
With this mission, it should come as no surprise that students of color who excel during their K-12 education are met with barriers when they enter college. For students of color, this can range from implicit bias to racist ideas on university campuses. As a result, students of color are more likely than their white counterparts to experience academic probation.
Gateway courses may also be a barrier. General educational requirements such as math and science can be a sticking point for students who struggle with these subjects.
“A lot of it is faculty development and giving [faculty] a different point of view in terms of mindset when it comes to what a professor’s role is in a university,” says Berry. “If your role is to teach, that’s different than being under the understanding that [your] role is to see who…deserves to be here and who doesn’t. That’s a mindset, opposed to teach[ing] all of the human beings that I have in my time here in order to help them be successful.”
Students of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the curriculum. Derrick Bell, a founder of Critical Race Theory, talks about sickle progression and regression. Berry says we are now in a period of regression.
“You see a pushback from people on the political spectrum, especially nowadays, decid[ing] to try to legislate and/or run on banning books or banning Black history,” he says. “A number of different educators are taking it upon themselves to supplement curriculum that is being targeted with resources to help students learn.”
The work of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison is a particular target. Critics seek to create a narrow, more whitewashed representation of the U.S.’s racist history and the effects it has had on Black people.
“There are educators that are saying, ‘No, we’re going to read this,’” says Berry. “‘This is to help [students] understand the full scope of what is important [and] to read from different perspectives.’”
For Berry, education isn’t the only way to support the next generation of leaders. Creative expressions such as music, dance, and other forms of art have been the throughline for African Americans from the slavery, Jim Crow, and civil rights eras through our present-day circumstances.
Outside of the university, Berry spends time using his artistic side as a performing artist often performing with Urban Flavor Band. “We do all kinds of what people would call ‘Black forms of music’: R&B and gospel,” he says. “We do songs that are speaking to a broader message of wellbeing, uplifting, contemplating, and helping people to feel good or…reimagine their purpose.”
He has also written a full-length, spoken-word play called “Wounded Healers.” It premiered in 2019 and has since been presented to several audiences.
“It’s not just a performance where you go see a play,” says Berry. “It’s an opportunity to engage in a dialogue, too. So, part of the format is people experiencing a production and there is always a post-performance discussion.”
Berry is working to secure a production this spring and later during the summer. It is his way of remembering those who paved the way for future generations.
“I like the idea of just remembering,” Berry says. “Let’s make sure we remember, recapture, establish, and learn from those who come before us — our ancestors — in carrying their legacy forward in our work.”
Vickie Evans welcomes reader responses to vevans@spokesman-recorder.com.