Equity-Minded Teaching and Learning Institute
What is the Equity-Minded Teaching and Learning Institute (EMTLI)?
A year-long cohort model of professional development for full and part-time faculty grounded in equity-minded approaches, including Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Gloria Ladson-Billings), Culturally Responsive Teaching (Geneva Gay), and Community Cultural Wealth (Tara Yosso). The institute is firmly committed to social justice education and views the classroom as a site for social change.
What is the purpose of the EMTLI?
The purpose of the EMTLI is to improve the student experience and eliminate equity gaps by promoting a culture that validates students’ identities, abilities, and community cultural wealth; and that engages students through culturally relevant practices and curriculum.
What are the goals of the EMTLI?
- Support practitioners in the use of racially disaggregated data to identify strengths and weaknesses in their own practice, better understand their equity data stories, and set goals to achieve more equitable outcomes.
- Promote inquiry and practitioner self-reflection about their perceptions and practices, especially in relation to historically racially marginalized communities.
- Promote a critical analysis of the history of race and racism, oppression and intersectionality, the myth of a meritocratic society, and how they impact Higher Education and campus culture.
- Support practitioners in implementing changes to integrate community cultural wealth and other culturally responsive approaches, and engaging in ongoing assessment of their practices.
- Support practitioners in creating an e-portfolio with the following components:
- First semester reflection and goals
- Course mantra
- Teaching philosophy
- Syllabus changes
- Welcome letter and welcome video
- Project outline/plan
- Grading philosophy and structure
- Equity-minded curriculum changes
- Final reflection
- Demonstrate a wide variety of equitable practices and strategies related to teaching, counseling, and library and career services in order to develop trust and more meaningful relationships between faculty and students.
- Promote collaborative learning and innovation among faculty from different disciplines.
- Equip practitioners with tools to engage in meaningful, sustainable institutional change to advance Cuyamaca College’s Vision of Equity, Excellence, and Social Justice through Education.
When and where are the 2025-2026 EMTLI sessions?
The sessions will be in person on selected Thursdays from 4:00-6:00pm:
| Fall 2025 | Spring 2026 |
| August 21 | February 5 |
| September 4 | February 19 |
| September 18 | March 5 |
| October 2 | March 19 |
| October 16 | April 9 |
| November 6 | April 23 |
| November 20 | May 7 |
| December 4 | May 21 |
Questions about EMTLI?
Contact Karla Gutiérrez (Karla.Gutierrez@gcccd.edu), Teaching & Learning Co-Coordinator