Dena Samuels, PhD
University of Colorado -- Colorado Springs
Dena Samuels is a sociologist specializing in race, gender, sexuality and social justice curriculum development and training. She teaches in Women’s and Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado - Colorado Springs (UCCS), and received the university’s Outstanding Instructor Award. She is also the recipient of the Student Multicultural Affairs’ honorary award for Outstanding Achievement in Diversity.
At UCCS, Samuels co-directs the annual national Knapsack Institute: Curriculum Transformation Workshop, which provides training to educators from around the country on teaching issues of diversity. As a consultant for UCCS’ Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity and Inclusion, Samuels provides seminars and consultation to campuses and organizations on the processes of integrating diversity and building inclusiveness. Further, she was instrumental in bringing to UCCS and helping to organize the award-winning national White Privilege Conference: a social justice conference that focuses on challenging social inequalities. In addition, she has created curriculum for, directed, and continues to co-facilitate the Building Inclusiveness program at UCCS, which provides diversity workshops for administration, faculty, staff, and students.
Off-campus, Samuels brings her passion for teaching inclusiveness strategies to universities, non-profits, corporations, and K12 schools around the country and beyond, to help them build inclusiveness in their organizations. Some of her clients include: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, Caring for First Nations Society in British Columbia, Millersville University in Pennsylvania, Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, The Citadel Military Institute of South Carolina, the U.S. Air Force Academy, University of Denver, Stanley British Primary School, Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group, and the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado. She has been consulting on social justice issues since 2003.
Among her many publications in the pedagogy of social justice, Samuels is co-editor of the anthology, The Matrix Reader: Examining the Dynamics of Oppression and Privilege (McGraw-Hill, 2009), and author of Teaching Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality (McGraw-Hill, 2009), a teaching guide that accompanies this volume. The teaching guide includes strategies for managing emotions and resistance in the classroom; when you order The Matrix Reader, you get an access code to an online version of the teaching guide.
Samuels has been interviewed by local news stations on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. She has also been interviewed by Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance. She holds a PhD in Educational Leadership, Research, and Policy from UCCS, an M.A. in Sociology from UCCS, and a B.A. in Politics from Brandeis University.
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