Dr. Rodney Coates will be introducing the Penny Lecture Series. The 2018 theme is Global Identities and Social Movements.
Dr. Coates believes that teaching, research and service are mutually reinforcing, dynamically interacting, and synergistically intertwined. As a public sociologist, Coates recognizes that the boundaries between these different aspects of his existence are always blurred and in many ways constitute a learning matrix and that students add a transformative element into this learning matrix.
The classroom, for Coates, thus becomes a crucible where all of these elements come together to provide a space for discovery, interrogation, experimentation, and creativity. Coates' first discovery within the classroom was the realization that this dynamic process works best when it is driven by critical inquiry. He challenges students to be active agents within this process; and his role is that of a facilitator and guide. Coates' pedagogical strategy is to create the learning atmosphere where these various dynamic elements thrive.
Rodney Coates has research and teaching expertise in critical pedagogy, critical race theory, race and ethnic relations, stratification, human rights and social justice, educational sociology, political processes, urban sociology, political sociology, and public sociology.
