Dr. Jennifer L. Walton-Fisette will present the 2022 Esther Larson McGinnis Scholar Lecture, “Be the Change: Engaging in Pedagogies of Social Justice in Physical Education and Human Movement,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 19, in the Brown Ballroom III in Illinois State University’s Bone Student Center. A reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.
The annual Esther Larson McGinnis Scholar Lecture is presented by Illinois State’s School of Kinesiology and Recreation.
Walton-Fisette stresses that social justice and equity needs to be central when engaging in scholarly and pedagogical work related to physical education and human movement. In her presentation she will cover her scholarly work related to social justice in physical education teacher education and issues with equity and social justice within policy work.
“It is well documented that for decades, social justice has been marginalized within physical education, kinesiology, and recreation scholarship and programs of study,” said Walton-Fisette. “But we are at a time in our history, especially within the U.S., where we cannot hide, gloss over, or explicitly neglect the identities and positionalities of the people we research and teach and their histories and lived experiences. Today, in 2022, it is our collective responsibility to espouse a social justice and equity perspective and approach to our research and pedagogy.”
Walton-Fisette is director of teacher education and professor of physical education teacher education at Kent State University. She holds a Doctorate of Education in physical education teacher education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She has more than 40 refereed journal publications, four books, and over 80 state, national, and international conference presentations, in the areas of curriculum, teaching and learning, pedagogical practices, and social justice issues related to physical education. Her current scholarship centers on social justice, equity, and policy issues within physical education at the K-12 and higher education levels.
