There are at least two things about Emily Brier that would be of interest to listeners of this podcast. First, she’s innovative educator that has thought a lot about and built her courses around inclusive, accessible, and socially just pedagogy. Second, she’s a poet who writes about the relationships between food, women, and Queerness in Appalachia (she’s also done a lot of work with the Appalachian Studies Association).

I first became familiar with Emily after a colleague sent me a copy of her article in SPECTRA (linked below) about pedagogy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. That article was so good that it led me down a rabbit hole of trying to track down everything Emily has written. Through that process I learned that she has a Twitter account (also linked below and which you should peruse) that is a treasure trove of insights about equity within higher-education.

Though I’ve only been familiar with Emily for the past year or so, things that I’ve learned from her have led me to substantially rethink how I approach teaching and education in general. So, it’s my distinct pleasure to share my conversation with her.

Links: https://www.emilybrier.com/ https://www.wcu.edu/faculty/ebrier.aspx https://spectrajournal.org/articles/10.21061/spectra.v8i2.180/ https://www.appalachianstudies.org/ https://twitter.com/Emily_Brier_