The College of Education and Human Ecology Inspire Podcast
The Ohio State University Inspire podcast
The motivation for change comes in strange and unsettling ways. In this podcast series, faculty and alumni at Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology tell how they discovered their calling, sometimes against incredible odds.
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Episodes

Religious faith is diversity, too. Higher ed should embrace it
College students shape and strengthen their beliefs by interacting with peers from different faith backgrounds. That’s a very good thing, research shows.

Student mental health: A crisis years in the making
Hope. School belongingness. More trained professionals. We know how to fix the mental health challenges facing American youth. So why aren't more schools putting those strategies to work?

Gen Z’s thrifting ninjas save cash, help the planet
Young consumers mean serious business when they shop resale, and their eclectic, eco-minded style is anything but cliché. Ohio State students and Fashion Retail Studies faculty offer tips for scoring big in thrift stores.

Love matters: Kindness, belonging might just save us
Science quantifies the need for love, caring relationships and belonging. It could be the cure to a hurting world. But who knew that giving a little kindness could also heal the giver?

Athletes who lead the charge for civil rights
Sports have for decades been a platform for social activism. Today, athletes from the WNBA to college campuses are speaking out more than ever against the injustice they and others face.

When the school bus stops coming: Young adults with IDDs
Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities face an uncertain future when they graduate from high school. How can families and individuals navigate the next steps? Experts and adults with IDDs weigh in.
Materials contained within this podcast are copyrighted property of The Ohio State University.

Going deep — and wide — into lifelong learning
What Jeopardy championships and educational psychologists say about smart thinking, and how almost anyone can achieve deep and meaningful learning

Smart boards and handguns: Ohio teachers gear up for class
A revised Ohio gun law arms teachers after 24 hours of training. Education researchers see unintended consequences and better ways to stop school shootings.

How to talk to kids about race
Conversations about race are tough. How adults handle them can change the way kids see each other. Experts offer tips to handle hard questions and empower kids to know their worth.

Why we put off dealing with procrastination
You tell yourself it can wait until tomorrow — that you work best under pressure. That’s a lie. Procrastination is self-sabotage, researchers say, and it’s easier to correct than you think.

Cutting Edge: Changing Ideas About Sustainable Fashion
The clothing we buy is putting a strain on the environment. Can innovators restyle an industry to remake and redo, rather than do more harm? A researcher and a forward-thinking designer share their vision.

Dying to learn: Anxiety in aftermath of Uvalde shooting
The day after a gunman killed 21 in Texas, millions of parents nervously returned kids to school. How will adults — and kids — deal with their fear when summer break ends?

Stolen from her tribe, now she's fighting back
Adopted by a white family at 18 months, Sandy White Hawk lost her family, her heritage and her compass. Now she’s partnering with an Ohio State researcher to show the impact of adoption on Native children and to save the law that could have saved her.

Teachers are calling it quits. It's time for a reset
Surveys indicate record numbers of teachers will quit their jobs. But COVID didn’t create the crisis, they say. It’s been building for some time.

Parenting students: The ‘invisible’ population on campus
More than one in five American college students are also parents. They struggle to find belonging, flexibility and resources in higher education. But they are not giving up.

The Making of an Academic Phenom
Her research centers Black women and girls in education. But few people expected a girl from East Saint Louis to become what Lori Patton Davis has.

When Kids Come Out: How Parents and Schools Tip the Balance
The response families, teachers and friends give to LBGTQ+ youth follows them throughout their lives. The consequences couldn’t be higher.

LGBTQ students: Authentic and daring to be free
Students who identify as LGBTQ want the same things their classmates enjoy. The space to learn. Not to be “othered.” How can higher education take allyship to the next level?

International students: 'The worst year but the best year'
Ohio State students from China to Syria navigate education, isolation and fear during a pandemic that impacts them in different ways.

Black English is fire, even in class
So much of American expression comes straight from Black English, a.k.a. African American Vernacular English. But you won't find this colorful and dynamic language taught in schools. Ohio State education researchers say Black students need their language heritage to finally be validated.

Grappling with the Land Grant truth
Ohio State Professor Stephen Gavazzi learned a painful truth about Land Grant Universities — just after his book on the subject went to press. Now he’s working with a team of Ohio State faculty to find a path to healing harm done to indigenous tribes when they lost lands to fund the university through the Morrill Act of 1862.

History’s echo chamber: Teaching perspectives to stop destructive patterns
Faculty who prepare social studies teachers weigh in on the way we learn history and how we don't need to be destined to repeat it.

Onward: Building diversity on American campuses
As college students, they struggled against a system that often made them feel inadequate. Now Ohio State leaders, Ayanna Howard, James Moore and Don Pope-Davis are creating change and showing how everyone benefits from diversity on campus.

Missed genius: When gifted students are overlooked
A Black boy from Brooklyn flew under the radar in American schools. Now he’s a professor and researcher of underrepresentation in gifted education. How many others are left behind?
Not your model minority: Asian students speak out
Attacks on Asians and Asian Americans have escalated, but students at Ohio State University are not taking it sitting down. Asian American and Pacific Islander students and faculty speak up, shedding light on 150 years of oppression.

Schooled in racial bias: Unraveling harm in K-12 education
Disparities in discipline and academics have for decades hurt students of color. Now communities are ending the silence about racism in K-12 education. We talk to scholars and educators about addressing a history of wrongdoing toward marginalized students.

A couture dress in a thrift store, a story about race
A thrift store debutante gown turns out to be a creation by Ann Lowe, the first Black designer and maker of Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress. Behind the exquisite stitchery, a tale of race and daunting odds.

Racial Reckoning: Black students tell their stories
Five Black Ohio State students tell the shocking stories of racism they've endured, and how "emotionally exhausting" being young and Black in America can be. How educators can help, and how these students intend to turn the tide through education.

Fighting hunger through science
She grew up sheltered from poverty in her comfortable home in Ghana. But when Irene Hatsu came face-to-face with extreme hunger, she decided to do something about it. At Ohio State, the associate professor of nutrition teams up with a top researcher to help a vulnerable population in novel ways.

Year of upheaval and innovation: 1968
Michael Allen came to Ohio State in the late ’60s expecting to study under leading experts in human engineering. Instead, he pioneered computer-based educational technology at the university, commanding the attention of IBM, Apple and other technology heavy-weights.

Throwing the shackles off mathematics
Mathematics works to hold some people back: Children fitting a stereotype are encouraged to think; others are told to follow. 9/11 changed Associate Professor Theodore Chao’s purpose. He’s out to prevent math trauma by helping children engage in mathematics in “amazing and deep ways.”

Awakened to privilege: ‘Rich white guy’ finds the sweet spot
Higher education expert and Flesher Professor Matthew Mayhew believes that college is "the great intervention" that motivates students to understand difference — in race, religion and world view. How did an evangelical Christian who grew up with packaged privilege come to that conclusion?

Black and gifted: A trailblazer’s backstory
Nationally recognized expert Donna Ford tells her backstory on being gifted, black and poor in East Cleveland, and how it motivated her to create change for gifted children of color.