Crystal Anderson has been working as a full time staff member at Cabrini University for about five years. She is very passionate about teaching both undergraduate and graduate level. She teaches in the department of Educational Policy and Leadership.
The goal in all her courses is to help her students realize their own citizenship identity and for them to understand their responsibilities and commitment that is required to fight for both civil and human rights. In the upcoming months Anderson is currently teaching an ECG 200 course for Latin Americans called “The educational experiences of Latin Americans.” This is the second semester that Anderson has been teaching this course. She is very passionate about the content of this course has to offer. It helps students with the issues that are affecting the larger Spanish speaking population. She believes it has the power to transform their ways of thinking of the circumstances that we are in. The course will be able to provide a framework for understanding the complex issues that we are dealing with as a nation today.
“To provide deeper compassion or to build compassion around the border and migration” Anderson said.
Anderson’s favorite subject to teach is citizenship and human rights. She believes that no human can ever be illegal. The goal for all her courses is to help her students realize what they can accomplish in life.
She is very inspired by the ‘me too’ movement as it hit close to home for Professor Anderson. She has followed it since the beginning and felt very empowered of it for being a survivor. She feels that the mission of all of the “me too” is the healing process. She feels that instead of blaming and accountability it’s important that you find healing and compassion for yourself.
Healing is a long process that takes time. There are different ways on how you can heal, but “only you know best” Anderson said.
Anderson had the opportunity to speak at Tarana Burke’s event. Anderson’s husband and his brother are the sons of Martha Willis Dale and the grandson of Ivy Willis, they were the one that awarded Tarana Burke the 2019 Ivy Young Willis and Martha Willis Dale Award. She felt incredibly honored to be at the event and to speak.
“The hour had really transformative possibilities for our students, I know that students that let her words speak to them are going to be transformed,” Anderson said.
Anderson gave some great advice to her students before and after college. She wants her to students have passion in what they are doing with their work in life.
“It’s so important that students find a passion,” Anderson said.
Having a passion will help you build enthusiasm in your life so work won’t just feel like work, you will be able to enjoy what you are doing. Finding passion in your life may take some time but that’s why we go to college and figure out what we can find our passion in.
