The Power of Intersectional Teaching: Global Classrooms, Future Workplaces
- Rina Deshpande
- 17 hours ago
- 3 min read
On April 23, 2025, the NYU SPS I-lab hosted The Power of Intersectional Teaching: Global Classrooms, Future Workplaces. In a series of research-supported presentations, faculty members addressed how to prepare students and employees for tomorrow’s global workplaces.
What is Intersectionality?
Professor Raul Hernando Sanchez, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the I-lab at NYU SPS, introduced intersectionality as a “lens of inquiry” to think about identity, involving the consideration of all aspects of a person's identity, including how they overlap and affect their experiences (I-Lab NYU SPS, n.d.). Intersectionality helps us to see how privilege and discrimination creates challenges and/or advantages.
Attendees were asked to consider cultural and individual differences in presentation styles based on Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals: logos (logic), pathos (audience emotion), and ethos (trust in character) (Wilson, n.d.).
According to Professor Sanchez, there is a movement at NYU SPS toward an international, global presentation style that integrates logos, pathos, and ethos, using intersectional approaches to support individual and group identities.
How can we apply intersectional approaches to classrooms and industries?
In the presentation portion, expert faculty members presented their research and recommendations for how to apply an intersectional approach to classrooms and industries.
Dr. Vinnie Rege, Assistant Dean and Clinical Professor at DAUS, shared how an intersectional approach to the value-attitude-behavior (VAB) consumer psychology theory enhances practices in the hospitality industry. In particular, he focused on how the industry thrives on personalization which can encourage consumer loyalty and safety. Intersectionality can deepen the VAB model to make it more accurate, ethical, and useful. Professor Rege shared a quote that underscores how intersectionality is an ongoing practice rather than a finite solution:
“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
Dr. Liudvika Leistye, Deputy Director of Higher Education and Professor at TU Dortmund University, addressed data-based challenges and proposed solutions to support students by considering intersectionality. Common considerations include primary language, grammatically-gendered language, time limitations, ability, and more.
To manage these considerations, Professor Leistye proposes the following solutions which can evolve to learner needs over time:
Clear communication regarding expectations, including grading
Step-by-step, or scaffolded approaches, to instruction
Peer-learning
Flexibility and differentiated teaching and assessment formats
Dr. Silvia Maier, Academic Director and Clinical Professor in the Center for Global Affairs, addressed how an intersectional lens can reshape inclusive urban planning and design. Her students critically examine and challenge gendered assumptions in global and public policy and create more inclusive policies, laws, and institutions.
Professor Maier’s example assignment illustrates how intersectionality can be brought into real-world practice, illuminating what we might otherwise fail to notice: “Do a 2-hour walking tour if possible in your city or town with ‘gender glasses’ on. What design elements meet the general needs of the community?”
Dr. Yoo Kyung Chang, Clinical Professor and Academic Director of Applied Technology at DAUS, examined how intersectional teaching enhances the learning of applied technology. Professor Chang acknowledged intersectionality as a framework that takes into consideration (1) NYU SPS as a learning environment, (2) students’ identities and needs during study and beyond, (3) faculty experience and pedagogical practice, (4) rapid changes in the workplace, as well as (5) advancements in applied technology.
Dr. José Mendoza, Academic Director and Clinical Associate Professor of Integrated Marketing at DPB, presented how to integrate intersectionality into data analytics. Students in his course use Python to disaggregate diverse data sets and develop predictive models.
Toward the end of the panel, attendees reflected on larger scale ways to improve both university instruction and industry training, such as incentivizing teaching and staff training research. Universities might also consider a code, or guidelines, for practicing intersectionality in teaching within a school or even across universities.
Intersectional approaches can expand thinking and real-world impact across global cultures and evolving disciplines, transforming how we teach today. To learn more about intersectionality, visit the NYU SPS I-Lab.
References
Bennett, N. (2023, March 1). We Do Not Live Single-Issue Lives. Women’s Leadership and Resource Center, University of Illinois Chicago. https://wlrc.uic.edu/news-stories/we-do-not-live-single-issue-lives/
I-Lab NYU SPS. (n.d.). About Intersectionality. https://www.ilab.sps.nyu.edu/
Wilson, J. (n.d.). Aphorisms on Rhetoric. Harvard University. Retrieved on April 23, 2025 from https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/aphorisms/rhetoric
Image credit: New York University, London