Faculty Spotlight - Dr. Sybil Durand

Dr. Sybil Durand

1. What drives the work that you do including your scholarship as well as any other work you'd like to highlight?

My research, teaching, and service all revolve around young adult literature written by authors from racially and linguistically diverse communities. My ultimate goal is to create spaces that center these stories so that students and teachers, particularly those from historically marginalized and resilient communities, can feel validated and expand their understanding of youth/themselves. My work is also driven by creating opportunities for youth to not only engage the social issues in the books but also learn effective methods to take action on similar issues in their communities.

For example, a forthcoming article in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, “‘We Want to Help our Community’: Fostering Youth Civic Agency in a Third Space," co-authored with Dr. Taucia Gonzalez and Dr. Melanie Bertrand, explores how the afterschool program we designed, which included young adult books and youth-led research, supported youth to develop civic agency—their ability to envision and enact change for the collective good.

2. What fuels your passion?

I am passionate about helping others achieve their goals and improve their lives through my work—whether through teaching critical concepts or books with underexplored cultural perspectives, supporting youth of color to become active members in their communities, or creating spaces where teachers feel empowered to design meaningful learning opportunities.

3. What advice would you give your younger self? Or, if you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?

My advice to my younger self would be to be bold and ask for what you want—there is everything to gain and nothing to lose!