The Gevirtz School’s Diversity and Equity Committee at UC Santa Barbara presents the free and open to the public presentation/training “Body Size Diversity: Prejudice and Privilege” on May 16 from 3-5 pm in Education Room 1217. The event will be led by Dr. Michael I. Loewy, Director of the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program at the California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University and Dr. Nathaniel C. Pyle, Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Santa Barbara City College.
Dr. Pyle and Dr. Loewy will empower participants to take a new perspective on diversity issues related to body image, weight prejudice, and thin privilege by presenting research and facilitat¬ing meaningful conversation. The presentation will focus on how these issues may be problem¬atic within families, schools and the communities. Participants will gain insight into clinical and ethical considerations of these realities. The training will also offer practitioners and educators strategies to address weight prejudice and thin privilege within schools, universities, clinical set¬tings, as well as society at large. The presentation will also highlight the importance of diversity considerations to include a perspective of Health at Every Size®, a common sense paradigm that does not rely on weight as barometer of health, for the practice of building an inclusive community in a workplace, educational setting, and among individuals.
Michael I Loewy, Ph.D., is Director of the Clinical Psychology PHD Program at California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP), Alliant International University, San Francisco. Dr. Loewy completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara in 1994. He has been a fat and queer activist since the 1980s. His research and scholarship focus on topics related to diversity including social justice in psychology and psychotherapy, multicultural competence, intersecting identities, health at every size (fat acceptance), and sexual and gender diversity. He also focuses on social privilege and oppression as it relates to body size, appearance, sexual orientation, race, gender, gender expression, religion, age, and social class.
Nathaniel C. Pyle, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Santa Barbara City College. Dr. Pyle completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in 2012 in the Department of Sociology at UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Pyle is a Fat Studies Scholar who has published articles in the Fat Studies Reader and a chapter entitled, “Fat, Hairy, Sexy: Bears and Big Men as Social Movement Actors,” In C. Bobel and S. Kwan’s edited volume (2011) Embodied Resistance. Dr. Pyle has given numerous professional presentations on bears and big men as social movement actors, fat studies and fat activism.
Drs. Pyle and Loewy co-teach a 15 hour doctoral level seminar each summer at CSPP in Fat Studies/Health at Every Size®/Size Acceptance for mental health professionals.
Although the event is free and open to the public, the event planners request that you please RSVP by May 14 to http://goo.gl/nLLWg9 to help aid in planning. The event is co-sponsored by The Graduate Division, the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Academic Policy.