Manpreet Dhillon Brar
Contact
Office Hours
Bio
Hear my name by following this link. I acknowledge that I am doing this work on the unceded Indigenous homeland of the Serrano (Yuhaaviatam) first nation in San Bernardino. Every member of the campus community including myself has benefitted and continues to benefit from the use and occupation of this land since the institution's founding in 1965. Therefore, we all have an obligation to take actions that support Indigenous sovereignty.
I am a teacher-scholar meaning I value teaching first as an important part of my scholarship, very much rooted in my personal experiences. In addition to being an educator, I am also a diversity and equity consultant, a researcher, an activist, and started my career as a first-generation college and immigrant student, having transferred from a community college to a 4-year university, ultimately to join the Coyote pack!
I am currently serving as the faculty co-advisor for the CSUSB Child Development Club. If you are interested in getting connected with the student clubs or learning more, reach out or find us on social media!
Spring 2023 Student Office Hours: Mondays 1-2pm, Wednesdays Noon-1pm or by appointment. Schedule to meet with me via this link to my calendar.
Education
A.A., Taft College in Social Sciences (2011)
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Psychology (2014)
M.A., UCLA in Education (2018)
Ph.D., UCLA in Education from the division of Human Development & Psychology (2020)
Courses/Teaching
CD 2205 (Diversity in Child Development) - teaching in Spring 2023
CD2240 (Introduction to Child Development)
CD 3310 (Applied Research Methods) - teaching in Spring 2023
CD 4405 (Effective Interactions, Activities, and Programs with School Age and Adolescent Children)
CD 5531 (Effective, Inclusive, and Equitable Practices in Child Development)
CD 5697/98 (Honors Seminars in Child Development) - teaching in Spring 2023
CD 6640 (Advanced Research Methods) - teaching in Spring 2023
Research and Teaching Interests
A key element of my teaching philosophy and praxis is using student-centered and student-directed design to foster key skills such as critical thinking, learning through exploration and experience, as well as connecting knowledge to real world implications.
I broadly study intergroup relations during childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Specifically, in my research, I aim to unpack experiences of marginalization across young people who hold multiple social identities with unique challenges such as discrimination and what these young people can do in response (i.e., civic engagement). Using an interdisciplinary lens, my research specifically examines how school structural factors (e.g., school diversity) and individual factors (e.g., perceptions of discrimination) affect contribution to society (i.e., civic engagement) and intergroup relations (interactions among people of different backgrounds) across developmental periods.
I conduct my research and scholarly activities as a part of shared research teams. Specifically at CSUSB, my lab is shared with Dr. Stacy Morris.
EnAct: Engaging Action in Young People (https://enact.academic.csusb.edu/): focuses on promoting and supporting civic engagement in various forms (e.g., digitally, volunteering, activism, political) in different contexts (e.g., institutions, political, communities). In our research lab, we do our work with the goal of improving intergroup relations with attention to diversity, social identities, intersectionality, and equity. Some of our lab values include mentorship, community action, critical consciousness, accessibility, and collaboration. One of the current ongoing projects in the EnAct Lab is the BRACE study: Beliefs, Rationales, and Contexts of Engagement.