A Pedagogy of Kindness

The University Writing Program is excited to host two important book group discussions for faculty, staff, and administrators interested in exploring fresh ideas about teaching and learning. Our first book for Fall 2025 addresses the ways that extreme stress in higher education, especially since COVID, can lead faculty away from kindness and how we might get back to it as teachers and learners — and most importantly, how doing so can create better learning environments for our students. History professor Catherine J. Denial’s recent book A Pedagogy of Kindness offers us a vision of teaching that is rooted in an ethical imperative to be kind to others. Our second book group will focus on teaching in the age of AI – be on the lookout for that announcement in September!

Join Dr. Will Banks, Director of University Writing Program, and 20 faculty from across campus as we explore together what kindness can look like in our classrooms.

From the publisher’s website: 

“Academia is not, by and large, a kind place. Individualism and competition are what count. But without kindness at its core, Catherine Denial suggests, higher education fails students and instructors—and its mission—in critical ways. A Pedagogy of Kindness articulates a fresh vision for teaching, one that focuses on ensuring justice, believing people, and believing in people. Offering evidence-based insights and drawing from her own rich experiences as a professor, Denial offers practical tips for reshaping syllabi, assessing student performance, and creating trust and belonging in the classroom. Her suggestions for concrete, scalable actions  outline nothing less than a transformational discipline—one in which, together, we create bright new spaces, rooted in compassion, in which all engaged in teaching and learning might thrive.”

Reviewers write:

“In implementing the pedagogy of kindness, she envisions not only a more welcoming student environment but one that promotes more successful faculty and students. […] Where Denial succeeds brilliantly, however, is in bringing her thoughts together as a manifesto, leaving little room for valid criticism of a pedagogy of kindness.”

– Kristal Kinloch-Taylor and Annette Finley-Croswhite, Old Dominion University

“Catherine J. Denial’s book functions well as both practical advice and as a manifesto—diagnosing the smaller and larger problems of teaching in higher education and offering corrective techniques. Her suggestions work at the level of classroom conduct and planning a class, as well as the broader institution of the culture of the school itself.”

– Matt Evans, Political Science Educator 

Podcasts/Videos:

• Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast Episode 467
• “What Is a Pedagogy of Kindness?” (Interview excerpt with author Cate Denial)

This book group is sponsored by the University Writing Program. For additional information, please contact Will Banks (banksw@ecu.edu).