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The purpose of the study is to analyze how the popular comic book series DC Graphic Novel for Young Adults depicts superhero, civilian and villains of color in the titles and address how the collection engages in or avoids discussions of racism.

This study uses a critical race content analysis to analyze how characters of color are represented in the DC Graphic Novel for Young Adults collection.

The findings demonstrate the series’ uneven attempts at writing about race and racism. The DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults illustrates more radical politics in some titles but reifies dominant beliefs in others. The analysis also shows how many titles approach discussions of oppression from a single axis approach rather than an intersectional one. The series strives for racial diversity and justice; sometimes achieving the goal, but not always.

The study demonstrates how the DC Graphic Novel for Young Adults constructs hegemonic ideas of “appropriateness” about race, racism and readership in some titles while offering explicit discussions about race and racism in others.

The authors outline potential ways English teachers can position titles in the DC Graphic Novel for Young Adults in English classrooms to develop students’ racial literacies.

This paper provides an analysis of superhero comics produced specifically for adolescent readers and written by an intentional racially diverse cohort of authors. The methodology can inform future studies of graphic novels for adolescent readers.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the components of a sustainability transdisciplinary education model (STEM), a contemporary approach linking art, science, and community, that were developed to provide university and K‐12 students, and society at large shared learning opportunities. The goals and application of the STEM curriculum will be discussed.

The STEM integrates the sciences, arts and aesthetics, and the university with the greater New Britain community, and beyond. Academic areas included geography, environmental science, communication, art history, aesthetics, and teacher education. The transdisciplinary methodology was integrated in a learner‐centered design. To achieve a cycle of community engagement regarding sustainability, university students were placed within the greater New Britain community. This included interaction with K‐12 urban public schools, the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA), numerous nongovernmental organizations, state and federal governmental elected officials, and the general public.

As a result of the mutual learning implicit in the STEM, all participants expanded each other's understandings of sustainability. Students were learning from instructors, instructors were learning from students, students were learning from students, instructors were learning from instructors, and all were learning and sharing knowledge with the greater community. As a result, all participants gained a deeper and broader understanding about human‐environment relationships and how humans impact natural resources.

Because the assignments given to the university students were authentic performance tasks embedded in sustainability issues, students developed a broader disposition for thinking and learning and therefore become metacognitive. The STEM emphasized aesthetic education, integrating science and the arts. As a result, the participants developed their ability to connect academic domains of knowledge and creatively address sustainability challenges.

The convergence of science, art, and aesthetics enabled the participants to develop a deeper spiritual awareness and understanding of eco‐justice for the promotion of a sustainable society. The STEM utilized cultural resources of the university and New Britain community (i.e. institutional members of the NBMAA and The Central Connecticut State University). Students were introduced to the concept of mutual learning with all the communities and organizations involved.