In 2000, with the assistance and support of Vice President Charlie Nelms, FACET (Faculty Colloquium for Excellence in Teaching) began a three-year exploration of a topic of vital concern to leaders in higher education, Infusing Diversity and Equity into the Curriculum. During the three years, through the vehicles of a week long summer faculty leadership institute and the annual Enhancing Minority Attainment Conference, faculty and staff worked to develop and test a range of strategies to enhance teaching and learning, as well as to promote faculty leadership in academic and institutional transformation. During the three years, Purdue University, Ball State University, and Ivy Tech College, Bloomington have joined as partners in this endeavor.

Year 1-2000 32 faculty attended the summer institute and 166 faculty/staff attended the EMA conference.

Faculty Leadership Institute – June 2000
Leadership Institute Outcomes
Faculty will be able to:

• Envision what a course, curriculum, and institution would look like after
  multicultural change.
• Recognize the dynamics of the hidden curriculum in college classrooms
• Outline a plan for curriculum transformation
• Envision themselves as faculty leaders on their campus

Institute Presenters and Topics

• Rationale for the Infusion of Diversity and Equity – Dr. Sylvia Hurtado, University of Michigan
• Changing Pedagogy for Increased Student Success, Kolb Learning Inventory – Dr. Craig Nelson, Indiana University.
• The Diversity Opportunity Tool: Diversity from the Student Perspective – Alma Clayton-Pederson, AAC&U

Enhancing Minority Attainment Conference – November, 2000
EMA Conference Outcomes
Three issues were addressed:

• What Does it Mean to Transform the Curriculum?
• What Student Learning Outcomes Can We Expect From Graduates Who Attend A Transformed Institution?
• How Do We Make Diversity Work Count Within the University Reward Structure?

Conference Presenters and Topics

• Curriculum Transformation, Dr. Betty Schmitz, Director of Curriculum Transformation, University of Washington
• The Denny’s Case Study, Dr. Hood Phillips, Director of Diversity, Denny’s Corporation
• Facilitating Institutional Transformation, Dr. Susan Jeffords, Divisional Dean of Social Sciences, University of Washington

Year 2 – 2001 42 faculty attended the Institute, 159 faculty/staff attended the EMA Conference

Faculty Leadership Institute – June 2001
Institute Outcomes
Faculty will be able to:

• Envision what a course, curriculum, and institution would look like after multicultural change
• Facilitate the growth and development of others in the curriculum change process
• Design an assessment plan to document progress in the curriculum change process
• Envision themselves as faculty leaders on their campus

Institute Presenters and Topics

• Defining Multicultural Teaching, Christine Stanley, Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Texas A&M University
• Facilitating the Growth and Development of Others in the Change Process, Mathew Ouellett, Associate Director of the Center for Teaching, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Designing an Assessment Plan to Document Progress, Nancy Chism, Office of Professional Development, IUPUI

EMA Conference – November 2001
Conference Outcomes

• Instruct faculty development staff on how to prepare instructors to infuse diversity and equity in the curriculum.
• Increase self-awareness about the biases and prejudices faculty and staff bring to their work.
• Help everyone envision what a course, curriculum, and institution would look like after multicultural change.

Conference Presenters and Topics

• “Privilege, Power, and Social Identity,” Allan Johnson, Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies, Hartford College for Women of the University of Hartford.
• “Transforming Course Content and Pedagogy for Our Multicultural World, “ A.T. Miller, Coordinator of Multicultural Teaching and Learning in the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan.
• “Institutionalizing Diversity Efforts,” Felicia Scott, Director, Department of Multicultural Services, Texas A&M.
• “Sustaining Institutional Transformation: Lessons Learned from the ACE Project on Leadership and Change,” Barbara Hill, former President, Sweet Briar College.

Year 3 -2002 45 faculty attended the Institute, 160 faculty/staff attended the EMA Conference

Faculty Leadership Institute-June 2002
Institute Outcomes
Faculty will be able to:

• Envision what a major and academic program would look like after multicultural change.
• Facilitate the growth and development of others in the major curriculum change process
• Design an assessment plan to document progress in the major curriculum change process
• Envision themselves as faculty leaders on their campus

Institute Presenters and Topics

• Overview of student and young adult development, Dr. Marcia Baxter Magolda-Baxter, Professor of Educational Leadership, Miami University
• Overview of how to design an ability-based diversity curriculum, Dr. Jeana Abromeit, Professor of Sociology, Alverno College

EMA Conference – November 2002

This was the final session of the three-year diversity initiative. At this meeting each campus shared their progress and development in this effort. Dr. James Anderson also spoke to us on “The Scholarship of Diversity.”

Campus Outcomes for the Three-Year Initiative

Indiana University Kokomo

• Developed a diversity web page as a resource for faculty and staff.
• Developed a diversity network of faculty and staff to sustain the campus diversity effort.
• Added a diversity section to the faculty annual report – All faculty are asked to address their diversity curriculum efforts each year and these efforts are considered in their merit increase.
• Made a commitment to continue to host the Enhancing Minority Attainment Conference

Indiana University South Bend
The faculty focused their work on the impact of diversity on the general education plan they were putting together. They addressed the question of how to infuse diversity and equity in the general education curriculum to help insure that students were prepared to live and work in a diverse world. They also formed a Working Group on Diversity, which has recently completed a survey of the campus climate for students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis formed a group called DIG, Diversity Inquiry Group, at the 2000 Institute. This group tackled the issue of how to address the worrisome retention experience the institution has had with first generation students, especially African American and Latino students. The group identified faculty work in the classroom as the most promising area for efforts at improving the retention and success of these students. The first phase of the project included a needs analysis of current classroom practices as they related to retention, a literature search on the retention of first generation and minority students, and a series of focus group interviews to capture the voices of first-generation students, particularly African-American and Latino students about their experiences at IUPUI under current practices. As a result of this work, the DIG group has produced an on-line diversity resource for faculty, and they have developed strategies for faculty teaching first year courses that will enable them to address the needs of these students.

Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne
The 2000 Fort Wayne team returned to their campus determined to transform curriculum and pedagogy at their institution to reflect the diversity principles published by the campus. As a result, in fall 2000 they conducted focus group interviews with faculty to determine what they needed to infuse diversity content into their courses. They sponsored a full-day workshop in March 2001 titled “Diversity Matters.” With funding from a grant, matched by funds from their Chancellor, they awarded five course transformation grants. All five courses have now been taught at least once. Finally, they sponsored a three-day Diversity Institute in June 2003. At this Institute faculty came prepared to discuss their course and major transformation efforts.

Indiana University Bloomington
The first team to attend the Leadership Institute from IUB created the Freshman Learning Project, which supports faculty as they work together to find new ways to help students learn more in large introductory courses. The program rests on the assumption that the process of rethinking approaches to teaching is best done within a community of teachers and is best disseminated within that same community. Each year since 1996, the Freshman Learning Project takes a cohort of faculty leaders through an intensive examination of strategies for increasing learning in large classes and then works with them in subsequent years to spread the ideas they have developed across the campus. In a two-week summer session, faculty study the literature on successful developments in teaching and learning, sit in on a class in a discipline different from their own, participate in a student focus group, and then design innovative lessons, which they present to the group.

The program has recently been expanded and in the years 2003-2007 the program will sponsor intensive seminars that will address several widely shared pedagogical problems: How do faculty “teach” diversity? How do we talk and get our students to talk about diversity in productive and scholarly ways? How can we exploit diversity to broaden and deepen learning experiences of all of our students? Faculty have been overwhelmingly positive about the FLP program. This is a positive step for a Research I Institution where faculty are more directed to research than teaching. One fellow stated: “The FLP experience was a great way to interact with colleagues regarding teaching and to be exposed to a diversity of approaches for helping students to learn. As a consequence of attending the workshop I have irreversibly altered my view of how to teach effectively and have tried, both successfully and unsuccessfully, to pass this view on to others. I am invigorated and less naïve than before the workshop.” Another participant stated, “FLP was the only serious experience on teaching that I’ve had in 10 years at Indiana University. It’s been inspiring on many levels.”

Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs
Bryan Hall 115, Bloomington, IN 47405-7000, USA
(812) 856-5700

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