Diversity Resources Workshops Gain Momentum at Network Universities

Katherine Friedrich

After participating in the spring 2007 CIRTL Diversity Resources Workshop, graduate student facilitators are now presenting the resources at Vanderbilt University and the University of Colorado-Boulder – two universities from the CIRTL Network.

The Diversity Resources Workshop attracted faculty, staff and graduate students from CIRTL Network universities and other institutions.

“The issue of addressing diversity within classrooms is… universal,” said Diversity Resources Workshop presenter Judith Burstyn. “Realistically, all teachers need some assistance.” Burstyn collaborated with social work professor Sherrill Sellers, editor Katherine Friedrich, and engineering educator Sandra Courter to develop and deliver the training.

The Diversity Resources are a carefully compiled set of teaching materials which equip instructors to integrate inclusive methods into their courses. The spring workshop series was designed to prepare graduate students, faculty and staff to present the resources to their colleagues.

A typical Diversity Resources presentation begins with an exercise from Case Studies in Inclusive Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The resulting discussion leads people to search through the other resources to find actions they can take in response to the issues raised by the case study.  

“All the online resources are amazing,” said UC-Boulder integrative physiology student Tara Fay. She intends to draw extensively on the resources to enhance her work as a teaching assistant.  

“When I need some help, I know where to go to look for it,” said Yilen Gomez Maqueo Chew, a graduate student from Vanderbilt’s Physics and Astronomy Department. She plans to cite information from the literature review when she meets people who are not aware of equity issues in the sciences.

Chew and her colleague Martha Holmes are conducting a series of presentations for “women in science” groups at Vanderbilt. The women who participate in the workshops are at a range of seniority levels.

The case studies provide “a great way to talk about something without it being a personal discussion,” Holmes said. In their pilot presentation, the students used a case study which catalyzed a lively conversation about how directors of graduate studies can best support students. A participant suggested using case studies in other settings at the university.

At UC-Boulder, graduate students Tara Fay and Lisa Engweiler will present the resources at a fall intensive for the Graduate Teacher Program. Fay also delivered a pilot presentation in the spring.

“It’s a thing I feel strongly about… teaching to all, promoting diversity, having an inclusive classroom,” Fay said. From participating in the training, she said, she received an outline for her own inclusive teaching.

Attending a presentation on the resources is one way to begin studying – and using – inclusive teaching methods. “I hope the resource materials will help,” Burstyn said.

Burstyn and Friedrich plan to deliver a second workshop series this coming semester. Registration is currently open until August 15th.

August 10, 2007

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