Hewlett grant boosts diversity teaching

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

unding for small grants to faculty using innovative approaches to teaching social and cultural diversity in their courses has been made available through a Hewlett grant on pluralism and unity. And a related faculty seminar will have monthly meetings throughout the academic year.

     Co-principal investigator for the Hewlett grant, Maurianne Adams, alerted deans and department heads earlier this month that nine to 18 grants of $500 to $1,000 are available to support new curricular and pedagogical approaches used in courses this semester and in the spring. The deadline to apply for the funding is Sept. 24, and the awarding of the grants will be done by a committee made up of members of the General Education Council.

     Faculty who receive funding will be requested to participate in the spring meetings of the seminar to share experiences from teaching diversity in their courses. They and others also will be asked to attend a Hewlett-funded campus conference next September.

     "One of the things the Faculty Senate voted last May was to amend the diversity requirement," said Ralph Faulkingham, chair of the General Education Council. "There is now a domestic and a non-domestic diversity requirement. We as a faculty don't really have a very strong sense of what we're supposed to be doing with the diversity requirement, which is to help students to really, fully grasp an alternative perspective, to see [that] life is socially defined.

     "The purpose of the seminar is to have faculty who teach diversity classes come together. I think the conversations can be very productive."

     "This is part of a larger grant from the Hewlett program that had a faculty side and a student side," said Adams, an associate professor of Education. "The student side is a program to help students both in the classroom and residence halls to develop understanding and knowledge and friendship across their social and cultural differences. Our hope is that faculty who have these grants will use these as a chance to share what they are learning with other faculty.

     "I think there is a real hunger among faculty who teach diversity courses to talk to one another. This is a good chance to share our experience and develop a kind of campus wisdom. We'll be giving the grants until the money is gone."

     The first meeting of the seminar is Tuesday, Sept. 25 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in 162-175 Lincoln Campus Center. A light luncheon will be served from noon to 12:30. Call Joanne Provost at 5-3610 to reserve a place.