Zuniga leads assessment of inter-group dialogue on campuses
By Patrick J. Callahan
Researchers at a group of colleges and universities, including UMass Amherst, have received two grants totaling more than $1.2 million for a three-year study of the educational benefits of inter-group dialogue in courses dealing with issues such as race, gender, ethnicity and sexuality.
Ximena Zuniga, co-principal investigator for the grants, is an assistant professor in the Department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services, Social Justice Education graduate program. She is working with Martha Stassen, director of assessment in the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment. The UMass part of the study involves courses offered in the spring semester.
Funding comes from two three-year grants—$650,000 from the W.T. Grant Foundation and $602,000 from the Ford Foundation.
Other participating schools are the University of Michigan (the lead institution), Occidental College in California, the University of Washington, the University of Maryland, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Syracuse University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of California, San Diego.
Zuniga and Stassen plan a comparative longitudinal study of student outcomes for students enrolled in dialogue courses and students in two different control groups. Survey research and a range of qualitative methods will be used to identify the factors that influence students’ development of inter-group understanding and interaction.
At UMass Amherst, dialogue courses are offered in the spring semester through a three-credit, multi-section undergraduate elective course, Exploring Differences and Common Ground, consisting of specifically identified inter-group dialogues (for example, Race/Ethnicity Dialogue, Men/Women Dialogue, Gender & Sexuality Dialogue). One of the main goals of the inter-group dialogue course is to prepare students of diverse backgrounds to develop commitment for inter-group understanding and collaboration across lines of difference. The class is taught by Zuniga and a team of trained facilitators who are graduate students in the Social Justice Education Program.
October 6, 2005.
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