New Diversity Requirements

New Diversity Requirements are in effect starting Fall 2018. Information about the transition and implementation of these new guidelines can be found below. All expedited reviews are due by Tuesday, January 15, 2019. 

Learning Outcomes 

The purpose of the Diversity requirement is to broaden students’ exposure to ways of thinking about how to understand diverse perspectives and more effectively interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds. This requirement is designed to provide students with the experiences needed to meet the following learning outcomes:

  • Students will learn disciplinary or interdisciplinary theories and knowledge necessary to comprehend diverse social, cultural, and political perspectives.
  • Students will develop the ability to understand, articulate, and critically analyze diverse social, cultural, and political perspectives.
  • Students will demonstrate critical awareness of how individual perspectives and biases influence ways of seeing the world.
  • Students will gain knowledge of structural and cultural forces that shape or have shaped discrimination based on factors such as race, ethnicity, language, religion, class, ability, nationality, sexuality, or gender.
  • Students will demonstrate the capacity to listen to and communicate respectfully with others of diverse perspectives.
  • Students will explore and address questions that reflect multiple perspectives to develop a complex understanding of the world.

All diversity courses are expected to meet the learning outcomes listed above. Courses that address DU are primarily (but not exclusively) focused on diversity within the US and those that address DG are primarily (but not exclusively) on diversity outside of a US framework.

Transition and Implementation Information 

On May 4, 2017 the Faculty Senate adopted new guidelines for the General Education diversity requirement. The General Education Program is committed to helping make this transition smoothly, and we have provided a timeline for implementation, information for instructors, including expedited review instructions and forms, and informational workshops. You may also contact the GenEd Council via email with any questions.

There are three major changes associated with the implementation of these new guidelines: 

  1. The learning outcomes for all diversity learning outcomes have been revised;
  2. The implementation process will include the conversion of all current courses holding a United States [U] or Global [G] diversity designations to the new Diversity United States [DU] or Diversity Global [DG] designation in conjunction with an expedited review process; and
  3.  All entering students, freshmen and transfers, will be required to take one of their two required diversity courses within their first year on campus. These new guidelines are effective for students entering Fall 2018. We are asking for your assistance in facilitating the implementation process by sharing this information with advisors and by facilitating the conversion process of courses within your department that may currently hold a U or G designation.