Faculty seminar will emphasize diversity
By Kelly Morris
Staff Reporter

The fifth and final faculty enhancement seminar of the year Thursday will focus on the importance of bringing more inclusiveness into the classroom, said Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and community.

He said the faculty enhancement seminars, that were approved by the Chancellor’s Council on Diversity and began in August, help teach faculty members how to bring a broader perspective to their curriculum.

“The major purpose of these seminars is to show faculty members that they can bring diversity and inclusiveness into their class work without diminishing the content in their curriculum,” Thomas said.

Thomas and University Minister John Butler host the seminars and nine faculty members are currently taking part in them, Thomas said.

He said the seminar will serve as a wrap-up session for the first year of the seminars.
“The seminar will bring closure to the year,” Thomas said. “We will address questions and concerns that faculty might have and see how those faculty, who have already implemented ideas presented in the seminars are doing.”

To get the program underway, Thomas said the university received a $10,000 grant last summer from the Burnett Foundation. A $750 stipend was also given to each faculty member currently taking part in the program to purchase materials to enhance their understanding of inclusiveness, he said.

Butler said Susan Shaw, the co-director of Women’s Studies and interim director of the Difference, Power and Discrimination Program at Oregon State University, was hired as a consultant for the seminars.

Thomas said Shaw attended both seminars at the beginning of each semester.

“Dr. Shaw brought a historical perspective on how diversity and inclusiveness has impacted us socially and politically across the country,” Thomas said. “She also brought course outlines that have already been created that include that inclusiveness.”

Carolyn Durham, an associate professor of Spanish, said TCU has much room for improvement in its curriculum.

“In terms of TCU’s curriculum, it has a long way to go,” Durham said. “There is so much the university is not looking at. Classes in the humanities and literature can deal with other parts of the world than what TCU currently offers.”

But Thomas said a broader perspective can be brought to any classroom.

“When you look at a statistics class for example, you think how can you make that more inclusive?” Thomas asked. “Data collection can be interpreted differently. Everyone interprets things differently based on their own personal experiences. If students are presented with other life experiences, it just broadens their perspective. If we aren’t exposed to these other experiences, we don’t have any other ways to look at things.”

It is that idea that will help students become more successful leaders, Butler said.

“Both the Chancellor’s Council on Diversity and the faculty enhancement seminars are rooted in the mission statement,” he said. “How would we become respectabl citizens and ethical leaders without developing the sensitivity and the background of what we all are as people?”

Thomas said he hopes new faculty will benefit from the seminar in the future.

“We really want our new faculty to have the option of participating in the seminars in the future,” Thomas said. “They not only enhance faculty’s understanding of diversity and inclusiveness, but they also engage the student in the teaching and learning process.”

Kelly Morris
k.l.morris@student.tcu.edu

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