Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Nancy “Rusty” Barceló , May 18, 2010
Social and institutional change is born in struggle. As a Chicana in higher education, I know this from my experience as a diversity educator with deep roots in the cultural borderlands of U.S. society. I also know that access to education for diverse students is a cornerstone of our future as a democratic society.
As our institutions struggle to balance their budgets, institutional leaders are understandably on the lookout for any unit or program that is “underperforming,” “wasteful,” or nonessential. They’re looking for savings that will not diminish their stature, cut into their core mission, or erode “excellence” as it is currently defined.
What I want to argue is that this is not the time to pull back on investments in diversity.
Full Opinion: http://diverseeducation.com/article/13805/opinion-reimagining-diversity-in-our-institutions.html
Showing posts with label benefits of diversity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label benefits of diversity. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Diversity as a Strategic Advantage
Bloomberg Business Week
By Alaina Love
Leading with Purpose:
Alaina Love May 14, 2010, 3:15PM EST
Since the establishment of affirmative action in the early 1960s, organizations have struggled with shifting their focus on diversity from a numbers exercise of quota achievement to leveraging the benefits that can be derived from employees with different backgrounds and perspectives in a way that provides a commercial advantage.
While we've seen startling advances in technology and radical shifts on the political, cultural, and demographic fronts over the past 50 years, the utilization of diverse talent in organizations has not kept pace. Leaders often intuitively understand the advantage of a diverse workforce, especially in today's global economy, yet many organizations grapple with how to develop and apply diversity principles in a way that will affect revenue and market position, as well as reputation.
For companies to capitalize successfully on diversity, they must develop a robust and comprehensive strategic framework that not only considers how to attract and retain diverse employees but also is anchored in a culture of inclusion. In the 16 years I have consulted to multinational companies on issues of leadership, including diversity,some common characteristics have emerged among companies that utilize diversity as a strategic lever for growth and innovation. These are the hallmarks of organizations that have successfully moved beyond the numbers...
Full Story: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2010/ca20100513_748402.htm
By Alaina Love
Leading with Purpose:
Alaina Love May 14, 2010, 3:15PM EST
Since the establishment of affirmative action in the early 1960s, organizations have struggled with shifting their focus on diversity from a numbers exercise of quota achievement to leveraging the benefits that can be derived from employees with different backgrounds and perspectives in a way that provides a commercial advantage.
While we've seen startling advances in technology and radical shifts on the political, cultural, and demographic fronts over the past 50 years, the utilization of diverse talent in organizations has not kept pace. Leaders often intuitively understand the advantage of a diverse workforce, especially in today's global economy, yet many organizations grapple with how to develop and apply diversity principles in a way that will affect revenue and market position, as well as reputation.
For companies to capitalize successfully on diversity, they must develop a robust and comprehensive strategic framework that not only considers how to attract and retain diverse employees but also is anchored in a culture of inclusion. In the 16 years I have consulted to multinational companies on issues of leadership, including diversity,some common characteristics have emerged among companies that utilize diversity as a strategic lever for growth and innovation. These are the hallmarks of organizations that have successfully moved beyond the numbers...
Full Story: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2010/ca20100513_748402.htm
Monday, January 25, 2010
UMass Medical to invite freshmen
The Boston Globe
By Tracy Jan
Globe Staff / January 25, 2010
Diversity the goal of unusual program
WORCESTER - The University of Massachusetts Medical School, seeking to bolster the number of minority physicians in Massachusetts, plans to offer high school seniors the rare opportunity to gain admission to college and medical school at the same time.
Under an initiative set to be finalized today, the state’s only public medical school will partner with UMass campuses in Boston, Amherst, Lowell, and Dartmouth to create a joint baccalaureate-MD program that would ensure admission for aspiring doctors from underrepresented ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
UMass officials say they hope the Medical Scholars Program - among a few of its kind in the country - will begin enrolling students in fall 2011. It is expected to boost the prestige of the state university system, providing an incentive for high-achieving students to attend a state university instead of a more prestigious private college.
“This helps other UMass campuses to attract more highly qualified students and helps us to entice those very talented individuals to stay in the state and practice medicine here,’’ said Dr. Terence Flotte, dean of UMass Medical School.
The medical school will set aside 12 slots in its 125-student, first-year class for qualified students from groups underrepresented among Massachusetts doctors. Those groups include African-Americans, Hispanics, certain Southeast Asians, and Cape Verdeans, Brazilians, and other Portuguese speakers.
Students of any ethnic background from low-income families or those among the first in their families to attend college would also qualify.
Full Story: http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/01/25/umass_to_offer_minorities_college_medical_school_opportunity/
By Tracy Jan
Globe Staff / January 25, 2010
Diversity the goal of unusual program
WORCESTER - The University of Massachusetts Medical School, seeking to bolster the number of minority physicians in Massachusetts, plans to offer high school seniors the rare opportunity to gain admission to college and medical school at the same time.
Under an initiative set to be finalized today, the state’s only public medical school will partner with UMass campuses in Boston, Amherst, Lowell, and Dartmouth to create a joint baccalaureate-MD program that would ensure admission for aspiring doctors from underrepresented ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
UMass officials say they hope the Medical Scholars Program - among a few of its kind in the country - will begin enrolling students in fall 2011. It is expected to boost the prestige of the state university system, providing an incentive for high-achieving students to attend a state university instead of a more prestigious private college.
“This helps other UMass campuses to attract more highly qualified students and helps us to entice those very talented individuals to stay in the state and practice medicine here,’’ said Dr. Terence Flotte, dean of UMass Medical School.
The medical school will set aside 12 slots in its 125-student, first-year class for qualified students from groups underrepresented among Massachusetts doctors. Those groups include African-Americans, Hispanics, certain Southeast Asians, and Cape Verdeans, Brazilians, and other Portuguese speakers.
Students of any ethnic background from low-income families or those among the first in their families to attend college would also qualify.
Full Story: http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/01/25/umass_to_offer_minorities_college_medical_school_opportunity/
Friday, March 27, 2009
Broadening the Definition of Diversity
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Angela P. Dodson
Mar 27, 2009, 08:46
A new book examines the strategies of faculty to serve as “change agents,” encouraging diversity on campus.
Teaching a sociology class at Bowdoin College as a graduate student taught Dr. Winnifred R. Brown-Glaude a thing or two about diversity.
There, she introduced her students to “multiple perspectives” on the subject through readings. The student body of Bowdoin, a historic, small, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, is more than 70 percent White, according to the school’s Web site.
In the end, she says that 90 percent of the students “actually loved the class” and found the experience enriching. A small but vocal minority did not.
“I also had a small percentage of students who pushed back,” says Brown-Glaude, now an assistant professor in the African-American studies department at the College of New Jersey. “They thought, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t be learning about women of color in this class. This kind of teaching … doesn’t belong here.’”
Later, Brown-Glaude says, when she compared notes with colleagues at other schools, she found, “This kind of push back wasn’t unique to me, so when the opportunity came at Rutgers to direct a national study — to really dig into these issues much more deeply — I certainly … jumped on it.”
The professor had done extensive research on race and gender before becoming project director for the Rutgers Institute for Women’s Leadership’s Ford Foundation grant. In that position, she directed a four-year study, “Reaffirming Action: Designs for Diversity in Higher Education.”
The findings of the project are summarized in a new book, Doing Diversity in Higher Education: Faculty Leaders Share Challenges and Strategies, $26.95, by Winnifred R. Brown-Glaude (Editor), Rutgers University Press, (January 2009), ISBN: 978-0, 8135-4447-2, ISBN: 978-0-8135-4446-5.
Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_12429.shtml
by Angela P. Dodson
Mar 27, 2009, 08:46
A new book examines the strategies of faculty to serve as “change agents,” encouraging diversity on campus.
Teaching a sociology class at Bowdoin College as a graduate student taught Dr. Winnifred R. Brown-Glaude a thing or two about diversity.
There, she introduced her students to “multiple perspectives” on the subject through readings. The student body of Bowdoin, a historic, small, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, is more than 70 percent White, according to the school’s Web site.
In the end, she says that 90 percent of the students “actually loved the class” and found the experience enriching. A small but vocal minority did not.
“I also had a small percentage of students who pushed back,” says Brown-Glaude, now an assistant professor in the African-American studies department at the College of New Jersey. “They thought, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t be learning about women of color in this class. This kind of teaching … doesn’t belong here.’”
Later, Brown-Glaude says, when she compared notes with colleagues at other schools, she found, “This kind of push back wasn’t unique to me, so when the opportunity came at Rutgers to direct a national study — to really dig into these issues much more deeply — I certainly … jumped on it.”
The professor had done extensive research on race and gender before becoming project director for the Rutgers Institute for Women’s Leadership’s Ford Foundation grant. In that position, she directed a four-year study, “Reaffirming Action: Designs for Diversity in Higher Education.”
The findings of the project are summarized in a new book, Doing Diversity in Higher Education: Faculty Leaders Share Challenges and Strategies, $26.95, by Winnifred R. Brown-Glaude (Editor), Rutgers University Press, (January 2009), ISBN: 978-0, 8135-4447-2, ISBN: 978-0-8135-4446-5.
Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_12429.shtml
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Impact of Dropping the SAT
Inside Higher Ed
March 26, 2009
A new research study -- based on simulations using actual student applications at competitive colleges that require the SAT or ACT for admission -- has found that ending the requirement would lead to demonstrable gains in the percentages of black and Latino students, and working class or economically disadvantaged students, who are admitted.
The finding is consistent with what admissions officers have reported at many colleges that have gone SAT-optional. But the basis of this new research goes well beyond the anecdotal information reported by colleges pleased with their shifts. Scholars at Princeton University's Office of Population Research obtained actual admissions data from seven selective colleges that require the SAT or ACT. Using the actual admissions patterns for these colleges, the scholars then ran statistical models showing the impact of either going SAT-optional or adopting what they called the "don't ask, don't tell" approach in which a college says that it won't look at standardized test scores.
These models suggest that any move away from the SAT or ACT in competitive colleges results in significant gains in ethnic and economic diversity. But the gains are greater for colleges that drop testing entirely, as opposed to just making it optional. (To date, only one institution -- Sarah Lawrence College -- has taken that step.)
In terms of other measures of academic competitiveness, the study found that going SAT optional would result in classes of students with higher grade point averages. Dropping testing entirely, on the other hand, would result in higher levels of academic achievement in the entering classes at the public institutions studied, but not the privates. The research will be formally presented next month at a conference at Wake Forest University about college admissions, but the Princeton researchers released the findings Wednesday.
Parts of the findings may be controversial with both SAT critics and fans. The study found that, as the College Board has long argued, the SAT is a good way to predict the first-year academic success of students. But the study's findings on the impact of dropping the SAT as a requirement provide an independent analysis to show that dropping the SAT as a requirement does lead to increased diversity -- and that is something many colleges want to promote.
Full Story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/26/sat
March 26, 2009
A new research study -- based on simulations using actual student applications at competitive colleges that require the SAT or ACT for admission -- has found that ending the requirement would lead to demonstrable gains in the percentages of black and Latino students, and working class or economically disadvantaged students, who are admitted.
The finding is consistent with what admissions officers have reported at many colleges that have gone SAT-optional. But the basis of this new research goes well beyond the anecdotal information reported by colleges pleased with their shifts. Scholars at Princeton University's Office of Population Research obtained actual admissions data from seven selective colleges that require the SAT or ACT. Using the actual admissions patterns for these colleges, the scholars then ran statistical models showing the impact of either going SAT-optional or adopting what they called the "don't ask, don't tell" approach in which a college says that it won't look at standardized test scores.
These models suggest that any move away from the SAT or ACT in competitive colleges results in significant gains in ethnic and economic diversity. But the gains are greater for colleges that drop testing entirely, as opposed to just making it optional. (To date, only one institution -- Sarah Lawrence College -- has taken that step.)
In terms of other measures of academic competitiveness, the study found that going SAT optional would result in classes of students with higher grade point averages. Dropping testing entirely, on the other hand, would result in higher levels of academic achievement in the entering classes at the public institutions studied, but not the privates. The research will be formally presented next month at a conference at Wake Forest University about college admissions, but the Princeton researchers released the findings Wednesday.
Parts of the findings may be controversial with both SAT critics and fans. The study found that, as the College Board has long argued, the SAT is a good way to predict the first-year academic success of students. But the study's findings on the impact of dropping the SAT as a requirement provide an independent analysis to show that dropping the SAT as a requirement does lead to increased diversity -- and that is something many colleges want to promote.
Full Story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/26/sat
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Q&A: Researcher Describes Mixed Educational Benefits of Campus Diversity
Chronicle of Higher Education
February 17, 2009
Peter Schmidt
Colleges have talked for decades about the educational benefits of diversity on their campuses without offering much research to show how students are affected by exposure to members of other racial and ethnic groups. In an effort to fill that gap in knowledge, James Sidanius, a professor of psychology and of African and African-American studies at Harvard University, led a team of researchers in conducting a long-term study of about 2,000 students who entered the University of California at Los Angeles in the fall of 1996. The students were surveyed in the summer before they entered UCLA, at the end of their freshman year, and again each year until their graduation or the end of their fifth year in college.
Mr. Sidanius and the co-authors of his study—Shana Levin, an associate professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College; Colette van Laar, a professor of psychology at Leiden University, in the Netherlands; and David O. Sears, a professor of psychology and political science at UCLA–describe their results in a new book, The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus, published by the Russell Sage Foundation. The Chronicle interviewed Mr. Sidanius by e-mail to ask him about the study's major findings.
Q. Please talk about how your study compares to other studies on campus diversity. Where did you tread new ground or try to build on—or put to the test—research that had been done before?
A. Our study, The Diversity Challenge, is unique in the literature concerning intergroup relations in two major ways. First, as far as we know, it is the longest panel (i.e., longitudinal) study of intergroup relations on campus ever done. And secondly, it is the most comprehensive study of its type ever attempted—that is to say, that asks the largest number of theoretically driven questions, using numerous indices of intergroup contact and intergroup attitudes.
Q. Your book says you had expected to find that "cultural diversity and the multicultural practices that universities have put in place as a response to it have some profound effects on students." What was your basis for having such expectations? Instead of finding profound effects—good or bad—your book reaches the bottom-line conclusions that cultural diversity and multicultural practices failed to either significantly change students' ethnic identities and views on race or to have the feared effects of heightening ethnic conflict and separation on campus. At the end of the day, does your study buttress—or does it undermine—the argument that race-conscious college-admissions policies serve a compelling government interest by producing educational benefits? In which direction (and how far) does your study move the ball in the affirmative-action debate?
A. We found that neither the multicultural policies of the university nor the general multiethnic environment had profound effects on the intergroup attitudes of the students. Thus, in broad terms, the students left the university with largely the same social and political views that they entered college with.
However, three facts show that this does not mean that there were no theoretically expected changes. First, in general, students did become less politically conservative, ethnocentric, and racist over four years of college. Secondly, for the most part, increased levels of intergroup contact (e.g., in the form of having roommates from other ethnic groups) did attenuate levels of racism, and increased positive affect for members of other ethnic outgroups. Thirdly, in terms of the effects of affirmative action, we were interested in addressing the issue of whether or not being an affirmative-action admittee affected the academic self-confidence and academic performance of minority students. The negative effects of affirmative action on student performance were complex and conditional. For example, for black students who thought that they were affirmative-action admittees, grade-point average was negatively affected, but only among those with high personal-identity stereotype threat (concerns about confirming negative stereotypes of their ethnic groups). However, among those with no such stereotype-threat concerns, being an affirmative-action admittee had no deleterious effects on academic achievement....
Q. On a related note, your study involves students who entered college 12 years ago. Are you confident that a study undertaken today would reach similar conclusions, or, especially given the election of Barack Obama, is there reason to hope students' attitudes toward race and ethnicity have changed?
A. While there is no reason to believe that, in and of itself, the 12-year time gap will have made a substantial difference in the results we found, we cannot be as certain about the possible effects of Barack Obama's electoral victory. While there is little reason to actually believe that Obama's election has sent America into a state of post-racialism, there is probably a substantial number of whites who might believe this to be the case. It is not at all clear what the net results of this will be. This election might augur in a period of substantially relaxed racial attitudes and attenuated levels of institutional discrimination. On the other hand, Obama's election might convince people that postracialism has indeed become a fact of American life, and that no further efforts to eliminate group-based disadvantage and discrimination are necessary. It is simply too early to tell.
Full Story: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/02/11811n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
February 17, 2009
Peter Schmidt
Colleges have talked for decades about the educational benefits of diversity on their campuses without offering much research to show how students are affected by exposure to members of other racial and ethnic groups. In an effort to fill that gap in knowledge, James Sidanius, a professor of psychology and of African and African-American studies at Harvard University, led a team of researchers in conducting a long-term study of about 2,000 students who entered the University of California at Los Angeles in the fall of 1996. The students were surveyed in the summer before they entered UCLA, at the end of their freshman year, and again each year until their graduation or the end of their fifth year in college.
Mr. Sidanius and the co-authors of his study—Shana Levin, an associate professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College; Colette van Laar, a professor of psychology at Leiden University, in the Netherlands; and David O. Sears, a professor of psychology and political science at UCLA–describe their results in a new book, The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus, published by the Russell Sage Foundation. The Chronicle interviewed Mr. Sidanius by e-mail to ask him about the study's major findings.
Q. Please talk about how your study compares to other studies on campus diversity. Where did you tread new ground or try to build on—or put to the test—research that had been done before?
A. Our study, The Diversity Challenge, is unique in the literature concerning intergroup relations in two major ways. First, as far as we know, it is the longest panel (i.e., longitudinal) study of intergroup relations on campus ever done. And secondly, it is the most comprehensive study of its type ever attempted—that is to say, that asks the largest number of theoretically driven questions, using numerous indices of intergroup contact and intergroup attitudes.
Q. Your book says you had expected to find that "cultural diversity and the multicultural practices that universities have put in place as a response to it have some profound effects on students." What was your basis for having such expectations? Instead of finding profound effects—good or bad—your book reaches the bottom-line conclusions that cultural diversity and multicultural practices failed to either significantly change students' ethnic identities and views on race or to have the feared effects of heightening ethnic conflict and separation on campus. At the end of the day, does your study buttress—or does it undermine—the argument that race-conscious college-admissions policies serve a compelling government interest by producing educational benefits? In which direction (and how far) does your study move the ball in the affirmative-action debate?
A. We found that neither the multicultural policies of the university nor the general multiethnic environment had profound effects on the intergroup attitudes of the students. Thus, in broad terms, the students left the university with largely the same social and political views that they entered college with.
However, three facts show that this does not mean that there were no theoretically expected changes. First, in general, students did become less politically conservative, ethnocentric, and racist over four years of college. Secondly, for the most part, increased levels of intergroup contact (e.g., in the form of having roommates from other ethnic groups) did attenuate levels of racism, and increased positive affect for members of other ethnic outgroups. Thirdly, in terms of the effects of affirmative action, we were interested in addressing the issue of whether or not being an affirmative-action admittee affected the academic self-confidence and academic performance of minority students. The negative effects of affirmative action on student performance were complex and conditional. For example, for black students who thought that they were affirmative-action admittees, grade-point average was negatively affected, but only among those with high personal-identity stereotype threat (concerns about confirming negative stereotypes of their ethnic groups). However, among those with no such stereotype-threat concerns, being an affirmative-action admittee had no deleterious effects on academic achievement....
Q. On a related note, your study involves students who entered college 12 years ago. Are you confident that a study undertaken today would reach similar conclusions, or, especially given the election of Barack Obama, is there reason to hope students' attitudes toward race and ethnicity have changed?
A. While there is no reason to believe that, in and of itself, the 12-year time gap will have made a substantial difference in the results we found, we cannot be as certain about the possible effects of Barack Obama's electoral victory. While there is little reason to actually believe that Obama's election has sent America into a state of post-racialism, there is probably a substantial number of whites who might believe this to be the case. It is not at all clear what the net results of this will be. This election might augur in a period of substantially relaxed racial attitudes and attenuated levels of institutional discrimination. On the other hand, Obama's election might convince people that postracialism has indeed become a fact of American life, and that no further efforts to eliminate group-based disadvantage and discrimination are necessary. It is simply too early to tell.
Full Story: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/02/11811n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
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