阿宾顿,爸爸. — A grant from Penn State’s Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence funded training for 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 faculty to advance teaching for equity and inclusion by better incorporating such elements into their pedagogy.
Schreyer授予 梅勒妮波士顿, the assistant director of the Office of 全球项目 在阿宾顿, a $3,600 grant to support her proposal, "Intercultural Development on Campus: Shifting Perceptions." She hired Tara Harvey of True North Intercultural, an expert on the topic, to conduct two workshops for faculty.
“Through these workshops, you come to understand how you are acting on your own cultural assumptions. For example, we have a lot of students who come from cultures where asking for help isn’t the norm. 教师 learn how to engage students in something that is challenging without demanding they change,波士顿说. “The challenge is, how do I do this while still maintaining academic standards? We learn to bridge the gap and adapt our own behavior.”
Boston said she thought Harvey was a good match for the 14 faculty who p艺术icipated along with 全球项目 staff.
“Tara has a saying: ’How do I fill my role, meet my goal, and not lose my soul?“saidBoston, who enrolled in a one semester professional development course led by Harvey last fall.
教师 and staff also completed the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a survey to assess their mindset and skillset at individual and organizational levels to provide a richer understanding of their successes and challenges related to cultural diversity. After taking the survey, a debrief helped them fully understand their place on the IDI continuum.
"This was about faculty and staff being aware of their own perceptions and how the students are making meaning and perceiving things every day,波士顿说.
Feedback from the group highlighted that the journey toward advancing equity and inclusion in teaching is unique for each person although they share the same goal of understanding how they interact and its impact on students’ daily lives.
Boston’s grant was awarded through the Schreyer institute’s 2023-24 Advancing Equity and Inclusion program to support projects that can influence faculty ability to make substantial changes to teaching and learning beyond an individual course.
Her faculty co-investigators were 杰克苯菲尔，香港大学教授 psychological and social sciences; 比尔Cromar, associate teaching professor of 艺术; and Burcu奥兹登, assistant professor of physics and 工程.
About 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校
宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 provides an affordable, accessible and high-impact education resulting in the success of a diverse student body. It is committed to student success through innovative approaches to 21st-century public higher education within a world-class research university. 有3个以上,100名学生, 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 is a residential campus that offers baccalaureate degrees in 25 majors, accelerated master's degrees, undergraduate research, the Schreyer Honors College, NCAA Division III athletics and more.
