George Fox University | Offices and Services | Student Life | Faculty and Curriculum

Faculty and Curriculum

Issues:

• Increase racial and ethnic diversity among the faculty.
• Retain racially diverse faculty at a high rate.
• Create mechanisms to raise concerns regarding racial and cultural awareness and sensitivity for the general faculty (perhaps, through the work of the Intercultural Concerns Committee).
• Encourage integration of racial and multicultural diversity focus in courses across the curriculum as appropriate.
• Provide resources to aid faculty in cultivating awareness and sensitivity to issues of race, culture, and gender.

Recommendations:

• Focused Responsibility (Provost and Dir. of Multicultural Svcs.): Identify a member of the AAO as the point person for facilitating the activities listed below:
  • The Director of Multicultural Services will serve as a resource for department chairs and search committees to promote racial and ethnic diversity of applicant pools.
  • The AAO will meet with each department to assist in developing the work plan described below (within 2 years of Blueprint approval).
• Department-Specific Strategies (School Deans and Department Chairs): Each department will develop its own strategy (1-2 pages) for promoting an environment which is supportive and embraces a commitment to cultural diversity. It is recommended that each department consider the strategies proposed by Richard Slimbach during a faculty development workshop on November 3, 2004 (entitled Toward a Strategy for Global Engagement).
  • See Maximino Plata's article, "Retaining Ethnic Minority Faculty at Institutions of Higher Education," Journal of Instructional Psychology (1996), Vol. 23, No. 3, 221-227. (The full text of this article is available in the Education Full Text database on the MLRC web page.)
  • Departments will explore strategies for integration of perspectives and skills related to cultural diversity into existing courses.
• Academic Policies and Programs (Associate VP for AAO and Chair of Curriculum Committee): Incorporate topics of multicultural teaching and cultural awareness into existing or new academic policies and programs (e.g., growth plans, faculty forum, new faculty class, teaching and learning forums).
  • Provide faculty development training, resources, and incentives to faculty for the purpose of integrating different cultural perspectives and skills into their courses.
  • Provide Faculty Development Committee grants and leaves for cross-cultural projects.
  • Develop a faculty exchange program with a college or university that serves a predominantly minority population.