The Richard Stockton University of New Jersey

Case Study - Spring 2006

History and Context

In November of 1968, the New Jersey legislature approved a $202.5 million capital construction bond issue, including $15 million earmarked to build a new state college in Southern New Jersey. In 1990, The College opened one of the nation's first Holocaust Resource Centers hosted by a public college in the United States. The Resource Center, including a library and archive of video and audio taped histories of Holocaust survivors and artifacts from the Holocaust, became the hub for the school's pioneering role in Holocaust and Genocide education. This role would grow to include offering the nation's first Master of Arts program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (1999) and conducting teacher training in Holocaust Education for thousands of teachers.

In July of 1991, Stockton College was reaccredited unconditionally for another 10 years by the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education, with a special commendation for achieving social and intellectual diversity. Stockton was also recognized by the Templeton Foundation in 1999 for outstanding leadership in the field of character development. The foundation lauded Stockton for the CHEER (Civility, Harmony, Education, Environment, and Respect) Conference to reduce prejudice, violence and bigotry in schools while championing cultural diversity and for the College's leadership role in Holocaust education.

In 2004, the president established the College Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Affirmative Action and charged the group with the responsibility to write a college diversity statement, coordinate events that relate to diversity in the classroom and the co-curriculum, share resources, and keep Stockton informed about all of the above.  This working group of 24 people represents different constituencies of the college including housing, student government, service learning, and faculty. The president serves as a co-chair.  Members meet twice each semester to discuss issues of importance.

Lastly, Stockton’s current mission statement underscores its commitment to providing opportunities from economically and culturally diverse students. The College has a curricular infrastructure dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to liberal education. All faculty teach in the general education curriculum.  Stockton’s mission also recognizes the college’s responsibility to its surrounding community.  Through research and community service, Stockton seeks to take advantage of and improve the unique physical and human environment in which it is located. 

Campus Diversity Initiative Model 2002-2006

Stockton’s New Jersey Campus Diversity Initiative concentrated on faculty and course development by offering three years of workshops, discussions, new courses, and cross-cultural experiences. The Institute for the Study of College Teaching played a central role in the project by recruiting and training faculty and supporting course development through workshops and resources.  Every newly hired, tenure-track faculty member is given a course-release during their first year to participate in the seminars and workshops offered by the Institute. Senior faculty members participate as fellows—six are funded by the College—and others volunteer as mentors and presenters at workshops.

As a result, sequential first year seminar courses have been developed. Initially, Stockton had a single semester course focused on diversity issues, which had a structure of offering several class sections in one time slot. This structure fosters collaborative learning among the instructors as well as brings students together from all the different sections to participate in a co-curricular event.  The diversity issues courses engage students in semester-long series of discussions about contemporary and historical perspectives on gender, socio-economic status, religion, handicapped status, race, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and immigration status.  A second course was developed called, “Transcending Differences,” to continue to engage students with diversity in their second semester. “Transcending Differences” was offered for the first time in Spring 2006.

Accomplishments

Fifteen faculty participant in the NJCDI as teachers of twenty-two first year seminar courses reaching approximately 350 students. Six of the faculty members have taught the seminar for two years and four will continue to teach the course after the grant period has ended. Instructors continued to receive support through faculty development workshops on inclusive pedagogy.

In addition, the NJCDI team designed an instrument, Attitudes and Opinions Survey (AOS), to assess the effectiveness of the newly developed course, Diversity Issues.  The AOS was administered to the incoming first year students in the NJCDI diversity seminars and to a comparison group of students who were not enrolled in these courses.  At the end of the semester, both groups completed the survey to determine the impact of the diversity courses developed through the grant.  The AOS was administered throughout the three years of the grant. Click here for a copy of the survey.

To enhance the diversity issues course, Stockton created the Cultural Apprentice Program (CAP).   This program taps the college’s diverse staff as an educational resource.  First year students were paired with a mentor from the campus community including administrators, faculty, and staff.  Mentors shared personal experiences ranging from religion, race, nationality, gender, music, and socio-economic status.  Students were required to write two cultural biographies—one at the beginning of the program and one at the end.  The initial biographies were very thin and short, while the ending ones were a lot more elaborate, including a deeper self awareness of the student’s own culture through multiple lenses.  On average, first year students spend 8-10 hours with mentors outside the classroom.