Facing the Divides:
Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence
Conference Highlights
All sessions held at the Westin Galleria Houston
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Thursday, October 21, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Navigating the Landscape of Diversity: Dilemmas and Possibilities
Annette Gordon-Reed, Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University and Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
From Main Street to Wall Street and in our own classrooms and administrative structures, deep divides—political, economic, social, cultural—hinder democratic aspirations of inclusion, equity, justice, and belonging. Dr. Gordon-Reed will offer her analysis of where American society is and should be headed in terms of our approach to diversity. Despite the momentous election of Barack Obama as the nation’s forty-fourth president, few believe this event has “fixed” layers of history and habits. As the conference focuses on pragmatic ways in which colleges and university leaders are fostering inclusive learning environments, Dr. Gordon-Reed’s address will provide a portrait of the contemporary landscape against which, and within which, current diversity dilemmas and possibilities are played out.
PLENARY
Friday, October 22, 9:15 – 10:15 a.m.
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Rusty Barceló |
Thomas F.
Nelson Laird |
Diversity as a Core Strategy for Institutional Transformation
Rusty Barceló, President, Northern New Mexico College, and Thomas F. Nelson Laird, Assistant Professor,Indiana University
What diversity-related knowledge is important for today’s students to gain in college to prepare them for a global,interconnected, yet stratified world? What kind of learning and development is spurred by thoughtful engagement with diversity in the curriculum and in the campus environment? Dr. Barceló will share her comprehensive vision for placing diversity at the very center of the institution’s civic and educational mission and address some of the internal institutional changes that must occur to help insure the academic and personal success of underserved students. Dr. Nelson Laird will examine how educators include diversity into their offerings, sharing recent results from the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement that illustrate how institutions can better understand diversity and its critical place in courses, programs, and student development.
PLENARY
Friday, October 22, 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
Ensuring Access, Resources, and Essential Learning for All Students
Diana Natalicio, President, The University of Texas at El Paso
Following steep economic decline, some campuses are seeking to consolidate or eliminate diversity programs even as the country undergoes rapid demographic shifts. Rising costs and cutbacks in financial aid threaten the economic diversity of our student populations at a time when a college education is becoming more critical for success in work and in life. President Natalicio will share her vision for creating educational opportunities for first-generation and non-traditional students that places their access and academic achievement at the heart of the academic enterprise.
COMMUNITY FORUM
Friday, October 22, 5:30 - 7:15 p.m.
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Nancy L. Thomas |
Libby Roderick |
Free Speech and Civil Discourse on Campus
Nancy L. Thomas, Director, The Democracy Imperative and Senior Associate, Everyday Democracy (formerly Study Circles Resource Center); and Libby Roderick, Associate Director, Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence and Director, Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues Grants, University of Alaska-Anchorage
Colleges and universities strive to be civil venues for learning and the robust exchange of ideas on controversial—and frequently political—issues, where perspectives are shaped by individuals' social identities, ideologies, values, and life experiences. What happens when discourse turns personal or polemical? No campus wants to chill free speech or prevent dialogue, but is some speech too toxic for a learning environment? Join this community forum to address higher education's role in shaping the state of public discourse.
CLOSING PLENARY
Saturday, October 23, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Purposeful Work: Students Talk about Local and Global Responsibilities
Richard Vaz, Dean, Interdisciplinary and Global Studies, David Arnold and Evan Sawyer, students—all of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Preparing students for life and work in our globally interdependent, information rich, and technologically advanced society means helping them to develop the ability to make connections across disciplines and cultures as they apply knowledge to solve complex problems. It also requires fostering an understanding of one’s place in the world and a sense of personal and social responsibility. Students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute will share the local and global experiences that enabled them to better understand the intersections of culture, science, engineering, and justice, and how they drew on these connections to develop ethical solutions to real-life challenges.
About the Speakers
Annette Gordon-Reed
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. Prior to joining Harvard in 2010, Dr. Gordon-Reed was Wallace Stevens Professor of Law at New York Law School and Board of Governors Professor of History, Rutgers University-Newark. Recognized as one of our country’s most distinguished presidential scholars, she is the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History for her book The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W. W. Norton, 2008).
Professor Gordon-Reed earned a place in history with her first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (University Press of Virginia, 1997), which had an acclaimed but stormy reception when published in 1997, and which The New Yorker described as “brilliant.”
In her book, Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir (Public Affairs, 2001), co-authored with presidential confidant and long-time civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, she helps profile one of the most charismatic figures in the U.S. with a story that encompasses the sweeping struggles, changes, and dangers of black life during the civil rights revolution.
Professor Gordon-Reed was the editor of Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History (Oxford University Press, 2002), 12 original essays illustrating how race often determines the outcome of trials, and how trials that confront issues of racism provide a unique lens on American cultural history.
Professor Gordon-Reed, who grew up in still-segregated east Texas, became interested in Jefferson in elementary school after reading a children’s biography of him, narrated by a fictional slave boy. At 14, she joined the Book-of-the-Month Club (concealing her status as a minor) to receive Fawn Brodie’s biography, Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait. She continued her study of Jefferson’s life at Dartmouth College, where she majored in History, graduating in 1981. She attended Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review.
Nancy Rusty Barceló
Nancy “Rusty” Barceló became President of Northern New Mexico College in July 2010. She is a nationally-recognized leader, with more than 30 years of experience in equity and diversity in higher education.
Dr. Barceló was Vice President and Vice Provost at the University of Minnesota from 2006-2010, providing leadership and strategic planning on issues relating to faculty, staff, and student equity and diversity across the University of Minnesota system. Her role also included administrative and programmatic oversight of units on the Twin Cities campus that provide direct services to faculty, staff, students, and community members. Those units included Disability Services, the GLBTA Programs Office, the Women's Center, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, and the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence. Dr. Barceló also served from 1999 to 2001 as Chair of the Chicano Studies Department and the University of Minnesota.
Between her stints in Minnesota, Dr. Barceló was Vice President and Vice Provost for Minority Affairs and Diversity at the University of Washington.
Dr. Barceló spent more than twenty years at the University of Iowa, where she served as Assistant Dean and Provost for Academic Affairs and received the Distinguished Educator in Diversity Award. Earlier, Dr. Barceló received her Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Iowa, and before that, her B.A. in social work from Chico State University in California.
Dr. Barceló has been hailed as a visionary leader for transformational change around issues of equity and diversity and as an astute and dedicated administrator with a gift for community building. Once the only Chicana student at the University of Iowa, she has since become one of the nation’s most highly respected authorities on equity and diversity in higher education. She is also an avid bicyclist and accomplished storyteller, songwriter, and guitarist.
Thomas F. Nelson Laird
Tom Nelson Laird is Assistant Professor teaching in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program of the Indiana University School of Education. Since 2003, Dr. Nelson Laird has worked on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its related surveys. Currently, he is the Project Manager for the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) and studies teaching and learning issues using data from both NSSE and FSSE.
Dr. Nelson Laird’s research focuses on effective teaching practices, student experiences with diversity, and deep approaches to learning. His recent publications appear in the top journals in his field, including the Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, the Review of Higher Education, and the Journal of College Student Development, as well as publications that reach wider audiences of administrators (e.g. Liberal Education) and teaching faculty (e.g. the Journal of General Education). His research has been recognized by higher education associations, such as the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. The Teagle Foundation funded a project of his examining the relationships between deep approaches to learning and critical and reflective thinking outcomes.
Dr. Nelson Laird received his Ph.D. in Higher Education, 2003, from the University of Michigan. He holds a M.S. in Mathematics from Michigan State University and a B.A. in Mathematics from Gustavus Adolphus College.
Diana Natalicio
Diana Natalicio was named president of The University of Texas at El Paso in 1988. During her distinguished career with the University, she has served as vice president for academic affairs, dean of liberal arts, and chair of the modern languages department. During her tenure as president, UTEP’s enrollment has grown to more than 21,000 students, its annual budget has increased from $65 million to more than $350 million, research expenditures have grown from $6 million to nearly $60 million per year, and doctoral programs from one to 16 during this same period.
Her current appointments include the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the American Council on Education, and Trinity Industries.
She is the recipient of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education, was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame and was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award at The University of Texas at Austin. A graduate of St. Louis University, Dr. Natalicio earned a master’s degree in Portuguese and a doctorate in linguistics from The University of Texas at Austin.
Nancy Thomas
Nancy Thomas earned her doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1996 and her JD from Case Western Reserve University in 1984. She directs the Democracy Imperative (www.unh.edu/democracy/), a national network and resource center for advancing democracy in and through higher education, located at the University of New Hampshire. For eight years, she has also served as a senior associate with Everyday Democracy (formerly Study Circles Resource Center) (www.everyday-democracy.org). Her interests are in democratic education and engagement, teaching and managing political controversy in the classroom and across campus, academic freedom and First Amendment rights on campus, and democratic institutional governance. She is the editor of Educating for Deliberative Democracy, a New Directions for Higher Education series book (forthcoming, Jossey Bass Publisher), and co-editor of a 2010 special issue on higher education of the Journal of Public Deliberation, as well as many other book chapters, journal articles, and other publications on civic learning and democratic engagement.
Libby Roderick
Libby Roderick is Associate Director for the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) where she oversees initiatives related to difficult dialogues, diversity and pedagogy, sustainability, and 21st century trends in higher education. She also serves as the Project Director of the Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues partnership between UAA and Alaska Pacific University, which produced the acclaimed Start Talking: A Handbook for Engaging Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education. The handbook presents a model for faculty development intensives on difficult dialogues, strategies for engaging controversial topics in the classroom, and reflections from 35 faculty and staff members who field-tested the approaches.
Libby is also an internationally recognized, award-winning singer/songwriter and recording artist. In that capacity, she has been featured on CNN and in the Associated Press; performed alongside Coretta Scott King, Walter Cronkite, Dennis Kucinich and many others on behalf of social and economic justice and peacemaking efforts; had her music performed at the U.N., and appeared at colleges, universities, conferences and other venues throughout North America. Her essays, poems and songs have appeared in numerous books and publications, including Moral Ground: Ethical Responses to a Planet in Peril; Prayers for a Thousand Years: Inspiration from Leaders and Visionaries Around the World; Crosscurrents North: Alaskans on the Environment; Hometown by Pulitzer-prizewinner Tracy Kidder; and many more.
Libby received her B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and her M.A. in Social Psychology from Alaska Pacific University.
Richard F. Vaz
Rick Vaz is Associate Professor and Dean of the Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Director of the Bangkok Project Center.
His research and teaching interests include internationalization of technological education; the intersections of technology and society; curricular reform; sustainability and appropriate design. His expertise and advising address such areas as air pollution; water pollution; soil pollution; natural resource management; solid waste; competition for open space; energy politics; energy policy; environmental impact statements; redevelopment of urban areas; conservation of open space planning; transportation planning; resource management; preservation of agricultural lands; effect of technology on social systems; technology and organizational behaviors; international comparisons; social cost and social change; impact of technical change on job and business; economics in developing countries; housing and urbanization; appropriate technology; assessments of college life, including WPI; consumer awareness; introducing new teaching materials; assessing educational experience; and education and technological literacy.
Dr. Vaz received his Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Some of his more recent publications include "Recruitment, Mentoring, and Development of STEM Faculty to Lead International Programs," "Evaluation of Intercultural Learning in an Education Abroad Program for STEM Undergraduates," "Scalable and Sustainable Programs for Internationalizing US Engineering Education: Are They Achievable?" and "Global Projects Preparation: Infusing Information Literacy into Project-Based Curricula at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.”
Just a few of his many awards include the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding EE Professor Award, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2006; Tau Beta Pi (now WPI Trustees) Award for Outstanding Academic Advising, 1999; and Sigma Phi Epsilon Faculty Appreciation Award, 2001 and 2003.
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