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April 3, 2008

Books, Journals & More: A Closer Look: Jerome Branche, Ellen Cohn and John W. Mullenix

The annual Provost’s Faculty Diversity Seminar offers Pitt professors the chance to redesign a course syllabus with an eye toward increasing the racial and gender diversity of classroom content.

A recent seminar yielded more than anticipated: A trio of professors who met during their two weeks as seminar fellows in 2005 didn’t stop at redesigning their courses. Their shared enthusiasm led to collaboration in editing a book designed for faculty members and administrators who seek to incorporate diversity into their curricula.

All three of the editors relished their participation in the highly regarded diversity seminar that has been offered for more than a decade at Pitt as a collaboration between the Provost’s Office and the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education.

Ellen Cohn of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences savored the “gift of time” the seminar offered — allowing her to focus her attention in a concentrated manner. “Thinking about teaching for two weeks is a luxury in a way,” she said.

Jerome Branche of the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, who had exposure to the pedagogy prior to attending the seminar, found his awareness of “the need for a wider view and inclusion” resurfaced and was reinforced for him as he took a more critical look at his syllabus. Noting that classroom practice often does not receive the kind of high regard it should, Branche spoke highly of his experience, saying that more faculty members could benefit from such a seminar.

In a rapidly shrinking world, inclusiveness and diversity matter. In his introduction to the book, John W. Mullenix, of the Department of Psychology at Pitt-Johnstown, wrote, “We believe that every faculty member who stands before a class has a responsibility to incorporate both content and methods that meet the needs of multicultural students and that prepare all students to enter a multicultural, globalized society when they complete their education.”

Mullenix said he’d gone into the faculty diversity seminar considering himself “a fairly enlightened person,” but was struck with what he called “a life-altering moment” — an appreciation for the privilege he has simply as a white heterosexual male.

“I think more about how lucky, how fortunate in some ways it is, to have the privilege I have,” he said. “In my interactions it makes me appreciate different types of people better than I did before.”

Drawn together as some of the more senior members of their cohort of seminar fellows, Cohn said the trio saw a space to fill in scholarly literature on the topic. Although some excellent books existed, they lacked multiple case studies from multiple disciplines. Mullenix said many books are more theoretical; their book, “Diversity Across the Curriculum: A Guide for Faculty in Higher Education,” is more applied. “We thought a book could be put together to fill this niche,” he said.

Contributors to the book — including more than three dozen from Pitt — offer their insights in the compilation designed to allow readers draw from the work of those who already have incorporated diversity into their teaching.

“It would be presumptuous for us to say how it should be done,” Cohn said, adding that the book gives readers a way to hear from a variety of disciplines. Including a range of disciplines allows readers to recognize that others elsewhere may be having similar insights — or similar challenges — with diversity issues.

The text starts with a discussion of the theoretical and pragmatic issues that need to be addressed when incorporating diversity into college courses: Do the readings include minorities, women and people with disabilities among the content experts? Do the examples and applications of course material extend to these groups? Are women, minorities and people with disabilities portrayed in positions of power with the same frequency as those in the majority?

The book moves on to offer examples from a variety of institutions of their efforts to promote diversity. It wraps up with faculty-authored vignettes that discuss the incorporation of diversity into specific courses with separate sections for the humanities, health sciences and natural/social sciences.

The contributors share techniques they use to promote awareness of diversity in their classrooms along with problem-solving techniques they use to defuse tensions or conflicts that may crop up in the course of a class period.

Branche, who edited the humanities contributions, said the book speaks for itself as an example of how Pitt is doing in terms of its diversity initiatives. Some of the authors were people he knows on campus. Others were colleagues from nearby institutions or across the country who were making contributions in their own way, but not necessarily getting attention for their efforts.

Cohn, who edited the health sciences section, said some authors they approached in turn referred them to others who had valuable examples to contribute.

The book came together through a series of weekly meetings at Panera Bread on Forbes Avenue and a Yahoo group the editors set up to enable them to collaborate and share their work online. All three had experience in publishing books in addition to their interests in the subject, which helped the process go smoothly, they said.

Requests for contributions for the book were met with near complete acceptance, the editors said. Their writers were provided a template but also allowed some latitude. For the most part, Cohn said, the submissions needed little in the way of revision. “We didn’t need to do much heavy editing,” she said.

Compared to other books he’s worked on, Branche said the diversity book was “a breeze,” even though it took a year to collect the contributions and a total of two years for the book to find its way into print. “Considering the number of people involved in this, I think it’s an achievement,” he said.

“I’m very proud to have worked on it,” Cohn said, adding that she was excited to have the contributions of a number of well-regarded scholars in the book.

The compilation may become merely the first such work for the trio.

“I keep meeting people that are doing wonderful things in the area,” Cohn said.

—Kimberly K. Barlow


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