The Value of Diversity

One of the cornerstones of the educational mission of Tufts University is to create a community of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, and with a wide range of experiences. We are committed to ensuring that all members of our community students, faculty and staff are able to be productive members of both an increasingly-heterogeneous United States and an increasingly-interconnected world. Thus it is essential that we build a diverse community at Tufts so that we all have the opportunity to learn from each other. It is only through such diversity that we can gain the kind of education that we will all need for the 21st Century.

Diversity is a term that encompasses differences among people with respect to race, culture, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, social class, religious belief, and disability status. The university faces significant challenges with respect to diversity, particularly in the area of race. While the Arts & Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development emerged from a specific recommendation of the Task Force on Race, we are dedicated to addressing not only issues of race, but also the needs and challenges of our entire community. The creation of a healthy diverse community at Tufts is an ongoing process, and achievements do not always come either easily or quickly. Nonetheless, we are committed to making progress and to holding ourselves accountable for making that progress.

The Arts & Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development

One of the recommendations of the December 1997 Task Force on Race Report was the creation of an office at Tufts "whose mission is to develop programs and initiatives to address race and diversity issues in many venues." There was strong consensus from many parts of the community that such an office can play an important role in creating and sustaining a healthy diverse community at Tufts. In 1998, the Arts & Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development was created. Its purpose is to work collaboratively with faculty, staff, and students to augment the diverse community that already exists at Tufts. This office will be responsible for developing, implementing, and assessing a range of programs for faculty, staff, and students, and for collaborating with offices, departments, and programs in Arts and Sciences and other parts of the University, as appropriate, to promote diversity. The Office provides workshops and other educational sessions, is a resource for consultations, develops a variety of resource materials, helps to plan some diversity-related events on campus, and coordinates a diversity calendar that provides a comprehensive listing of events.

The Office of Diversity Education and Development reports directly to the Vice President for Arts, Sciences, and Technology and is located on the Third Floor of Ballou Hall, Medford Campus. Dr. Margery Davies is the Director of the Office; Dr. Jean Wu is the Program and Education Director.

Margery Davies, Director

Dr. Margery Davies is the Director of the Arts & Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development at Tufts University, which works to foster cooperatively-based activities and programs for faculty, students, and staff. In addition, she serves as Affirmative Action Officer for faculty hiring in Arts & Sciences at Tufts.

Dr. Davies is also Lecturer in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University, with a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis University. Her research interests and writing have focused on women, work, families, and child and family policy in the United States. With Professor Francine Jacobs of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development of Tufts University, she edited More Than Kissing Babies? Current Child and Family Policy in the United States, (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994). She is the author of various articles and reviews on child and family policy, and on women and work, including her book, Woman's Place Is at the Typewriter: Office Work and Office Workers, 1870-1930 (Temple University Press, 1982).

Jean Wu, Program and Education Director

Dr. Jean Wu is the Program and Education Director for the Arts and Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development. Dr. Wu received her master's and doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she was trained as a clinical developmental psychologist. Her research explores the influence of race and ethnicity on intellectual, ethical, and identity development in adolescents and college-age adults.

Before coming to Tufts, Dr. Wu served on the administration and faculty of Harvard University, Brown University, and Bryn Mawr College. She joined Tufts in 1994 and prior to her current position, she served as Dean of Advising in the Office of the Dean of the Colleges and as Assistant Dean for Faculty Development in the Offices of the Deans of Liberal Arts and Jackson Colleges. She has designed and implemented professional development workshops for faculty on how to teach effectively to increasingly diverse populations, now offered regularly twice a year. These form the foundation of the expanded professional development programs for faculty offered by the Office of Diversity Education and Development.

In the area of teaching, Jean has been an active adjunct member of the Tufts American Studies Program, developing and offering courses in the areas of race theory, comparative racial identity development, social equality, and Asian American Studies. She is co-editing an anthology on Asian American Studies, scheduled for publication in 1999 by Rutgers University Press.

Both a scholar and a practitioner, Jean consults nationally to K-12 school systems, universities, and corporate and public service organizations in areas such as curricular and pedagogical transformation, strategic planning and leadership development for diversity, the design of inclusive workplaces, and cross-race and cross-cultural communication and conflict negotiation. Her current research interests are on pedagogies of race in the college classroom and on the impact of individuals' racial identity development on their ethical development and actions.

Programs for Faculty

The Tufts Arts and Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development was established in 1997-98 as a major contribution to the maintenance and growth of a healthy diverse community within the Arts and Sciences community at Tufts. The Office provides ongoing programs in diversity education and collaborates with faculty, staff, students and other offices to design and implement diversity programming. Below is a list of the basic diversity education programs for faculty offered by the office.

Information Sessions

Information Sessions are short sessions designed to give a brief overview of the Office of Diversity Education and Development, to explore a particular topic related to diversity in Arts and Sciences, and suggest further resources for exploration or support.

Title:	Overview of Office of Diversity Education and Development and Faculty Workshops
Length:	45 minutes
Time:	To be arranged with requesting departments/programs
Size:	Unlimited
Title:	Diversity of Tufts Undergraduate Student Body
Length:	45 minutes
Time:	To be arranged with requesting departments/programs
Size:	Unlimited
Additional sessions on particular topics related to diversity in Arts and Sciences can be arranged by request. The office collaborates with other campus resources to develop programs and materials.

 

Individual and Departmental Consultations

At the request of departments/programs or individuals, the Office of Diversity Education and Development consults with them on diversity-related topics and activities on an ongoing basis. Departmental/programmatic consultations may include, for example: conducting a diversity climate survey for the department or program; evaluating how well diversity is integrated in a department's curriculum and requirements; improving the recruitment of a diverse student body for a department or program; and discussing cross-racial, cross-cultural communication within the department/program. Individual faculty members may want to explore, for example: conducting a diversity climate survey of their classrooms; designing syllabi to integrate diversity; managing diversity in the large lecture classroom or laboratory; creating inclusive learning environments for teaching and advising.

Before we can figure out how to engage diversity well in any given context, it is helpful to have some idea of our existing conditions, practices, attitudes, and skills related to diversity and the knowledge and skills needed for making progress. These kinds of data can be gathered by conducting a survey of the climate for diversity in a particular environment and a needs assessment. The Office of Diversity Education and Development collaborates with individuals/departments interested in these activities to decide on necessary data and appropriate assessment tools. Needs assessments can, for example, provide us with feedback on current conditions, practices, baseline data; make latent issues public; identify needs for professional development; and gain input from all individuals in an environment.

Faculty Professional Development Workshops

The objective of any of the Professional Development Workshops is to increase faculty comfort and skills in their teaching and teaching-related activities with a diverse student population.

Hold These Dates

A&S Office of Diversity Education and Development presents 

PEDAGOGY IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM: 
CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND POWER IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS 

Faculty Professional Development 
Workshop Series, 2000 

Racialization, Cultural Clash, and Linguistic Diversity:  International Students of Color in University Classrooms in the United States	Friday, February 25  9:30 am - 1:00 pm  (breakfast & lunch provided)
Challenges for Faculty of Color  in Predominantly White Institutions	Friday, March 10  9:30 am - 1:00 pm  (breakfast & lunch provided)  (session reserved for faculty of color)
Invisible Differences:  Sexual Orientation in the Classroom	Friday, October 6  9:30 am - 1:00 pm  (breakfast & lunch provided)
Teaching Diverse Student Populations Annual Two-Day Faculty Workshop	Tuesday, May 16, 10 am - 6 pm  (lunch & dinner provided)  Wednesday, May 17, 10 am - 5 pm  (lunch provided)  This intensive workshop introduces college teachers to the knowledge, awareness, and skills that they need to be effective in their work with diverse student populations both within and outside the classroom. Workshop curriculum is tailored to the Tufts environment, including case studies of actual Tufts classroom experiences. The workshop is limited to twelve participants. Participants receive a stipend of $200.

Comments from previous participants

I had expected a lot of fuzzy and frustrating interchanges on diversity, political correctness and "touchy feely" advice, so I approached the workshop with a degree of apprehension . . . something like a pill that would be good for me but . . . I was happily surprised at the precise, useful, and honest conversations we had and I'm very grateful for the skills I'm carrying back to my classroom next fall. 

These were two extremely valuable days û the best workshop I've attended at Tufts. Insights into my own resistance to discussion, possibly heated, about real issues, and realities for students. Insights into students' behaviors and reactions. Practical ideas for how to make my classroom a good space for all students. A new network of colleagues that I respect and can turn to for ideas and support. 

So good to have the time to slow down and look at my teaching, at my "self" as seen by students, at different students' realities. I hadn't realized how much I avoided some subjects and students because I don't want to get into awkward or highly charged situations. I learned how to deal with "silences" and make any situation into a "teachable moment." Every teacher who's serious about teaching needs this workshop -- should require it for all faculty. 

As a science and math type, I don't usually think of diversity affecting my teaching. I had come to the workshop to meet some colleagues. I really had my eyes opened to the ways in which diversity does relate to everything I do. Got great tips for the lectures and labs. Good to find out what colleagues are doing. 

I expected to add more to the workshop than I would get out of it. As a person of color, I felt I had a corner on the market of diversity but I was happily surprised. I got a great deal out of these two worthwhile days -- best workshop I've attended in 20 years of teaching. 

Offered by the Arts and Sciences Office of Diversity Education and Development 

For additional information or to reserve a place, contact Jean Wu, Program and Education Director, at 7-3672 or jwu1@emerald.tufts.edu