email: kominkie@saintmarys.edu

Abstract:

Diversity on a women’s college exists in various areas, including ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, physical challenges, and religion.  Colleges must assess the issues of diversity in their particular environments from a strengths perspective, and focus on increasing diversity through many processes, including strengthening the curriculum in all areas of diversity.  This presentation explores college diversity from several perspectives, including how diversity can be achieved on many levels of collegiate life.  The development of a Working with Diverse Populations course will also be discussed.

Description:

Diversity is an area that has been explored on a variety of levels in college settings.  Diversity on a women’s college exists in various areas, including ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, physical challenges, and religion.  Colleges strive to bring diversity to the college environment often through the increase of racial diversity on college campuses.  Colleges must assess the issues of diversity in their particular environments from a strengths perspective, and focus on increasing diversity through many processes, including strengthening the curriculum.  This presentation explores college diversity from several perspectives, including how diversity can be achieved on many levels of collegiate life through an assessment and strengthening of the college curriculum.

The application of the strengths perspective to social work practice is a means of utilizing resources that may already exist in a specific client system.  In the college educational system, a myriad of strengths and existing resources can assist in diversity curriculum development (Cross, 2004; Eisenmann, 2004).  These include areas of diversity strengths brought to the college by the students.  Students at an all women’s college already bring a strong sense of diversity, including the issue of empowerment of women, and thus are prepared to address diversity content in the curriculum.  The addition of a Working with Diverse Populations course for all college majors is discussed in this presentation, including preparation of the master syllabus and presenting this course to the college curriculum committee.

The strengths of the Social Work Program curriculum in addressing diversity and preparing students to apply their knowledge in diverse communities is important to the college curriculum as a whole (Altpeter & Marshall, 2003).  The Social Work Program introduces topics related to diversity issues in all social work courses. Therefore, diversity is integrated throughout the social work curriculum to increase student learning in this area.  The Program developed a matrix that is used to determine if all courses are integrating diversity through such areas as topics, speakers, assignments, and papers.  Adjunct faculty and speakers with diverse backgrounds and characteristics are sought to teach and speak within the Social Work Program curricula.

The Social Work Program curricula include learning regarding the effects of such characteristics as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.  Stereotypes regarding diverse populations are discussed in all Social Work courses.  Courses that address the causes and effects of structured inequalities and prejudice, and which address systems that perpetuate inequalities, are included.  It is also important to note that the Social Work Program courses not only address these issues but also processes of intervention to alleviate these issues.   The Social Work Program through the curricula also addresses diversity from many theoretical perspectives, including social systems theory, the ecological approach, the structural perspective, feminist theory, empowerment theory, organizational theory, community theory, and the strengths perspective.  As such, student learning is enhanced and continued through the application of theory to “real world” diversity issues.

References:

Altpeter, M. & Marshall, V.  (2003).  Making aging “real” for undergraduates.  Educational

Gerontology, 29 (9), 739-757.

Cross, M.  (2004).  Institutionalising campus diversity in South African higher education:

Review of diversity scholarship and diversity education.  Higher Education, 47 (4), 387-

410.

Eisenmann. L.  (2004).  Integrating diversity perspectives into higher education research. 

Journal of Higher Education, 75 (1), 7-22.