Teaching in the Multicultural
American South
The College of Education's Multicultural
Studies Initiative
Multicultural Studies Workshops and Seminars
Contributed by Dr. Barbara McCaskill, English
A liberal education requirement in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences requires all undergraduates to "have satisfactorily completed one course certified by the College as dealing with multicultural subject matter" (The University of Georgia Undergraduate Bulletin: 1998-99, p. 54). A critical mass of faculty in the College now designs and offers multicultural American studies courses in such disciplines as English, History, Romance Languages, Comparative Literature, Geography, Women's Studies, Psychology, the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, African American Studies, Drama and Theatre, Sociology, the School of Journalism, and Art. Additionally, professors in the College of Education (Language Education, Special Education, Elementary Education, Social Foundations) have been very much involved in creating innovative and imaginative multicultural studies curricula, and they have instituted an annual day-long symposium on topics germane to multicultural education.
The multicultural American studies courses have proved very popular campus-wide with both undergraduates and graduate students. For instance, in academic-year 1997-98 alone the Department of English enrolled over 3,000 students in its multicultural American literature classes (including sophomore survey and upper-division), and graduate students in various disciplines have now completed dissertations and theses in multicultural studies and obtained tenure-track jobs with these emphases. Also last year, Professors John Inscoe, History, and Timothy Powell, English, team-taught a graduate class on the multicultural origins of Georgia that drew on UGA faculty members' expertise in autobiography, history, cultural studies, and other research areas.
A salient feature of the multicultural American studies courses at UGA is that they address Native American, Asian American, African American, and Latino contributions to the historical and contemporary American South. These topics are compelling to a student population that is largely Southern; they are relevant as a reflection of the demographic diversity of the state; they are appropriate for study at the University of Georgia, which occupies a position of stature and influence in the region's educational history. The ethnic, class, linguistic, and geographical diversity of the University's undergraduate population has quickened as a partial consequence of Governor Zell Miller's Hope Scholarship program, and the multicultural American studies courses thus meet an important demand for complex and challenging constructions of the American South.
Many of us are organizing an academic interest group among the faculty who teach multicultural studies germane to the American South. Through workshops, team-teaching partnerships, informal get-togethers, and brainstorming sessions, we will encourage interest group members to imagine new course topics, stay abreast of new research concepts and teaching methodologies in multicultural studies, and locate faculty mentors and research colleagues. We have established an electronic discussion list called Multicultural Studies in the South (MSIS-L@listserv.uga.edu) to facilitate communication among these professors and to share announcements about relevant conferences, grants deadlines, and other research opportunities. Planning for workshops this semester on teaching and research in the multicultural studies curriculum is already underway, and they will be held in October and November in collaboration with the Office for Instructional Support and Development, Institute of Higher Education, and College of Education.
Two long-range projects to enhance the effectiveness of multicultural studies instruction are also being undertaken. One features the collaboration of multicultural studies faculty in actual team-teaching classrooms. Once professors have identified potential co-teachers and refined course topics, we want to provide an infrastructure that will enable them to team-teach smoothly and effectively. Our goals are to amplify the effectiveness, consistency, and scope of team-taught multicultural studies courses on the American South. Via team-teaching projects, which would provide crucial opportunities for professors to exchange syllabi and other information, co-teach, and otherwise network, our second purpose is to increase retention and professional longevity of multicultural American studies faculty, as a good proportion consists of people of color. Finally, we hope to use the team-teaching project as a stimulus for faculty in these courses to interact more collegially across departmental, disciplinary, and institutional borders.
The second project intends to encourage more faculty use of primary historical and literary materials related to Georgia culture in the University Libraries holdings, for purposes of both teaching and research. Currently, the Libraries are undertaking many microfilm preservation and digital imaging projects related to holdings in Georgia culture, and these collections of newspapers, photographs, books, and video intersect with much of the content of multicultural studies courses taught campus-wide. In the CHIPS (Computer Hardware, Imaging and Preservation Services) unit directed by Bob Henneberger and Nan McMurry, individual faculty and graduate students have been editing and tagging some of the textual material in SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) for access online via GALILEO. Examples of Georgia newspapers we are encoding for online access are the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper, and the Colored Tribune, a religious newspaper published by the African American community in Savannah in the 1870s. In collaboration with the Library staff and administration, we want to identify additional ways in which faculty can utilize these resources to create challenging projects for students, to assist in the ongoing preservation and organization of these materials, and to facilitate their own research and publication projects. We envision a computer classroom where advanced students would tag, edit, and annotate primary materials as if preparing an edition for publication. These materials would link online to a digital classroom of syllabi and lesson plans organized around this research. More details on the nature of this project are forthcoming on the MSIS-L discussion list.
Both long-term and short-term goals of these projects intend to improve the instructional expertise, professional bonds, and retention among faculty and graduate students in multicultural American studies at the University of Georgia. An additional outcome is to distinguish UGA as a center for multicultural American studies in the South. From its Sea Islands and mountains to its Piedmont and marshlands, Georgia is positioned to be an economic and educational leader in the twenty-first century. We hope that these projects on teaching the multicultural American South will assist the University in claiming a primary role in this undertaking.
To subscribe to the MSIS-L list, or for more information on these initiatives, contact Barbara McCaskill (bmccaski@arches.uga.edu) or John Inscoe (jinscoe@arches.uga.edu).
By Dr. Jenny Penney Oliver, College of Education
The College of Education is involved in a continuous process of reflection with regard to how most effectively to deliver its mission of teaching, research, and service. In part, as a result of this reflection, the College is continually initiating new and innovative processes to keep it contemporary and to lead in educational practice.
Prompted by its faculty, the College of Education entered into a period of self-examination and renewal with regard to issues of diversity. Effective academic year 1993-94, the result was the adoption of the Multicultural Education Initiative, which identifies multicultural education as an integral part of the College's mission. The College regards multicultural education as part of a process to facilitate the development of educational policies and practices that recognize, accept, and affirm differences and similarities among people and that challenge inequities existing in society in general, and educational settings in particular. The College is committed to the development of programs and practices that assist students, staff, and faculty in the development of knowledge and actions necessary to lead productive lives in this increasingly pluralistic society, and to the effective education and counseling of students from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
The Multicultural Education Initiative is administered through a faculty facilitator and a College-wide Task Force composed of faculty, staff, and students. Sub-committees of the Task Force were formed to address the complex issue of more fully incorporating multicultural education into the life of the College. The foci of sub-committees have included the following projects: recruitment and retention of faculty and students of color, faculty and staff development, review and revision of curricula for inclusion of diverse perspectives, and resource development. The College also sponsors a variety of events, programs, and activities in support of the Multicultural Education Initiative. These include: 1) an annual, College-wide conference on multicultural education; 2) engagements of nationally recognized speakers and consultants who present workshops on specific topics related to the Initiative; 3) monthly seminars that highlight the work of colleagues in areas related to the Initiative as well as provide faculty and staff development in these areas; 4) a "Visiting Minority Scholar" series that features lectures and consultation specifically in the areas of recruitment and retention, as well as discussions of curriculum and research; 5) a Resource Center in the College for multicultural education collections; 6) a database on multicultural education resources; and 7) the development of a World Wide Web page for and about the College of Education's Multicultural Education Initiative.
In conjunction with the adoption of a cultural diversity requirement, the Curriculum Sub-Committee of the College of Education Task Force worked closely with departments to develop cultural diversity curriculum plans. These plans were adopted by the College's Faculty Senate and are now in place in all twenty departments in the College. A significant feature of the College of Education's cultural diversity requirement is that it applies to both undergraduate and graduate students.
The Multicultural Education Initiative has made an impact on faculty, staff, and students in the College, and programs and practices have changed in many ways. As a consequence of the Initiative, those of us in the College have clarified some issues, raised others, and increased our awareness characteristics at the very core of a responsible educational environment. Like other institutions, we are still grappling with these issues and will continue to look for better and more effective ways to include diversity in the life of the College.
The following workshops and seminars on teaching and research in multicultural studies, and/or related to the College of Education and Franklin College diversity curricula, have been scheduled for the remainder of Fall Semester 1999:
Thursday, October 28, 1999, 2:00-4:00 p.m., 275 Journalism
The Multicultural Studies in the American South group presents a workshop on Using the World Wide Web to Enhance Teaching Multicultural Studies Courses. Virginia Benjamin, faculty liaison for Electronic Library Services, is the facilitator. Participants will obtain hands-on experience in the OISD computer classroom. After the hour-long workshop, an optional orientation on managing equipment in the computer classroom will follow in Park Hall.
Wednesday, November 17, 1999, 12:30-1:30 p.m., G-23 Aderhold
The College of Education's Multicultural Task Force presents, Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Schools: An International Professional Development Experience. Discussants are Martha Allexsaht-Snider, Julia Reguero de Atiles, Jim McLaughlin, and student participants in the experience.
Friday, November 19, 1999, 12:00-1:00 p.m., 418 Aderhold Hall
Who Were the Freedman's Teachers? Reflecting on a Collective Portrait presented by Dr. Ron Butchart, Professor, Department of Social Foundations of Education.
In addition, in collaboration with the Institute of Higher Education, the Multicultural Studies in the American South group is sponsoring a roundtable discussion of Student Sensitivity in the Multicultural Studies Classroom. Students and faculty will discuss methods of facilitating classroom discussions of racism, sexism, homophobia, privilege, and other issues without silencing or alienating students. The date, time, and location of this discussion will be announced later in the semester.
The Office of Instructional Support & Development
Teaching at UGA is a biannual publication of the Office of Instructional Support & Development (OISD). OISD is a unit within Academic Affairs devoted to the advancement of instruction at the University of Georgia. The office is advised by the University's Instructional Advisory Committee and reports directly to the Provost/Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The central mission of OISD is to provide campus-wide leadership on matters relating to instruction. By coordinating a wide variety of programs and activities, OISD serves faculty, administrators, and graduate assistants in each of the University's thirteen schools and colleges.
Dr. William K. Jackson is the Director of OISD. Dr. Tricia Kalivoda, Coordinator of Faculty Development for OISD, is the editor of TUGA. Ms. Lindsay Isaacs, a graduate student in journalism, is coeditor of TUGA.
The Office of Instructional Support & Development is committed to providing access to its programs for all people with disabilities and will provide accommodations if notified. Please call OISD (542-1355) for information about architectural access and to arrange for a sign language interpreter, an assistive listening device, large print, audio, or braille.
For more information about programs and services provided by OISD, visit the OISD home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.isd.uga.edu.