Senate Document SD 03-21

To: Fort Wayne Senate

From: Educational Policy Committee (EPC)

Date: March 26, 2004

Subj: Establishment of a Diversity Component in Baccalaureate Degree Programs

Disposition: To Educational Policy Committee for Implementation

WHEREAS, the members of EPC have reviewed a proposal forwarded by the General Education Subcommittee (GES) for a diversity requirement in general education, and

WHEREAS, the EPC has concluded that diversity should be a component of all baccalaureate degree programs, and

WHEREAS, the proposed component is consistent with the expectations of various accrediting bodies and national standards, with the goals of the IPFW Strategic Plan, and with diversity initiatives underway at IPFW and within the Indiana and Purdue University systems, and

WHEREAS, the definition of diversity and the choice of appropriate theoretical perspectives will differ from discipline to discipline, and

WHEREAS, a number of IPFW departments and programs have already introduced into their curricula content and pedagogies consistent with the proposed component, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate approve the establishment of a diversity component within all baccalaureate degree programs as described below, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each school/division/department/program prepare a proposal describing how such a component will be incorporated into each baccalaureate degree program in their unit, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that EPC develop an implementation process whereby school/division/department/program proposals for providing the diversity component are approved, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the foregoing steps be completed no later than December 2005 in order that the requirement become effective for students entering Fall 2006 under the 2006-08 Undergraduate Bulletin.

Approving Disapproving Non-voting Absent

Bruce Abbott Patrick McLaughlin

Margit Codispoti

Susan Hannah

David Oberstar

Jane Purse-Wiedenhoeft

George Schmelzle

Jonathan Tankel

IPFW DIVERSITY COMPONENT

FOR ALL BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PROGRAMS

In order to prepare students to live and work in a global, multi-cultural environment, each IPFW baccalaureate degree will include a diversity component. The component will provide opportunities for students to study issues such as culture, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, class, and sexual orientation, among others, as appropriate to their discipline in a manner that fosters higher-order thinking skills.

The diversity component must:

1. Address dimensions of diversity appropriate to the discipline.

2. Use critical frameworks or theoretical perspectives appropriate to the discipline that foster higher-order thinking about diversity.

3. Incorporate learning objectives about diversity issues as appropriate to the discipline. Examples include:

a. Students will interpret, analyze, or evaluate cultural products (arts, media, architecture, etc.) with regard to diversity issues in their historical, international, and/or social context.

b. Students will interpret, analyze, or evaluate institutions (political, economic, social, religious, educational, etc.) with regard to diversity issues in their historical, international, and/or social context.

c. Students will investigate and interpret the cultural differences among and within past and present civilizations.

d. Students will investigate and reflect on what it means and/or has meant to be a person of a particular race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc. They will be able to explain the effects of those categories on themselves and others as well as how such categories intersect and overlap with each other and with other categories of identity.

e. Students will investigate and explain causes and effects of structured inequalities and prejudicial exclusion in societies.

f. Students will learn how to analyze and participate in controversies that stem from dimensions of diversity in human societies.

g. Students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for understanding the impact of diverse domestic and global economic, social, and cultural environments on organizations.

h. Students will investigate and analyze the interrelationship of human diversity and the natural world.

i. Students will explore the impact of engineering and technological applications in diverse social and cultural contexts.

4. Measure student learning outcomes related to diversity within the degree assessment plan, evaluate the results, and make programmatic changes as appropriate.

Implementation: Each baccalaureate degree program may provide the diversity component within their own curriculum and/or through general education courses approved for this purpose by the General Education Subcommittee.