SU Faculty Present During USM Faculty Conference

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University played a leadership role at the University System of Maryland’s (USM) second faculty conference, “Teaching Diversity/Thinking Diversity.” Twelve SU faculty were presenters or moderators, representing the most participants from any one college in Maryland at the day-long event. Catherine Beise and Dr. Jeffrey Kottemann of SU’s Information and Decision Sciences Department opened the conference with “Diversity in the IT Workforce: Concerns and Prescriptions.” Dr. Maureen Lagana of the Social Work Department began the second session with “A Comparison of Undergraduate and Graduate Social Work Student Responses to a Professor’s Personal Self-Disclosure,” explaining the importance of diversity acceptance in social work education and how an instructor’s self-disclosure may impact diversity learning. Dr. Liddell Madden of the Social Work Department joined faculty from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Kennsaw State University of Georgia to conclude the second session with “Teaching Diversity in Social Work Practice Classes: a Psycho-Educational Group Intervention With Rural Haitian Immigrants.” During the third session, Dr. Joyce Bell of the Social Work Department presented “Developing Language in the Classroom That is Sensitive to Diversity.” Dr. Joaquin Vila of the English Department presented “Initiating Multicultural Curricular Transformation in Higher Education: A Socio-Cultural Model.” The workshop reviews notions of diversity and identifies curricular transformation grounded in constructive dialogue, professional development and program transformation. Diane Illig of SU’s Sociology Department and Diana Wagner of the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies presented “Using the Self as a Pedagogical Tool: The Challenges of Power and Pedagogy in Our Classrooms” during the afternoon session. Dr. Darrel Newton of the Communication and Theatre Arts Department presented “Internationalizing the Intellectual Experience: A Dialogic Narrative Regarding the Representation of Black Britons and Black Americans on Television.” Melissa Mohammed and Dr. Nomsa Geleta of the Education Department rounded out SU’s presentations with “Faculty Helping Faculty: Surviving the First Years in the Academy.” Sponsored by the USM Diversity Network’s Faculty Initiatives Committee, chaired by Dr. Jerry Miller of the SU Philosophy Department, the conference included public and private universities throughout Maryland as well as four other states: SU, UMES, the Univeristy of Maryland College Park, Towson, Frostburg, Coppin State University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland University College, Essex Community College, Anne Arundel Community College, the University of Baltimore, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, California State University at Hayward, John Jay College in New York, Kennesaw State and Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.