scholarly journals Structuring Diversity: Chief Diversity Offices as Structural Responses to a Cultural Issue

10.28945/4433 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 263-277
Author(s):  
Eugene T. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Cultural Issue ◽  
Chief Diversity Officers ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Structural Responses ◽  
Changing Demographics ◽  
Diversity Officers

Aim/Purpose: Higher education has faced increasing perceptions, mainly by students, of unwelcoming campus racial and diversity climates. As a result, during the past decade, there has been a peak in the inaugurations of chief diversity officers. Yet, little is known about how these offices are established. Background: This study explores and describes the emergence of the chief diversity office at two research-intensive universities. Methodology: This study utilizes a qualitative case study to answer the research questions. Contribution: The study provides new knowledge about the impetuses that prompt the formation of chief diversity officers. Further, the findings inform the higher education community about the establishment of chief diversity offices at two universities that might help institutions inaugurate new offices. Findings: Findings illustrated that the formation of the chief diversity office at these research universities represented structural responses to cultural issues on campus. Recommendations for Practitioners: A recommendation for practitioners is to consider a thorough assessment of the campus climate as a means to prompt the formation of a chief diversity office. The structural attributes of the realized unit should be directly associated with the specific context of the respective campus. Recommendation for Researchers: Recommendations for researchers are to empirically address social identity when examining chief diversity officers and to further investigate job and work attitudes, such as organizational commitment or burnout, in these leaders. Impact on Society: Present day colleges and universities are the most diverse in history. Considering changing demographics, it is important to understand how institutions are structurally responding to diversity on campus. Future Research: Future research might investigate the nuanced ways in which institutions of higher education are inaugurating new offices and appointing new diversity leaders. Considering the distinct aspects of diversity, scholars might explore the salient skills or relevant background experiences that colleges and universities are seeking in these new leaders.

scholarly journals AGE-FRIENDLY UNIVERSITIES: POSSIBILITIES AND POWER IN CAMPUS CONNECTIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S422-S422
Author(s):  
Joann M Montepare
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Approaches To Teaching ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
International Team ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Changing Demographics

Abstract Populations are aging locally, nationally, and globally – and challenging institutions of higher education to consider how they can respond to these changing demographics through new approaches to teaching, research, and community engagement. The Age-Friendly University (AFU) initiative was recently launched by an international team convened by Dublin City University, and endorsed by the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). The AFU concept and 10 guiding principles provide a guiding campus-wide framework that colleges and universities can use for distinguishing and evaluating age-friendly programs and policies, as well as identifying institutional gaps and opportunities for growth. To date, over 45 institutions have joined the AFU global network. This presentation will describe how collaborations across aging-focused programs and campus units devoted to diversity, community engagement, professional studies, and related educational efforts offer prime opportunities to build and sustain an AFU vision.

Multicultural Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 160-180
Author(s):  
Cyd Nzyoka Yongo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
World Market ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Diverse Populations ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

Over the last five decades, multicultural education (MCE) has evolved from a national to a global phenomenon. Discussions within this chapter aim at showcasing how utilization of MCE curriculum and strategies by relevant parties such as academicians have improved socio-cultural issues, perspectives, and trends in diversity and social justice in higher education. Moreover, MCE over time has been curated to support and transform diverse populations, whose lives for varying reasons found themselves either displaced, disenfranchised, discriminated, or dehumanized. The chapter explores the various literary perspectives to get an in-depth understanding of MCE fundamentals while acknowledging that even with its benefits, critics exist, leading to discussions on the challenges and problems of MCE as well as providing solutions and recommendations. Insights on MCE trends and future research are presented with the overall conclusion that MCE is designed to transform students of all backgrounds to be equal players in the world market.

scholarly journals International Students and Scholars in the United States: Coming From Abroad

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-298
Author(s):  
Neete Saha
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
International Students ◽  
International Education ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Critical Issues

International students and scholars in the United States: Coming from abroad is a well-written, well-researched, and well-timed monograph. In pursuit of higher education, international students have continued to attend colleges and universities in the United States of America in spite of the educational, emotional, and cultural issues. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), 723, 277 international students and more than 115,000 international scholars matriculated in American colleges and universities in 2010/2011 (pp. 4-9). The editors, Heike Alberts and Helen Hazen, have not only provided readers with an opportunity to learn about international students and scholars from Asia, Africa, and Europe but have also addressed critical issues faced by the international students and scholars in the United States. 

Student Variables that Predict Retention: Recent Research and New Developments

NASPA Journal ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Reason
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education Research ◽  
College Student ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Higher Education Research ◽  
College Student Retention ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Changing Demographics

This article reviews recent research related to the study of college student retention, specifically examining research related to individual student demographic characteristics. The increasing diversity of undergraduate college students requires a new, thorough examination of those student variables previously understood to predict retention. The retention literature focuses on research conducted after 1990 and emphasizes the changing demographics in higher education. Research related to a relatively new variable —the merit-index—also is reviewed, revealing potentially promising, but currently mixed results.

Winning the Argument and Moving the Fight: The Legacy of a Grassroots Humanitarian

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Mary Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Winning Strategy ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Trade Offs

The author of this article argues that the two-decades-long litigation struggle was necessary to push the political actors in Mississippi into a more virtuous than vicious legal/political negotiation. The second and related argument, however, is that neither the 1992 United States Supreme Court decision in Fordice nor the negotiation provided an adequate riposte to plaintiffs’ claims. The author shows that their chief counsel for the first phase of the litigation wanted equality of opportunity for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), as did the plaintiffs. In the course of explicating the role of a legal grass-roots humanitarian, Coleman suggests lessons learned and trade-offs from that case/negotiation, describing the tradeoffs as part of the political vestiges of legal racism in black public higher education and the need to move HBCUs to a higher level of opportunity at a critical juncture in the life of tuition-dependent colleges and universities in the United States. Throughout the essay the following questions pose themselves: In thinking about the Road to Fordice and to political settlement, would the Justice Department lawyers and the plaintiffs’ lawyers connect at the point of their shared strength? Would the timing of the settlement benefit the plaintiffs and/or the State? Could plaintiffs’ lawyers hold together for the length of the case and move each piece of the case forward in a winning strategy? Who were plaintiffs’ opponents and what was their strategy? With these questions in mind, the author offers an analysis of how the campaign— political/legal arguments and political/legal remedies to remove the vestiges of de jure segregation in higher education—unfolded in Mississippi, with special emphasis on the initiating lawyer in Ayers v. Waller and Fordice, Isaiah Madison

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