By Jane R. Elgass
Even as he builds collaborative relationships with units across campus, Lester Monts is developing a team among three of the units that report directly to him—the Office of Orientation, the Office of Academic Multicultural Affairs (formerly the Office of Minority Affairs) and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT).
Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
Connie Cook, the incoming director of CRLT, appreciates Monts’ “interest in having CRLT play a more formal role in promoting multiculturalism and diversity in the academic arena. This is something we’d hoped we would be able to do.
“The infusion of diversity into the curriculum was a major topic for discussion this past year in meetings of the Council on a Multicultural University (COMU),” Cook notes.
“CRLT welcomes the opportunity to help faculty teach a diverse student body and make curricular changes to reflect that diversity. The idea is very appropriate and we are pleased with Dr. Monts initiative in this area.
“Good teaching is teaching that is good for both majority and minority students. Anyone who is a really good teacher employs a variety of modes in teaching, as students learn in different ways,” Cook notes, adding that CRLT will be looking at two issues:
Cook and her staff are looking at several ways to effect curricular changes. One is incorporating the diversity agenda more fully in CRLT workshops for faculty and teaching assistants, in individual consultations, and in CRLT publications and resource materials.
They also will examine ways to expand existing programs that support curricular revision, such as targeting funding to faculty who are undertaking or want to undertake initiatives that will improve courses with diversity issues in mind.
Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives
“There are lots of interrelationships and interconnectedness between our units, but the new team approach will help us remain more sharply focused on academic issues,” says John H. Matlock, director of the Office of Academic Multicultural Affairs.
Asked about the name change for the unit, he notes that “for about 18 months we have wanted to get away from the word ‘minority,’” a suggestion of the Council on a Multicultural University that also reflects attention to the academic arena as it relates to students.
“The heartbeat of the institution is academics,” Matlock says. “We want multiculturalism in more than just cultural programming, and we must also look at climate issues.”
Supporting student initiatives that focus on academics is one way Matlock hopes to broaden and strengthen ties with academic units.
“Students may want to bring in a speaker. We want that to be done in cooperation with an academic unit, to promote ‘buy-in’ on the part of the unit for student-initiated programming. For instance, if they want to bring in a Native American journalist, we’d ask them to get the support also of the Department of Communication, resulting possibly in broader exposure than first anticipated.
“We want a positive climate that nurtures and supports all students, one that values and appreciates the contributions of all members of the University community.”
Matlock notes that while the University has been successful in attracting more minority students, retention is now a major issue.
“We’ve doubled the number of students of color in the past 10 years. The question is what happens now. The bottom line is getting them through the process [of getting an education] successfully.
“We know that students change during their four years here. What we’re not sure of is what prompts those changes. We also don’t have a firm grip on what the bottlenecks to success are. We need to sponsor some multicultural research initiatives that will give us these answers.”
Office of Orientation
Pamela T. Horne is looking forward to working more closely with a small cluster of directors whose units already have a lot in common.
Horne is director of orientation and the Campus Information Center and also works closely with the Mentorship Program and “Welcome to Michigan” activities that were initiated this year.
“We already work closely with John’s office on programming for diversity activities during student orientation. We’d like to see more involvement on the part of faculty and administrators with parent orientation on diversity and other issues, and the team approach opens the door to addressing that issue.
“Lester is student-oriented,” Horne notes, “and also interested in serving the needs of parents, who are a major source of information and support for students, particularly during their first year on campus. Lester’s experience with undergraduate education in a broad context means new ideas and input for us.”
Horne’s office also already works closely with CRLT on examinations and evaluations, “but would like to explore training issues. We need to be able to answer questions at orientation from both parents and students on what it’s like being a student at a major research university,” she explains. “We want to better articulate the teaching training of faculty and graduate students.”
Horne also hopes “to move the Univer-sity community to see orientation as a process rather than a single event, a process with stronger academic ties that follows entering freshmen and transfer students during their entire first year through activities both in and out of the classroom.”
