| The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) is a research organization focusing on the experiences and conditions of Latinos/as for policymakers, educators, and work industries. TRPI uses news releases, publications, conferences, and institutes to discuss a wide range of topics such as exploring educational opportunities, globalization and business, health and medicine, and information technology. TRIPI prides itself on how its survey research contributes directly to positive change and innovation for Latinos and Latinas throughout the United States. With an educational research focus on access, equity, and excellence, TRPI has become a reliable source for educators to better understand the challenges, and conditions of Latino and Latina college students through a success-based lens. Educational topics include Latinos/as in STEM disciplines, parental involvement, enrollment in medicine and law programs, and scholarship directories. (Added February, 2009)
The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus
This book presents a five year study of 2,000 students from the University of California, Los Angeles exploring how diversity affects identities, attitudes, and perception of group conflict over time. The study investigated spaces where student interaction takes place such as roommate assignments in dorms and membership in student groups. For students who interacted or lived with someone of another group, results indicate that positive gains are made in comfort level with others of different backgrounds, having friends from other communities, and developing a stronger level of tolerance towards individuals from different groups. Participation in student groups that consist predominantly of one identity such as race/ethnic organizations or fraternities/sororities had mixed results. Group members gained affirmation of their own identity, but were more likely hold biases towards others and perceive more acts of discrimination. The authors argue that students who participate in university enclaves can still identify as part of the larger campus community. The book gives a complex picture of diversity, challenging readers to analyze college programs, organizations, and processes that promote learning through interaction. (Added February, 2009)
REPORT - Does Diversity Matter in the Education Process? An Exploration of Student Interactions by Wealth, Religion, Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Immigrant Status at the University of California - Berkeley (pdf file)
Taken from the website, this exploration into student interactions that improve understanding, student attachment, and demographic characteristics of students attending the University of California in the spring of 2006 finds the University to be a diverse and healthy environment. Interactions among students with demographic differences are frequent and are rarely associated with decreased sense of belonging. The research offers quantitative measures for legal concepts like critical mass and compelling state interest. In spite of strong scores across the board and only a few relative deficiencies, the University is encouraged to expand discussions about diversity, to launch a more thorough examination of campus climate generally, and to especially consider the experiences of low income and African American students.(added April, 2008)
Diversity: A Corporate Campaign (podcast)
Diana Akiyama, director of religious and spiritual life at Occidental College speaks at the Networking Luncheon for faculty and administrators of color. Recorded January 24, 2008.
(Posted on March 20, 2008). Click here for mp3 version and a complete listing of sessions from the AAC&U 2008 Annual Meeting.
At the Crossroads of Diversity and Learning (podcast)
Moderated by Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen of AAC&U, Neil Hartmann, student at The College of New Jersey, Elizabeth Minnich of AAC&U, Jose Moreno of California State University, Long Beach, and Kathleen Wong of Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo discuss the past, present and future of the diversity movement on college campuses. Click here for mp3 version and a complete listing of sessions from the AAC&U 2006 Diversity and Learning Conference.
Defining Moments: A Historical Perspective on Higher Education's Engagement with Diversity (podcast)
John Hope Franklin of Duke University chronicles higher education's journey from segregation to the present and discusses the work that remains to reach equitable outcomes. (Click here for mp3 version and a complete listing of sessions from the AAC&U 2006 Diversity and Learning Conference).
The Scientist (Volume 19, Issue 21)
The Scientist asks, what is diversity, and what is it good for? Proponents say a more diverse life sciences workforce will make for better science-and better business. This supplement takes a critical look at companies’ and institutions’ efforts to increase diversity. How well are African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, and other non-white groups represented in classrooms, labs, and boardrooms? The focus embraces efforts to bring other underrepresented people into the field, be they women, people with disabilities, or first-generation college graduates.
Investments in Education for U.S. Hispanics Needed
Education and training are the linchpins that will give the nation's Hispanic workers and their children tools to contribute to and share in U.S. prosperity, says a new National Research Council report. Targeted investments in these areas would benefit not only Hispanics, but also the country as a whole by enhancing U.S. productivity as baby boomers shift into retirement.
Diversity at the Crossroads: Mapping Our Work in the Years Ahead
By Edgar F. Beckham, presented October 27, 2002 at AAC&U's Diversity and Learning: Education for a World Lived in Common conference
This speech, by the former AAC&U Senior Fellow, emphasizes the power of diversity as an education resource and its necessity for student development, all while recounting his own experience of discovery with the term. The discovery is filled with memorable and instructive stories, precise in its language and thought, tough minded, informed by history, and laced with his gracious and big-hearted humanity.
Is
More Better? The Impact of Postsecondary Education on
the Economic and Social Well-Being of American Society
(PDF)
By Adriane Williams & Watson Scott Swail
This report by the Educational Policy Institute suggests
that higher education can best serve the nation by targeting
low-income and other historically-underrepresented groups. “Given the finite resources at the federal, state,
and institutional levels for postsecondary education
in the U.S., the most prudent use of these funds is
on those individuals who hold the greatest promise for
growth,” says EPI President and report co-author
Watson Scott Swail.
Reconsidering
the Diversity Rationale
By Mitchell J. Chang, from Liberal Education,
Winter 2005
In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions
on race-conscious admissions practices, an examination
of the status of diversity in higher education.
Equity
and Excellence in American Higher Education
by William Bowen and coauthors Martin Kurzweil and Eugene
Tobin
(University of Virginia Press; April 19, 2005).
American higher education has long been recognized as
one of the preeminent educational systems in the world,
yet today U.S. standing is threatened by two systemic
weaknesses—the inadequate pre-collegiate preparation
of students from lower-income families and racial minorities,
and the underrepresentation of students from disadvantaged
backgrounds at the nation's most distinguished colleges
and universities. Taken together, these two pervasive
weaknesses jeopardize the country's levels of educational
attainment and productivity, at the same time that they
compromise America's commitment to social mobility and
fundamental fairness.
The
Benefits of Higher Education: Sex, Racial/Ethnic and
Socioeconomic Group Differences
Higher education offers a variety of benefits, both
economic and non-economic, and women seem to reap much
bigger economic benefits from earning an associate's
degree or a bachelor's degree than their male counterparts,
according to a new study. The study's author said this
revelation could shed some light on why the numbers
of women in college are swelling--women, she said, perceive
a larger payoff to pursuing postsecondary education
than men do.
Effects
of Racial Diversity on Complex Thinking in College Students
This research supports claims about the educational
significance of race in higher education, as well as
the complexity of the interaction of racial diversity
with contextual and individual factors. The findings
are discussed in the context of social psychological
theories of minority influence and social policy implications
for affirmative action. The article is available to
Ingenta
subscribers.
In Pursuit of Excellence (pdf) William G. Bowen, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
In April 2004, William G. Bowen, president of The Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation, delivered a series of lectures
on "Equity and Excellence in Higher Education" as the
Jefferson Foundation Distinguished Lecturer at the University
of Virginia. In the lectures, Bowen integrated prior
work with new evidence from a recently collected data
set to explore the achievements and remaining challenges
of American higher education in attaining "excellence
with equity." This lecture (Lecture I, April 6) examines
American higher education's provision of personal, economic,
and civic benefits-and current challenges to achieving
these objectives. To review
the other lectures, visit, http://www.mellon.org/MellonAnnouncements.htm
The purpose of the Social Justice Resources Center (SJRC) is to promote social equality by transforming educational practices and curricula. The DRC offers a searchable database to provide print, media, and web-based resources relevant to developing "diversity-inclusive" curricula and pedagogy for use by students, faculty, and educators.
The National Coalition for Equity in Education-a coalition of early childhood through university educators- proactively advocates eradicating inequities in education. The coalition's practices are based on the Perspectives on Equity (link) and an emphasis on the notion that reflection and a personal understanding of inequities in educational settings are key components to effective change. Among other resources on their site, the coalition offers some starting questions for eight areas of discussion that need to be addressed by educators before change can be achieved.
The research institute was founded in 1993 to share
the latest and most relevant information on issues confronting
communities that face the combined challenges of racism
and poverty. The goal of the institute is to promote
scholarship, commentary, and dialogue to increase the
understanding and support of those constrained by racism
and poverty.
The American Council on Education (ACE) provides a rationale for continuing to support affirmative action programs in higher education. The site provides information about opposition to the legislation and ways that supporters can get involved in the fight to maintain affirmative action programs.
A National Center for Education and Statistics (NCES)
report, Trends in Educational Equity of Girls and Women,
concludes that women are more likely than their male
peers to hold high educational aspirations, to enroll
in college, and to persist to degree attainment. ACE established the
Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity (CAREE)
in 1981 to address declining rates of minority participation in higher education. OMHE has become one of
the nation's major sources of information on the educational
status of minorities, exemplary programs aimed at improving
the campus climate for persons of color, and the challenges
faced by academe in its efforts to continue to increase
participation rates and degree attainment by U.S. ethnic
minorities.
This study measures the educational benefits of diversity.
Data from this in-depth empirical analysis show that
students educated in diverse classrooms learn to think
in deeper and more complex ways, and are better prepared
to become active participants in a pluralistic, democratic
society.
Who Benefits
from Racial Diversity in Higher Education? , by
Mitchell J. Chang, Loyola Marymount University, and
Alexander W. Astin, University of California, Los Angeles
Citing a series of recent empirical studies, this
article details how white students, as well as students
of color, benefit from racial diversity. Such findings
"suggest that there is a sound educational
justification for institutional attempts to create a
racially diverse student body."
In this essay, Hurtado illustrates how a climate of
inclusion has a positive effect on learning outcomes,
citing examples of how key transformations in the teaching
and learning activity of institutions are linked with
understanding and serving a diverse student body.
This paper explores current developments in curriculum
transformation. It presents a brief overview of what
these changes seek to accomplish and what they mean
for today's college students. It includes a summary
of the most recent research on the impact of these kinds
of changes on student's cognitive development and attitudes
toward diversity and provides a list of additional resources
on curriculum change in higher education.
Over the past several decades, colleges and universities
have instituted a wide variety of programs and new curricula
to better educate all students for a diverse society
and interconnected world. Some critics have challenged
the usefulness of these programs. An increasingly comprehensive
body of research is now emerging that documents the
effects of diversity on student learning and campus
relations. This briefing paper provides an overview
of the conclusions about the impact of diversity on
students.
In what ways do students' attitudes toward sexual
diversity change during college? What aspects of the
college experience contribute to students' acceptance
of sexual diversity? What is the relationship between
students' attitudes toward sexual diversity and student
identity, particularly gender? Through the use of survey
and interview data, Kardia addresses these questions
in a study that considers the ways in which colleges
and universities affect students' acceptance of sexual
diversity. Visit these pages for a fuller description
of the study's background
and methods and a detailed
discussion of its major findings.
In this article, Matlock shares some of the findings
from the Michigan Study, a longitudinal survey study
that examines the impact of campus-wide diversity initiatives
on undergraduates. Many of the findings challenge commonly
held perceptions of student experience with diversity.
The first-ever Washington state business leaders survey
on diversity in higher education, conducted in April
1997, finds that business leaders strongly support diversity
in college education.
The first-ever statewide poll in Florida on diversity
in higher education shows overwhelming public support
for diversity learning programs and their mission to
bridge the nationês racial divide as they prepare college
students for work, leadership and citizenship in a multicultural
world.
While national surveys reveal that fewer and fewer
Americans admit openly to holding racist views, a more
nuanced study conducted by the National Opinion Research
Center at the University of Chicago, found that many
Americans still do harbor beliefs abour racial and ethnic
minorities based on racist stereotypes.
Communities In Schools (CIS), a national stay-in-school
network, with support from the Knight Foundation, is
using survey research of middle and high school students,
who are at risk of school failure, to shape services
and programs aimed at helping these students succeed
in secondary school and beyond. The School Success Profile
(SSP), developed by the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, is a survey that takes an innovative
apporach at assessing students' needs by asking questions
in the context of neighborhood, family, and peer group.
The College Board offers manual for Diversity in Higher Education, A Strategic Planning and Policy Manual by Arthur Coleman
"Diversity in Higher Education," a manual for administrators and policy makers who believe in the importance of diversity in education and are committed to equity and excellence, is now available for purchase. The manual is designed to help university administrators overcome the challenges they face in their quest to ensure a stimulating intellectual, cultural, and pluralistic campus. "Diversity in Higher Education" was authored by Arthur Coleman, an attorney at the Washington, DC office of Nixon Peabody, LLP. He is an authority on matters relating to education reform and accountability issues, including elementary, secondary, and higher education admissions and financial aid issues, including those relating to the consideration of race and national origin as factors in admissions and financial aid decisions.
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