Teaching diverse students

Diversity education serves a broad array of goals at Penn State, including but not limited to the following:

• Developing talent among students of all backgrounds, identities, and abilities
• Retaining and matriculating students from groups who have been historically underrepresented in colleges and universities
• Addressing current and historical realities of oppression and social injustice in the US and in other countries
• Leveraging human diversity as a primary resource for problem-solving and creative accomplishment
• Preparing students for careers in increasingly diverse domestic and global workplaces

Penn State policies on nondiscrimination, harassment, and controversial discussions in the classroom

• Policy AD42 , Statement on Nondistrimination and Harassment
• Policy HR64 , Academic Freedom, This policy references classroom discussions of controversial topics outside a faculty member's own field of study.

Resources

• Diversity Checklist: Guidelines for course planning (pdf)
• Discussion Cases
  These cases are designed to promote discussions about Ethnic, Gender, Race, Religious, Sexual Orientation, Adult Learner, and Disability issues.
• Ground rules for discussions
  These are generic ground rules that can be adapted to your needs. It is important to solicit input for additional ground rules from the participants.
• Guidelines for case facilitators Here is an outline for setting up your discussion group.
• Bibliography (pdf)
  We have compiled a list of print and electronic publications that we hope will provide you with valuable insight into these issues. If you have other resources that you think would make a good addition to our list, please send it to us at site@psu.edu.
• Multicultural Enhanced Learning for Diversity (MELD)
  Resource database providing a rich mix of cultural, international, gender, and lifestyle perspectives that can be integrated into any Penn State course
• CIRTL diversity resources
  The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning has assembled a comprehensive set of resources about inclusive teaching practices in science, technology, engineering and math, including a case book and extensive literature review.