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

To help faculty members achieve these broad goals, we have developed the following resources.

Resources:

  • 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: 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.

Penn State policies regarding 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.