Digital Commons Network^™

The Creation Of An Inclusive Culture: A Case Study Of The Midwestern Region Of A Large Retail Banking Organization, Katherine T. Sherlock

Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership Theses

Through a case study of the Midwestern region of a large retail banking organization, this thesis set out to explore how the organization has worked to create an inclusive culture, as well as the associated challenges, measurement opportunities and outcomes of those activities. Though this case study focused on these efforts across the Midwestern region, the organization itself is one ofAmerica’s largest financial institutions and employs over 275,000 team members. A comprehensive literature review, conceptual and relational content analyses of the organization’s website, and interviews with seven leaders from the region were used in this research.

The results of this …

Qualitative Research In Teaching Diversity In A Non-Diverse High School Setting Using Contemporary Art, Robin L. Reczek

Art Education Projects

Abstract

This qualitative action research study examined the effects of introducing diverse contemporary artworks into a non-diverse educational setting. For 3 months, 18 female high school students explored a range of artists, art styles, and artworks, in aid to discovering their own diverse qualities as well as the diversity of their classmates. Through participatory action research, I investigated how diverse contemporary artwork impacted student actions, discussions, and artworks. With the assistance of the transformative learning theory, I expected to convert students with non-accepting diversity views into unbiased young women. My research included data gathered from an assortment of alumni interviews, …

Creating Blended Environments That Connect Classroom To Community, Joseph A. Santiago

Office of Community, Equity, & Diversity

Creating Blended Environments That Connect Classroom to Community

Objective: To outline a blended environment model linking multiple systems, departments, and people together, that can be easily integrated into the culture of how we already live, work, and learn. Further, this model seeks to highlight mechanisms within said blended environment that would support students who might feel isolated or disconnected when they first get to URI.

Creating Blended Environments That Connect Classroom to Community; Creating Blended Environments That Connect Classroom to Community; Objective; To outline a blended environment model linking multiple systems, departments, and people together, that can be easily integrated …

3 G Diversity Summit, Joseph A. Santiago, Trip Hutchinson, Joe Mercadante, Kevin Cruz, Dana Speesler, Brian Sit, Marquel Wright, Ryan Vignean, Alex Papa

Office of Community, Equity, & Diversity

The 3G Summit sought to bring students together from multiple Universities to create collaboration across diversity groups in the New England area. The I Am U URI group put a call out to new members to work across Universities on collaborative goals.

The summit was designed to accomplish 3 goals. Get people from multiple Universities to come together and talk about their experiences. Brainstorm things that everyone wants to work on. Establish contact information and ways to work together.

This Summit was sponsored by HRL and the GLBT Center. Audio from this event can be streamed directly from this page.

The Effects Of A Service Learning Introductory Course In Diversity On Pre-Service Teachers Attitudes' Toward Teaching Diverse Students, Dawn Jacoby Lucas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the impact of a service-based course in diversity on pre-service teachers attitudes toward the inclusion of diverse learners (ethnically, socioeconomically, and disabled) in the general classroom. One-hundred and ten students at a private liberal arts university in North Carolina completed the Pluralism and Diversity Attitude Assessment (PADAA) to measure pre-service teachers' attitudes toward including cultural diverse students in the general education classroom, the Opinions Relative to Integration (ORI) instrument to measure pre-service teachers' attitudes toward including disabled students in the general education classroom, and a short demographic survey Results indicate an introductory class has impact in improving …

A Work In Progress: The Lived Experiences Of Black Male Undergraduates At One Predominantly White University, Wayne D. Lewis, Steven Thurston Oliver, Jennifer L. Burris

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

This exploratory study examines the lived academic and social experiences of current black male undergraduate students, including their perceived barriers and their strategies for persistence and achieving success. Study participants included black male undergraduate students at one predominantly white, four-year, public research university. Data collection methods included two focus group interviews with a purposeful sample of 12 undergraduate, black male students. Students reported that explicit and implicit messages of racial hatred have contributed to a general campus atmosphere of discomfort for black male students. The students described an environment where they continually encounter racial micro aggressions and prejudice. Students reported …

U.S. Demographic Diversity And The Achievement Gap: Grappling With Nuances, Robert A. Devillar, Binbin Jiang

Journal of Emerging Knowledge on Emerging Markets

In this article, the authors examine various nuances relating to demographics on race, ethnicity, gender and income in the United States, and ways in which they relate to educational access, participation and achievement. These nuances persistently remain below the surface of our national consciousness, schooling experiences at all levels, and everyday discourse. Thus, it is necessary to make them explicit and, depending on their positive or negative influence, integrate them into our policies and practices or challenge and discard them. This obligatory culling of the wheat from the chaff is required if our attempts to move forward progressively and steadily …

Diversity Week 2011 - Raising Your Voice, Multicultural Center

Multicultural Center

Raise Your Voice: How Diverse Genres of HipHop, Spoken Word and Music Create a Culture of Nonviolence and Peace?

Dr. Paul de Mesquita, Professor, Psychology and Director Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies; and Performing Artists, Rudy Cabrera, Kaly the 5th Element, and Miss Lori. In contrast to a growing culture of violence so prevalent in all forms of mass media, this session will feature live performance artists presenting work in tribute to Gandhi and King, toward the goal of a peaceful inclusive multicultural "beloved community". Join us in interacting and dialoguing with the artists. Sponsored by the URI Center …

Diversity Week 2011 - Out Of Diversity We Speak, Multicultural Center

Multicultural Center

Out of Diversity: We Speak.

Dr. Jody Lisberger, Director, and Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies; Dr. Robert Carothers, Academic Affairs; Dr. Adam Roth, Communication Studies; Dr. Ian Reyes, Communication Studies; Dr. Mercedes Rivero Hudec, Chemical Engineering; Dr. Jeremiah Dyehouse, Writing & Rhetoric; and students who will be speaking about their lives, in relation to diversity. Students and faculty rarely find time to engage each other around the arts and share the value of their individual and collective lives. This reading of expressive writing from four culturally diverse faculty and four students will reveal the influences of our diverse ways of being …

2011 Uri Diversity Week Keynote Speaker Dr. Michio Kaku: Towards A Multicultural, Scientific, And Tolerant Future For The Planet, Multicultural Center

Multicultural Center

Why is it important that the future be studied? Iranian-Canadian futurist Alireza Hejazi (2009) has suggested that the study of the future moves us “from a passive or fatalistic acceptance of what may happen to an active participation in creating preferred futures.” Why should the study of the future be democratized? German-Jewish futurist Robert Jungk (1987) observed, “Most developing nations seem to accept that their future lies in catching up with the present of the developed nations…This means that it is in the power of the rich nations to define and refine the future and to propagate their images…This is …

Corporate Leadership And The Unfinished Diversity Movement, Evan M. Roberts Mr.

Evan M Roberts Mr.

This comment explores topics relating to diversity in the board room. It begins by covering the benefits a diverse board brings to firm, focusing on the business case rationales of saving firms money, strengthening core business concepts and corporate governance and increasing shareholder value. Next, the comment explores why, despite the apparent value a divers e board brings to a firm, corporations remain largely homogenized at the highest levels. Current legal, social and economic principles such as tournament theory and labor market externalities appear to shed light on what specific problems diversity advocates must contend with if they hope to …

Variation On A Traditional Theme: The Question Of Racial And Ethnic Diversity In Mla, Mark A. Puente, Susannah Cleveland

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Following the findings from the MLA Survey of Personnel Characteristics, 2009 that pointed to discrepancies between the racial and ethnic diversity of MLA members and the general population, an analysis of the diversity of MLA’s patron base and an assessment of other organizations' efforts at diversity are analyzed. Recommendations for efforts by MLA to address these discrepancies as well as justification for making such efforts follow.

The Promise Of Grutter: Diverse Interactions At The University Of Michigan Law School, Meera E. Deo

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School on the grounds of educational diversity. Yet the Court's assumption that admitting diverse students into law school would result in improved race relations, livelier classroom conversations, and better professional outcomes for students has never been empirically tested. This Article relies on survey and focus group data collected at the University of Michigan Lav School campus itself in March 2010 to examine not only whether, but how diversity affects learning. The data indicate both that there are sufficient numbers of students of color …

Deliberate Cultural Curriculum: A Case Study In Online Discourse For Race And Gender Issues In Media, Lorene Wales

Lorene Wales

Investigating The Effectiveness Of Physical Activity Interventions For Older Adults, Iina E. Antikainen

Kinesiology Dissertations

Regular physical activity can help prevent chronic conditions and it is positively linked to health-related quality of life (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). Unfortunately, many older adults do not engage in leisure time activity (USDHHS, 2000); making it important to design and test physical activity interventions for this population. The purpose of this dissertation was to review the external validity of theory-based physical activity interventions and to examine the efficacy of a mail-based physical activity intervention. The review included 54 theory-based interventions and overall the studies focused on internal rather than external validity. The hypotheses …

Students’ Perception Of Diversity In An International Classroom, Loïse Jeannin

Higher Learning Research Communications

This paper presents students’ perception of diversity in an international classroom in one international university in Thailand. The aim of this exploratory study is to better understand students’ perception of diversity to better meet their learning needs. By conducting a survey among students enrolled in bachelor’s and master’s international programs, this study explores how students perceive their classmates’ diversity, such as, but not limited to, cultural, language, and knowledge differences. How does diversity affect students’ learning in an international setting? What kind of diversity is the most disturbing for learners? Some recommendations grounded in the conceptual framework of cultural responsive …

The Prejudice Paradox (Or Discrimination Is Not Dead): Systematic Discrimination In Forced Choice Employment Decisions, Paula M. Brochu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research examined discriminatory responding in a forced choice employment decision paradigm, using a justification-suppression perspective to interpret the findings. In this paradigm, participants play the role of employers and make employment choices between two excellent and similarly qualified individuals that differ only on one dimension. In the first three studies, participants chose between two individuals who were described as differing only in ethnicity (European vs. Middle Eastern), gender (Male vs. Female), religion (Christian vs. Muslim), age (Young vs. Old), height (Tall vs. Short), weight (Average Weight vs. Overweight), nationality (Canadian vs. Immigrant), or sexual orientation (Heterosexual vs. Homosexual). Patterns …

Changing The World With One Cell: The Story Of Hela, Allison Roberts

Allison Roberts

Poster Created for the Diversity Committee Fall 2011 Culture Corner featuring The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks’ cell culture spawned changes in medicine, science, ethics, society and the world. This Semester’s Culture Corner features selections from UT Libraries collection that highlight the areas effected by this one human and her immortal cell.

Teaching Social Justice Through The Lens Of Multicultural Education, Alana Cimillo

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

With public school populations growing in socio-economic and racial diversity, as projected by the Census Bureau, there is a clear need for an understanding of this diversity to occur at the early childhood level. In order to truly adopt multicultural education as an integral part of a student’s academic growth, teachers must consider the meaning of “cultural competence”. In the first years of a student’s education, fundamental values can be developed as the building blocks for future culturally responsive human beings. This presentation will review concrete evidence that supports the incorporation of multicultural education early childhood classrooms.

Analysis Of Y-Chromosome Diversity In Lingayat And Vokkaliga Populations Of Southern India, Shilpa Chennakrishnaiah

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological and genetic evidence have long supported the notion that the Indian subcontinent played an important role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa. In the present study, two Dravidian populations, namely Lingayat (N=101) and Vokkaliga (N=102) were examined using high-resolution analyses of Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphism (Y-SNP) and their associated seventeen short tandem repeat (STR) loci. The results revealed a prevalence of the major indigenous Indian Y-haplogroups (H, L, F* and R2), which collectively accounted for three-fourths of the Lingayat and Vokkaliga paternal gene pool. In addition, the presence of ancient lineages such as F*-M213, H*-M69 and …

The Persona Doll Project: Promoting Diversity Awareness Among Preservice Teachers Through Storytelling, Mary Ellin Logue, V. Susan Bennett-Armistead, Soojoung Kim

Child Development and Family Relations Faculty Scholarship

The Persona Doll Project describes an experiential intervention with undergraduate preservice teachers designed to increase awareness about diversity and apply this awareness to curriculum planning and advocacy for children. Sixty-three undergraduate students in a social studies methods class were each assigned a persona doll for the semester whose background differed from their own. Each was charged with becoming the advocate for the child, represented by the doll, by telling informed stories that would help other students better understand a level of diversity beyond what they knew from their own lives. Students heightened awareness of their own assumptions through narrative, inquiry …

Workforce Diversity Management In Ontario Municipalities, Jennifer Lajoie

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines why some municipalities have implemented workforce diversity management plans and policies, while others have not. A case study analysis of nine mid-sized Ontario municipalities – Chatham-Kent, Sudbury, Guelph, Kitchener, Lambton, London, St. Catharines, Thunder Bay, and Windsor – was conducted. The findings reveal that common patterns for the existence of workforce diversity management policies include: a wake-up call that helps trigger change; the creation of organizational buy-in; the existence of a champion for diversity; and a consideration of local environmental forces.

How Canadian Diversity And Anti-Oppression Educators Handle The Emotional Challenges Of Their Practice, Kirsten Somers

Adult Education Research Conference

This study investigates the perspectives of diversity and anti-oppression educators working in the non-profit, settlement and education sectors in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Toronto, Ontario. The researcher explores how Canadian diversity and anti-oppression educators handle the emotional challenges of their practice. This paper also explores how language, identity and teacher recognition impact the learning process, and highlights the imperfect yet courageous practice that the diversity and anti-oppression educators in this study embark upon when facilitating discussions about diversity and oppression.

Bridging Racial Divisions In Urban Graduate Education, Catherine A. Hansman, Catherine H. Monaghan

Adult Education Research Conference

One of our core beliefs is that we, as adult educators, are responsible for providing environments that include spaces where dialogues of race and racism occur, which facilitate the learning and transformation of students, our practice and ourselves. However, as white faculty we find ourselves caught in a fabric woven of power and privilege that constantly challenges us to recognize how we live in the paradox of contributing to the ongoing nature of racism as we simultaneously try to transform it. The purpose of this roundtable discussion is to wrestle with this paradox and encourage dialogue and perspectives among adult …

A Question Of Comfort: Race, Whiteness, And The Creation Of Diverse, Inclusive, And Engaged Learning Environments, H. Elizabeth Braun

Open Access Dissertations

Most colleges and universities in the United States today claim that “diversity” is an important institutional value, but it is not always clear what this term means or how “diversity” is actually experienced and understood by students at predominantly white institutions. This ethnographic study examines a predominantly white liberal arts woman’s college in New England, applying data from participant observation, semistructured interviews, autoethnography, and textual data. My research addresses three intersecting areas of inquiry: the experience of students attending a predominantly white institution in relation to issues of race and racial identity, institutional practices related to race, “diversity,” and “culture,” …

Four Generations Working Together In The Workforce And In Higher Education., Lisa Anne Speer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to help the reader hear and begin to understand each of the 4 generations, resulting in an awareness of how each generation perceived the world in general, and specifically its perception of work in an academic setting.

The researcher studied 4 participants currently or formerly involved in the higher education environment; each represented one of the 4 generations examined and was studied through stories, autobiography, notes, conversations, interviews, family stories, and life experiences. Today's American workforce is unique in that never before has there been such a diverse group of individuals working together. Research …

Tipping Point: The Diversity Threshold For White Student (Dis) Engagement In Traditional Student Organizations, Dhanfu E. Elston

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

During a time when most institutions of higher education are in search of underrepresented student participation, Georgia State University (GSU), a majority White institution, has observed a lack of involvement of White students in co-curricular activities. The purpose of the research study was to critically examine White students’ (dis) engagement in traditional student organizations at this university that has a significant student of color population. I used case study methodology that allowed for a breadth of conceptual frameworks and research options. The methods of collecting data included interviews (formal, informal, and oral history) of current and former students, as well …

Extra-Curricular Activity Participation And Psychological School Engagement In Ethnically Diverse Middle School Students, Andrew Intagliata

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Students of diverse populations have the highest risk of becoming disengaged from school and dropping out. This study investigated the relationship between extra-curricular activity participation and psychological school engagement among a group of fifty-three diverse middle school students. The sample studied mostly lived in the United States their entire lives, participated in extra-curricular activities, and reported being affectively “engaged” in school. Among the students studied, no correlation between participation in extra-curricular activities was observed. Students of all ethnicities reported similar levels of psychological school engagement. However, a difference was found in Hispanic/Latino students, in that those who had spent less …

Overwhelmed By Big Consolidation: Bringing Back Regulation To Increase Diversity In Programming That Serves Minority Audiences, Caridad Austin

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Note addresses diversity in the media and the need for regulation that will enhance programming so that it is inclusive of minority audiences. It begins by analyzing the historical development of diversity in the media through landmark cases, such as Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, and it addresses the consolidating effects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the FCC's 2003 Report and Order. It argues that despite technological growth, the FCC's open market regulatory approach of the last three decades has resulted in a lack of diverse perspectives in the media and that the FCC needs …

The Language Of Bias: A Linguistic Approach To Understanding Intergroup Relations, Quinetta M. Roberson, Bradford S. Bell, Shanette C. Porter

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] This chapter explores the role of language in the relationship between diversity and team performance. Specifically, we consider how a linguistic approach to social categorization may be used to study the social psychological mechanisms that underlie diversity effects. Using the results of a study examining the effects of gender, ethnicity and tenure on language abstraction, we consider the potential implications for team processes and effectiveness. In addition, we propose a revised team input-process-output model that highlights the potential effects of language on team processes. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research linking diversity, linguistic categorization and team effectiveness.