University of Southern Maine

Diversity Plan: 2003 - 2005

College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the ideals of a liberal arts education and serves as the intellectual core of the University by offering general education courses to all undergraduate students and houses twenty-four academic units and four graduate programs in the areas of Fine and Performing Arts, Humanities, Natural and Social Sciences. The faculty of the College is committed to the preservation and dissemination of fundamental knowledge and dedicated to enhancing this knowledge through creative expression, scholarly interpretation and research. By demanding teaching excellence, the College strives to instill in all students the attributes of creative and critical thinking, effective oral and written communicative skill, and social values that embrace diversity and multiculturalism. Through the various disciplines, the College contributes to the formation of responsible citizens by providing an educational foundation upon which students build their lives and professions.

GOAL I: Climate

USM continuously strives to make the campus a welcoming climate inclusive in its understanding and integration across multiple dimensions of diversity, including, but not limited to, diversity based on race and ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, gender expression and identity, religion and class.

CAS Goal 1 2003-2006
CAS will continue to aggressively initiate, promote, and support initiatives, lectures, workshops, and public discussions that support and increase the tolerance and respect for diversity on campus. The College will seek adequate funding to bring our offices and laboratories into compliance with ADA regulations.

Faculty and staff in the College have been active participants in programs that reflect the University's commitment to multiculturalism in their respective disciplines. Service learning opportunities have also contributed to an increased awareness of Southern Maine's underrepresented populations. CAS has provided leadership in response to local and regional events that reflect the emergence of more diverse populations in the region.

Accomplishments and Highlights
Listed below are some activities and contributions CAS has made to augment the welcoming climate at USM and in our surrounding community:

• Steve Wessler, Director, Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, in collaboration with community leaders, investigated and reported on the treatment of Portland's immigrant population post September 11th. The Center sponsors educational programs focused on preventing bias, prejudice, harassment, and violence. The Center also sponsors a speaker series. This past academic year the speaker was noted criminologist and expert on hate crimes, Jack Levin, from Northeastern University.
  
  
• Under the leadership of Archival Scholar and Assistant Professor of History Maureen Elgersman-Lee, the African American Archives sponsored the Africana Women in Maine Conference and an oral history project entitled "Home is Where I Make It."
  
  
• Abraham Peck, adjunct professor of History and facilitator of the Academic Council for Post- Holocaust Christian and Jewish Studies, has been instrumental in greater Portland's Interfaith Maine, which examines the relationship between religion and current affairs.
  
  
• The Art Department presented exhibits and lectures relative to Tibetan Art and Culture. The exhibit provided an opportunity for visitors to see the art of two generations of exiled Tibetan artists, meet a Tibetan artist making a sand mandala, and participate in activism efforts for the Tibetan cause.
  
  
• The School of Music: In cooperation with Art and the African American Archives, the school will sponsor an exhibit and panel discussion entitled "Scandalous Eyes," which investigates the roles of race and racism in American popular entertainment through the presentation of 80 historic sheet music covers. Additional events include: "No More Kissing-AIDS Everywhere"- a setting of a poem by Michael Blumenthal. Cabaret, a co-production with the Theatre Department, a musical set against the backdrop of the rise of Nazism in Germany. The Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian Middle East Ensemble. "Women Composers by Women" -Three women perform the works of five women composers.
  
  
• The Economics Department, as a result of its recent self-study, has incorporated a diversity statement that guides their work on climate as well as curricular matters.
  
  
• In April 2003, the English Department will host a major colloquium on Endangered Languages and Marginalized Languages and Identity. Native speakers of Amerindian languages and African languages, as well as Franco-American speakers, will discuss their experiences learning to speak English in addition to a family language that has been stigmatized by mainstream culture. Scholarly presentations will also be given relating to endangered and marginalized languages.
  
  
• The Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department, Music, and the Holocaust Studies Council co-sponsored a presentation by Dr. Gottfreid Wagner (great grandson of Richard Wagner) on the Wagner's family link with the Nazi regime.
  
  
• The Social Work Department has been actively involved in celebrating diversity and bringing social justice issues to the attention of both the campus and the greater Portland communities. For example, the Smith-Catalano Speaker Series is devoted to issues of diversity. Fall 2002, the fund supported a photography exhibit at the SALT Institute, A Celebration of Surviving: Celebrating Strength, Success, and Diversity of Survivors of Domestic Violence." The department has co-sponsored programs entitled "Gay and Lesbian Family Making," and "The Enigma of Diversity and Understanding Race."
  
  
• A number of CAS faculty have elected to participate in Safe Zone training to assist in providing opportunities for students to discuss matters of sexual orientation.
  
  
• Many CAS Departments have been awarded Center for Teaching grants to sponsor community-building activities for faculty, students, and staff. Departments use the funds to sponsor informal gatherings for current and prospective majors.
  
  
• Several CAS departments offer a welcoming lounge space for students, faculty, and staff to convene informally. This adds to the sense of belonging, which retention studies indicate is a primary factor in student satisfaction.
  
  
• The Dean's Office negotiated an independent study agreement with the Maine International Trade Center which gives undergraduates an opportunity to work with companies and non-profit organizations that conduct business and trade missions in other countries.

Future Initiatives

• CAS will continue to provide leadership on initiatives, both on campus and in Southern Maine. Workshops, lectures, and teach-ins are but a few of the venues faculty, staff, and students will continue to use to raise awareness and promote civic action. Whether working with a refugee population in Portland or taking students to study in other countries, CAS remains actively engaged in its commitment to diversity.
  
  
• Accessibility is an ongoing problem mentioned in many department reports, especially departments located in small houses. CAS needs more modern facilities to provide easy access to academic departments, laboratories, and functions. The college will seek support to make all CAS facilities and activities accessible.

GOAL II: Academic Experience

The USM academic experience, which includes both curricular and co-curricular activities will increasingly reflect the multiplicity and diversity of communities and cultures locally, nationally and globally.

CAS Goal 2 2003-2006
CAS will continue to diversify its curriculum by adding new programs, such as International Studies, by adding new courses that emphasize diversity and multicultural perspectives, and by incorporating into existing courses the perspectives and issues of different races, nationalities, ethnic groups, classes, genders, sexual preferences and disabilities.

As our University community becomes more inclusive our curriculum, by extension, has become more global. In response to the university Diversity Plan, the CAS Curriculum Review Committee has inserted a standard question in the new course proposal form, which requires a department to describe how the course contributes to USM's Diversity Initiative. This has served to make departments mindful of their responsibility to inclusiveness in the curriculum.

Accomplishments and Highlights

• The Linguistics Program, rich in linguistic diversity, has introduced an ASL program that has brought the study of the deaf culture to our campus. To date, two deaf students have graduated from the program. This program has generated an increased awareness of a "hidden population" and provided opportunity for the study of the deaf culture.
  
  
• The School of Music has hired a new adjunct faculty member whose area of expertise is in ethnomusicology. The instructor teaches the World Music course which focuses on non-Western musical influences. The department is interested in offering cross-listed courses with Geography -Anthropology and perhaps the COR-Interdisciplinary portion of the core curriculum

The very nature of some CAS majors is the exploration and celebration of diversity: Geography/Anthropology, Linguistics, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, and Social Work, to name a few. Moreover, departments have recognized the value of reaching out to other disciplines to create opportunities for a multidisciplinary approach to education.

Our most potent means to influence the promotion of diversity on campus is through our curriculum. Listed below are examples of recently developed courses/curricula that contribute to the CAS diversity initiative:

Art: Cross Cultural Perspectives - Major topics include a) how art conveys cultural values and biases and b) why foreign styles are adopted, and c) why different values produce different forms; Gender Identity and Modern Art-examines the construction of gender and sexuality in Western visual arts from late 18th century to present.

Communication: Intergenerational Communication and the Internet - Students mentor a senior citizen who is learning to use the Internet and write a research paper on a topic relevant to intergenerational communication; Intercultural Communication -This course attempts to help students see past their own cultural background and view the world through the eyes of others and to see how people in certain cultures will speak, act, negotiate, and make decisions.

Economics: new minor in Labor Studies-examines many aspects of work and workers including the intersections of class with race, ethnicity, gender and generation.

English: certificate program in Theory, Literature, and Culture; Topics in Free Speech; Racial Formations: Race in US Cinema; Globalizing America.

Linguistics: Deaf Art, Film, and Theatre - this course will cover Deaf art as an expression of Deaf culture through art, film, and theatre. The course will be taught in ASL.

History: The Holocaust - an examination of the roots of anti-Semitism in European history, the development of the policy of the extermination of the Jews and others in Nazi Germany, and varied aspects of the response of individuals and governments; Black Women in the Americas - an advanced comparative study of the history and scholarship of women of African descent in the Americas. Topics include slavery, wage labor, civil rights and Black feminism.

Media Studies: Service Learning Practicum - Students work with nonprofit organizations to develop projects, such as a multimedia presentation, a video, or a research report.

Modern and Classical Languages and Literature: Hispanic Cinema - this course is an exploration of Hispanic culture through the prism of its films.

Music: The Jazz curriculum covers vast amounts of music with African and Latin American roots

Philosophy: Women Philosophers from Africa and the Diaspora - this course concentrates on the work of women of wisdom who are of African origin. Intellectual and literary movements will be examined through generations of thinkers in various national, religious, cultural, and geographic settings; The Nature of Compassion - Eastern and Western philosophical perspectives on racism and anti-Semitism.

Social Work: Examining Oppression and Valuing Diversity - a framework for understanding and respecting cultural diversity including cultural aspects of race/ethnicity, gender sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and ableness.

Sociology: Social Movements - This course is divided into two sections; social movement theory and social movement cases including civil rights, women's liberation, anti-war, labor, anti-globalization, local alternatives, and the new peace movements; Hate Violence in the Contemporary United States - a brief examination of the historical roots of contemporary hate violence in the US. Students will examine the causes and impacts of hate violence and the legal and policy implications of how hate crimes have been addressed in the US; Living and Learning in Other Cultures - Designed primarily for students who are interested in pursuing part of their education either abroad or in a culturally different part of the US. Students will explore the challenges and potentials of living and studying in a different culture.

Abraham Peck and the Academic Council on Post-Holocaust Christian and Jewish studies has developed the following new courses this year:

• Islam and Christianity: History of a Relationship
• The Bible and Quran as Comparative Literature
• Understanding Jewish and Islamic Law
• Christian and Jews: the American Encounter
• Jews and Christians in Conflict

Future Initiatives

• CAS will promote more collaboration in course development across disciplines.
  
  
• CAS faculty and staff will play a role in the Core Council's re-examination of the effectiveness of USM's core curriculum, using this opportunity to promote further integration of diversity in the academic plan.

GOAL III: Student Recruitment and Retention

USM strives to increase the diversity of its student body through active outreach and recruitment. USM increasingly works to develop structures and mechanisms that support the retention of all students, particularly students of color and other underrepresented populations.

CAS Goal 3 2003-2006
The achievement of the other four goals will help assure the retention of minority students. In addition faculty and students need to become more aware of how their comments and behavior, both intentional and unintentional, may adversely impact minority students at USM.

This goal needs the most attention in the college. CAS departments have had little or no experience or voice in the recruitment and selection process. Efforts were made this year to start the conversation with the Office of Admission with the expectation that CAS faculty and staff play vital role in future recruitment functions. Ideally, it would be most beneficial to create a scholarship program that targets underrepresented populations and specific majors. Historically, CAS academic departments have not played an active role in student recruitment at USM. However, the few departments that do engage in outreach to local high schools have reaped the benefits in terms of attracting and retaining undergraduates. In some cases they have reached populations that may not have otherwise considered pursuing a university education. A few CAS departments stand out for their recruitment activity; the School of Music, by far the most successful, has established an excellent rapport with statewide high school music programs. This partnership has allowed Music to become more selective in admissions, which in turn has resulted in better retention and graduation rates. This same recruitment process could be expanded to a minority recruitment effort.

Accomplishments and Highlights

• The Social Work Department has developed a minority recruitment plan that includes outreach to three Native American reservations in northern Maine and New England colleges that historically serve students of color.
  
  
• The Political Science Department hosts a Model UN Program for Maine High School students. The purpose of the program is to promote global understanding through participation in the diplomacy and negotiation process. Students are assigned to represent a multitude of cultures and nations.

Ongoing Departmental recruitment activities include:

• Model UN Political Science - a two day on campus conference for high school students interested in global issues and experiencing the political process.
  
  
• Science Bowl-ESP - USM hosts the northern New England High School Science Bowl, a regional contest open to high school teams with a proportionally high degree of participation by women and minorities.
  
  
• Music Camps - The School of Music offers a number of enrichment programs for high school students.
  
  
• Social Work - outreach programs, Social Work Student Organization.
  
  
• ESL - Bridge Program for secondary students from minority cultures.
  
  
• Language immersion weekends - Spanish, French, Russian culture weekends hosted by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures.

The College of Arts and Sciences has over 3,000 majors; 6,800 students take CAS classes. Of the total courses taught at USM, 52% are taught within CAS; 88% of CORE courses are taught within CAS. In 2002, CAS awarded 560 degree, 63% of all degrees awarded by the University.

Future Initiatives

• Include CAS faculty in targeted recruitment activities in regional high schools, especially in schools with more diverse populations.
  
  
• Engage in discussions with Admissions to assess the effectiveness of CAS admission standards and recruitment activities.
  
  
• Identify potential Summer Session and Winter Session activities that would attract local high school students, especially underrepresented minority or ESL students.
  
  
• Identify grant opportunities intended for outreach to specific populations (women in science, for example).
  
  
• Coordinate with the Development Office to create Annual Fund scholarships dedicated to the recruitment and mentoring of underrepresented populations.
  
  
• Identify potential opportunities for academic departments to engage in outreach to schools and community agencies.

GOAL IV: Faculty Diversity

USM strives to increase the diversity of faculty and staff, particularly faculty and staff of color, but inclusive of other underrepresented populations as defined in Goal I.

CAS Goal 2003-2006
CAS will continue to aggressively recruit faculty of diverse cultural backgrounds and to promote initiatives to help minority faculty create appropriate forums for issues they have in common.

The College has successfully recruited and hired more women and minority faculty this past year, but we still have much work to do to demonstrate our commitment to diversity. The EEO Office and Nolan Thompson have been instrumental in helping academic departments target minority populations in the recruitment phase of faculty searches.

Accomplishments and Highlights

• Each year the College has succeeded in recruiting and retaining more diverse faculty, for example, Assistant Professor Otrude Moyo (Zimbabwe), Assistant Professor Francesca Vasallo,(Italy), and Assistant Professors Marya and Muthyala (India).
  
  
• The College of Arts and Sciences is hosting USM's Libra Professors, Spring 2003 and Fall 2003. The Egyptian writers Nawal El Saadawi and her husband Sherif Hetata share the Visiting Professorship. Nawal El Saadawi is an internationally renowned Egyptian novelist, psychiatrist and writer. Her works have been translated into many languages and are read and taught all over the world. A number of USM faculty teach her writing in fields as varied as philosophy, economics, and literature; her work is also taught in Women's Studies classes. Sherif Youssef Hetata is a novelist and medical doctor. He has written on many subjects including travel, politics, and health. In addition to writing, he has held various administrative posts, including eight years with the International Labour Organization in Asia and in Africa, and nine years in Egyptian government service, where he worked for the Ministry of Health and the Supreme Council for Population and Family Planning.

The impetus to continue this momentum is clearly articulated in departments' self-studies and 3-year plans. However, there are some institutional impediments to a more aggressive faculty hire process, namely salary. If we are committed to creating a diverse faculty, we must commit to competitive salaries that make USM an attractive place to pursue an academic career. A number of searches failed this year as a result of our inability to offer attractive salaries, office space, equipment, and research funds.

Future Initiatives

• Secure funding that will improve the faculty recruitment and retention process.
  
  
• Secure commitment from the President and Provost to provide adequate start up funds for office and laboratory space and research funds for new faculty hires.
  
  
• On the college level, explore the potential for more joint hires that reflect not only an interdisciplinary approach to education, but also an institutional commitment to diversity.

Despite the decline in financial support for the university and a weakening local economy, CAS has enjoyed robust activity reflecting our commitment to diversity. However, we have significant challenges ahead, specifically in the area of student recruitment and retention. While our faculty diversity hires have increased considerably, we need to create a faculty recruitment plan that reaches more disciplines. CAS will continue its aggressive efforts to promote diversity while seeking funding to articulate and formalize our goals.