I along with other MAC members have participated in this seminar. It was an engaging and powerful learning experience! I highly recommend it. Camilla At 01:36 PM 10/2/2006 -0500, Lillie M. Fears, Ph.D. wrote: >Good afternoon, MAC members, > >It appears the article written by Berea Willingham that I sent everybody >last week and the subsequent discussion about a teaching panel on this >topic has really ignited a healthy discussion over the past few days. >Thats great! > >Anyway, one of our members, Lillian Dunlap, of Poynter Institute, sent the >following related information today and asked me to share it with MAC >Members. Below are excerpts from her note to me in which she announces the >annual Poynter Divesity Across the Curriculum Seminar. > >Thanks again, Lillian! > >-- Lillie M. Fears, Ph.D. >Associate Professor of Journalism >Arkansas State University >& Head, Minorities & Communications Division of AEJMC >POB 2733 >State University, AR 72467 >870.972.3210 >870.972-3321 (FAX) > > >------ Forwarded Message >From: Lillian Dunlap <[log in to unmask]> >Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 14:10:48 -0400 >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Lillian Dunlap calling > >Lillie, > >When I saw your name attached to the essay at the bottom of the page, I >had to write and tell you the rest of the story. ........ >Breea Willingham, the author of the essay, says that she based the essay >on one she submitted to Poynter for the Diversity Across the Curriculum >Seminar this summer. The seminar is scheduled again for May 20-25, 2007. >Ill again be one of the seminar leaders along with Keith Woods and others. >Id like you to consider applying as a participant and encouraging others >in MAC Division to think about spending the week in St Petersburg. I >would love to see you here. Heres the seminar description ><http://poynter.org/seminar/seminar_view.asp?int_seminarID=4073>http://poynter.org/seminar/seminar_view.asp?int_seminarID=4073 >: > > > Seminar Description: > If tomorrows journalists are to report and write about a dynamic, > increasingly diverse society, theyll need guidance in the classroom. > Whatever the course, theres a place for teaching diversity across the > journalism curriculum. > > You'll learn: > * How to define diversity so that students see the ways it connects to > journalisms core values > * To teach diversity modules that reinforce the universal skills > journalists need to succeed > * Strategic ways to include elements of diversity in the syllabus > throughout the course > * New ways of framing journalisms approach to matters of race, > ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and other diversity concerns > > >________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ > >Dear MAC Member: > >My university diversity officer sent me the article below. I thought some >of you might be interested in reading it. --- Lillie Fears > > >Current News >Perspectives: Improving Race Relations One Journalism Class At A Time By >Breea C. Willingham Sep 28, 2006, 06:56 > > >I was standing in line in the Dollar Tree store recently when a >blonde-haired little girl who looked to be about 5 years old flashed a >toothless smile at me. 3Hello,2 she said. 3You have a black face. How did >you get that black face?2 > >I9m usually quick with a comeback, but the girl caught me off guard. After >pausing for a few minutes I simply replied, 3I was born with it just like >you were born with your white face.2 > >3Oh,2 the little girl said, and went about her business. > >Imagine that little girl in my classroom 13 years from now. I recognize >that little girl in a few of my students. > >I9m an African-American faculty member on a predominantly White campus in >a town where less than 5 percent of the population is minority. > >Many of my students are from White suburban communities or small towns, >where diversity is not an issue because there is none. For many of them, >their first experiences with minorities and discussions about race happen >in my classroom. > >Getting my students to talk about race is challenging, at best, on most days. > >And on the days when my students write papers where they call Black people >3coloreds2 or say the majority of crimes in the United States are >committed by Black men, that goal seems more frustrating than attainable. > >The biggest challenge for me is figuring out how to use those frustrations >as learning tools and examples of precisely why diversity is needed across >the curriculum. Just as newsrooms across the nation celebrate Time Out for >Diversity and Accuracy once a year, journalism educators need to be >reminded why they have to bring these issues to the classroom. > >I9ve always been passionate about issues dealing with race, ethnicity and >diversity, and how they relate to the media. I covered these matters as a >reporter for the Times Union in Albany, and I work hard to incorporate >them into my courses. > >For instance, during an exercise in my 3Women, Minorities and the Media2 >class I drew four columns on the blackboard and labeled each one >African-American, Asian American, American Indian or Hispanic. I then >asked the students to call out stereotypes for each group. > >The students had no problem calling out stereotypes such as 3lazy,2 3like >to eat fried chicken2 and 3can9t speak English well.2 But when I drew a >fifth column for White people and asked for the stereotypes, the students >were hard pressed to find any. I repeated the exercise asking for positive >attributes for each group; the lists for the minorities were considerably >shorter. > >At the end I asked my students why it was so easy for them to point out >the negatives and not the positives. They all blamed the media for >portraying negative images of minorities. > >I try to teach my students that before they can even begin to report on >and write about race-related issues, they have to be willing to talk about >them first and confront their prejudices. > >Teaching that lesson isn9t always easy, and I even became discouraged when >I read course evaluations from last fall semester where some students >criticized me for talking about diversity too much in class. > >But then I read one student9s paper in the spring semester. 3Because of >this class I feel better prepared to deal with many social issues and >situations, especially race, on a day-to-day basis,2 the student wrote. I >felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction knowing I at least reached one. > >My efforts so far have taught me that adding diversity to the curriculum >is more than just adding a new course to the roster, and simply having a >3Women, Minorities and the Media2 course is not enough. > >I9m learning it9s more about changing the way students think about and >look at diversity issues, and challenging their biases. Professors also >need to learn before they can deal with these issues as an educator; they >need to acknowledge and challenge their own biases. > >Although I have my moments when I feel like I want to give up trying to >teach diversity to the next generation of journalists, my passion for the >issue won9t let me. > >And on the days when I feel my efforts are in vain, I remember the advice >a colleague recently gave me: 3You9re the only education some of these >students will ever get on race issues. I don9t know if that9s more >frustrating than consoling, but I see it as a legitimate chance for you to >make a difference in some of their lives and in the world around you. >Yeah, it seems small-scale, but if the world9s gonna change, it9s going to >be one person at a time. At least you9re doing some good things to try to >initiate that change. Keep at it.2 > >And so I do. > >Breea C. Willingham spent 10 years as a reporter for papers in the >Carolinas and New York State. She is now a journalism professor at St. >Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y. > > >) Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com > >All the best, >Lillian > >Lillian R Dunlap, Ph.D. > >Vice President > >Stinsights, Inc. > >727-432-1602 > >[log in to unmask] > >www.stinsights.com > > > > >------ End of Forwarded Message > Camilla Gant, Ph.D. Faculty Assistant to the President Associate Professor Department of Mass Communications & Theatre Arts University of West Georgia