{"id":131,"date":"2018-01-27T11:37:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-27T11:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/?p=131"},"modified":"2019-05-09T13:07:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T17:07:03","slug":"the-biggest-challenge-for-higher-education-in-the-decade-to-come-diversity-by-milton-a-fuentes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/2018\/01\/27\/the-biggest-challenge-for-higher-education-in-the-decade-to-come-diversity-by-milton-a-fuentes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest Challenge for Higher Education in the Decade to Come: Diversity \u2013 by Milton A. Fuentes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CRC asked Milton A. Fuentes, Director, and Julie Dalley, Associate Director, of the Research Academy for University Learning (RAUL) to respond to the question,\u00a0What is the biggest challenge for higher education in the decade to come?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>Dr. Fuentes\u2019 response appears below. Ms. Dalley\u2019s may be read here:\u00a0https:\/\/blogs.montclair.edu\/creativeresearch\/2018\/01\/27\/the-biggest-challenge-in-higher-education-today-change-by-julie-dalley\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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[Milton A. Fuentes,\u00a0<\/strong>Director of the Research Academy for University Learning, received his MA in Psychology with a concentration in Latino Mental Health from Montclair State University and his PsyD in clinical psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. He completed a pre-doctoral fellowship in clinical and community psychology at Yale University and secured post-doctoral training in epidemiology at Columbia University. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the Clinical and Community Studies Laboratory at Montclair State University; and a licensed psychologist in New Jersey and New York.]<\/p>\n

Studies have shown that classrooms across the country are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse.\u00a0 Data on high school completers enrolled in 2- and 4-year colleges from 1960 through 2014 reveal substantial increases in Black and Latinx students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015).\u00a0 Additionally, the Black student population has grown by 11%, while the Latinx population has grown by nearly 14%.\u00a0 Moreover, the\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>\u00a0examined census data by county and state on potential students who are fourteen years away from being admitted into college and projected that the candidate pool will continue to be incredibly diverse. (Lipka, 2014).<\/p>\n

What does this increased diversity signify for institutions of higher education?\u00a0 How do these numbers inform the diversity, inclusion, and equity conversations on campuses across the country?\u00a0 A quick keyword search for the term \u201cdiversity\u201d in the\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education revealed 507 hits in this past year alone.\u00a0 And there are many concomitant difficulties.\u00a0 For example, the Boston Globe reported that in 2015 hundreds of students at Brandeis University occupied the administration building, demanding better management of bias concerns, more diverse faculty, and better trained as well as culturally-informed instructors.\u00a0 The Washington\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0recounted how the Presidents of Ithaca College and the University of Missouri resigned due to the mishandling of racial incidents on their campuses (Svrluga, 2016).\u00a0 Climate surveys at two flagship universities, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, found that some students of color were less satisfied with the campus climate and\/or felt less welcomed (Hoisington, 2017).<\/p>\n

Diversity, inclusion, and equity conversations are varied and complex, but one theme \u00a0central to this conversation, \u201cimplicit bias,\u201d occurs when \u201ctraces of past experience affect some performance, even though the influential earlier experience is not remembered in the usual sense\u2014that is, it is unavailable to self-report or introspection.\u201d (Greenwald and Babaji, 1995, p. 4.)<\/p>\n

These pernicious systemic dynamics make their way into our classrooms.\u00a0 Boysen and Vogel (2009) found that students often exhibit both explicit\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>implicit biases in their interactions with other students or faculty, and while faculty try to address them, they are not sure if their well-meaning efforts are successful.\u00a0 Likewise, faculty and administrators possess these biases.<\/p>\n

As faculty, we must find ways to accept that we and our students are not immune to the implicit biases associated with race and ethnicity, and be willing to consider how these biases affect the teaching and learning process, including grading procedures, classroom norms, and teaching strategies.\u00a0 Devine\u00a0et al.<\/em>\u00a0(2012) offer effective and straightforward strategies based upon sound social psychology research that will assist in managing these biases, including education and awareness building, stereotype replacement, counter-stereotypic imagining, individuation, perspective-taking, and contact.<\/p>\n

Diversity comes with its challenges; however, I would be remiss if I ended this brief discussion without pointing out the many benefits associated with ethnically and racially diverse campuses.\u00a0 Some have argued that the presence of diversity on our campuses makes us smarter (Rodriguez 2014).\u00a0 Diverse students and faculty enrich the academic landscape with a multiplicity of culturally-informed worldviews that broaden and deepen our understanding of the areas under study in higher education.\u00a0 Our students benefit greatly, developing intercultural competencies that allow them to interact successfully with individuals different than they are, and that will serve them as well as they enter the 21st-century workforce.<\/p>\n

My fervent hope is that institutions of higher education and their faculty will welcome the opportunities that diverse campuses offer, and embrace the openness, risk-taking, and courage needed to engage in sound teaching and learning practices.\u00a0Montclair State University\u2019s Research Academy for University Learning stands ready to support these efforts.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boysen, G. A., & Vogel, D. L. (2009). Bias in the Classroom: Types, Frequencies, and Responses.\u00a0Teaching Of Psychology<\/em>,\u00a036<\/em>(1), 12-17.<\/p>\n

Devine, P. G., Forscher, P. S., Austin, A. J., & Cox, W. T. (2012). Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention.\u00a0Journal of Experimental Social Psychology<\/em>,\u00a048,\u00a0<\/em>1267-1278.\u00a0 doi:10.1016\/j.jesp.2012.06.003<\/p>\n

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes.\u00a0Psychological Review<\/em>, (1), 4.<\/p>\n

Hoisington, S. (2017, November 17). 2 Flagship Universities Surveyed the Campus Climate: Here\u2019s What They Found.\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>. p. 1.<\/p>\n

Lipka, S. (2014, January 24). Colleges, Here Is Your Future.\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>. A24-A27.<\/p>\n

National Center for Education Statistics (2015).\u00a0\u00a0Percentage of recent high school completers enrolled in 2- and 4-year colleges, by race\/ethnicity: 1960 through 2014.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d15\/tables\/dt15_302.20.asp<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, G. (2014).\u00a0How Immigrants and Diversity Make Us Smarter<\/em>.\u00a0 Retrieved from http:\/\/time.com\/2973809\/immigration-diversity-smarter\/<\/p>\n

Ransom, J. (2015, November). Brandeis students say campus lacks racial diversity.\u00a0The Boston Globe<\/em>, November 22, 2015.<\/p>\n

Svrluga, S. (2016, January).\u00a0 Ithaca College president resigns after protests over race issues.\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CRC asked Milton A. Fuentes, Director, and Julie Dalley, Associate Director, of the Research Academy for University Learning (RAUL) to respond to the question,\u00a0What is the biggest challenge for higher education in the decade to come?\u00a0Dr. Fuentes\u2019 response appears below. Ms. Dalley\u2019s may be read here:\u00a0https:\/\/blogs.montclair.edu\/creativeresearch\/2018\/01\/27\/the-biggest-challenge-in-higher-education-today-change-by-julie-dalley\/ [Milton A. Fuentes,\u00a0Director of the Research Academy for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-research-center-guest-essay","tag-guest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1095,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions\/1095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}