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Thriving in Academe
The Value of Diversity
Diversity involves more than celebrating differences
By Kathryn M. Plank and Stephanie V. Rohdieck, The Ohio State University
Although sometimes it’s more obvious than others, diversity plays a role in all classrooms.
“That’s all well and good, but diversity isn’t an issue in my class …” We may have heard some variation of this comment or have said it ourselves. We want to create inclusive classrooms, but the task can be challenging.
While most of us want our classrooms to be inclusive, we often find it difficult to figure out exactly how to make that happen, particularly if we teach supposedly “neutral” subjects—math, for example—that don’t seem to lend themselves to discussions of diversity or if the students in our classes appear to be homogenous.
One way to consider how diversity, comes into play in all classrooms is to first recognize the countless and sometimes invisible ways that both we and our students, as well as the course content and teaching methods, bring diversity into the classroom.
It is important that we not stop at simply appreciating differences, but that we place classroom diversity in a larger context and examine issues of societal power dynamics and social justice. Working on the premise that there is no “neutral,” we can analyze how our identities and cultural context have an impact on our language, on what we value and make visible in our courses, and on the interactions in our classrooms. We can then begin to explore how diversity is an integral part of our students’ development as critical thinkers.
 Meet the Authors
Kathryn Plank is the associate director of Ohio State University’s Faculty and Teaching Assistant Development and an adjunct assistant professor in the School of Educational Policy & Leadership. Her interests include assessment, faculty career stages, and the instructional consultation process. Stephanie Rohdieck is the instructional consultant for graduate teaching assistant programs and an adjunct instructor at Ohio State. Her current interests are graduate teaching preparation, teaching portfolio development, and writing reflectively about teaching. Both Plank and Rohdieck have a strong interest in how diversity plays into all aspects of the teaching and learning process. They can be reached at plank.28@osu.edu and rohdieck.1@osu.edu.
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