Best Practices: Successful Programs at Ohio State and UMass

Here are two top examples of university programs that support faculty multicultural efforts.

§ The University of Massachusetts at Amherst's "Teaching and Learning in the Diverse Classroom Faculty and Teaching Assistant Partnership Project" brings together cross-disciplinary pairs of instructors in a collaborative seminar environment.

The partnership features a one-day intensive event, monthly seminars on teaching and learning in the diverse classroom, modest funding to support a diversity-related, discipline-based teaching development project, and individual teaching consultations.

The goal: Help faculty and teaching assistants become better equipped to recognize and respond effectively to the dynamics of a multiculturally diverse classroom.

§ The Ohio State University's "Commitment to Success Program" is a comprehensive multicultural teaching initiative that helps departments and instructors gather data on the teaching and learning climate for diversity.

Consultants in the program use a variety of methods, everything from focus group interviews and unit- and classroom-based climate assessment surveys to classroom observation.

The goal: help instructors and unit administrators develop long-term strategies and action plans for fostering an inclusive teaching and learning environment for all students.