• Multicultural masters

• Five faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) at Iowa State University have been named Master Teachers for 2003-04.
  
  This is the fifth year of the LAS Master Teacher program, which recognizes teachers who have a reputation for using unique methods to enhance student learning. This year's awards recognize individuals who have been successful in multicultural teaching activities at Iowa State.
  
  Previous LAS Master Teacher classes have focused on technology use in the classroom, large lecture classroom instruction, undergraduate research and off-campus learning opportunities.
  
  The LAS Master Teachers are Hector Avalos, associate professor of philosophy and religious studies and director of the U.S. Latino/a Studies Program; J. Herman Blake, professor of sociology and educational leadership and director of the African American Studies Program; Susan Cross, associate professor of psychology; Jacquelyn Litt, associate professor of sociology and interim director of the Women's Studies Program; and Lulu Rodriguez, associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.
  
  The five will plan teaching methods seminars and in-class demonstrations throughout the academic year.
  
  Hector Avalos founded and is the director of the U.S. Latino/a Studies program, the only such academic program at any college or university in Iowa. Since the program began with just one course in 1994, U.S. Latino/a Studies has helped hundreds of Iowa State students fulfill their diversity requirements on campus. In addition Avalos has developed and introduced many of these courses including an introduction to U.S. Latino/ Studies. He has also developed courses on that minority group’s religious experience and literature.
  
  "Unlike programs that specialize in just one Latino sub-group (e.g., Mexican American or Chicanos), Professor Avalos has designed a holistic program, requiring teaching strategies to provide balance and fairness in the coverage of many subgroups," said Tony Smith, chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.
  
  As director of the African American Studies Program, J. Herman Blake is responsible for the development of the comprehensive academic program with emphasis on faculty recruitment, curriculum development, research and creative activity and service. In 2002 the Carnegie Foundation of the Advancement of Teaching named Blake its Iowa Professor of the Year, in a competition that recognizes one professor in each of the 50 states.
  
  Blake developed the Multicultural Learning Community at Iowa State - a comprehensive program that works toward high academic achievement as well as social unity among diverse students. In addition, he teaches the major survey course of the program.
  
  A nationally recognized scholar in cross cultural literature, Susan Cross examines how cultural shapes how people define themselves. In the classroom, Cross has developed a 400 level undergraduate course in cultural psychology, which is open to graduate students outside of psychology and undergraduate students in this course of study. The course helps students understand the scientific literature in cross cultural psychology that has demonstrated that psychological processes once assumed to be universal are actually quite culture-bound.
  
  "She structured course so as to not only educate students about psychological processes that appear to be culture bound, like the self and relationships, but she also developed curriculum to encourage students at a deeper level to alter how they think about all psychological processes," said Craig Anderson, chair of the Department of Psychology. "Moreover, she has students integrate their own cultural background into the material to better understand who they are."
  
  A leading voice for championing the need for Iowa State to become a supportive and nurturing environment for women and persons of color, Jacquelyn Litt explicitly addresses the international dimensions of diversity as well as multiculturalism in the U.S. by taking into account race, class and gender. During her career at Iowa State, Litt has revised Introduction to Women's Studies, transforming the course to meet the established standards set by leading women’s studies scholars across the U.S. Later she internationalized the course to teach students about globalization, international perspectives on women’s lives and gender, experiential and scholarly perspectives of non-U.S. women, and engaging students in critical reflection on issues of ethnocentrism and international diversity.
  
  "Where there were voids in the curriculum, Jackie has developed new courses; where improvements were needed in existing courses, she rolled up her sleeves and went to work; her students and peers have recognized these efforts," says Paul Lasley, chair of the Department of Sociology. "She has been at the forefront of multicultural education at Iowa State and the need to address issues of class, race, ethnicity and gender."
  
  In each professional (visual communication) and analytical graduate course she teaches, Lulu Rodriguez includes statements about diversity and inclusively with a multicultural theme and augments that with content and research. A bulk of Rodriguez's undergraduate teaching responsibilities involves the inculcation of visual literacy, which she says requires understanding why visual techniques are chosen, how they work, and most importantly, how to use these techniques effectively.
  
  "I teach with a multicultural lens because, coming from the developing world as I do, I simply could not escape it," Rodriguez said. "I am also acutely aware that in this multilingual and multinational world, smart students of communication need to cultivate their sensitivity to the way their messages translate across cultures. Underpinning this is a keen awareness that a genuine communicator should never lose sight of the fact that today we live, work, and create design, in an insistently cross-cultural, multiethnic world that demands sensitivity to varied audiences at home and abroad."

Hector Avalos

J. Herman Blake

Susan Cross

Jacquelyn Litt

Lulu Rodriguez