College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Multicultural masters

LAS Master Teachers present Center for Teaching Excellence forum.
This year's Master Teachers in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will address their work in multicultural teaching in a panel discussion/brown bag meeting in April.

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) event will be held Wednesday, April 21, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union.

Four of the five current LAS Master Teachers, who were selected for their efforts in multicultural teaching, will explore how they create a welcoming environment in their classrooms and what Iowa State needs to do to become more diverse.

The LAS Master Teacher program annually recognizes teachers who have a reputation for using unique methods to enhance student learning.

Previous recipients have been honored for their work on a variety of teaching methods including use of technology in the classroom, large lecture classroom instruction, undergraduate research and off-campus learning opportunities.

Those LAS Master Teachers who are scheduled to participate in the CTE panel discussion/brown bag include 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; and Lulu Rodriguez, associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

The fifth LAS Master Teacher, Jacquelyn Litt, associate professor of sociology and interim director of the Women's Studies Program, will be unable to participate in the event.

The LAS Master Teachers' multicultural teaching background includes:

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.

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. 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.

A nationally recognized scholar in cross cultural studies, Susan Cross examines how culture shapes how people define themselves. She has developed a 400 level undergraduate course in cultural psychology, which 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.

n each professional (visual communication) and analytical graduate course she teaches, Lulu Rodriguez includes statements about diversity and inclusivity with a multicultural theme and augments that with content and research. The bulk of Rodriguez's undergraduate teaching responsibilities involves the inculcation of visual literacy.

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.