“The growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest dialogue among the people who do it. We grow by trial and error, to be sure—but our willingness to try, and fail, as individuals are severely limited when we are not supported by a community that encourages such risks.” —The Courage to Teach
Teaching is too often an isolated endeavor. A faculty learning community is a committed, collaborative, collegial group of faculty across disciplines who are interested in participating in discussing, researching, and recommending meaningful curriculum and pedagogy to improve teaching and learning. The topic for this FLC is infusing diversity into the curriculum. Infusing diversity into the curriculum means that multiple social, historical, political, and theoretical paradigms and concepts, based on the knowledge and experience of diminished groups, are included in all areas of study.
This Spring 2019 FLC established a definition of diversity that will be presented to the community for stakeholder input through the now-forming Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. In 2019-20, the FLC will continue to explore issues of diversity around critique, campus programming, curriculum, and inclusive pedagogy.
Eligibility
All full-time, adjunct and part-time faculty who have taught for a minimum of 1 year at Otis and have Chair approval are eligible. All faculty are encouraged to apply. Those selected will receive FLC Participation grants of $400 for 6 meetings.
How can Otis College enhance/improve multicultural competence for faculty and staff across campus?
How can we encourage and facilitate multiculturalism and inclusion beyond structural diversity? What does this look like?
How can we train our faculty to discuss/present diversity content in their courses in a way that is respectful, sensitive, and accurate, especially concerning issues of race and ethnicity of which they have no direct experience?
The students are concerned that the emphasis of diversity initiatives will be primarily focused on visual diversity, but they are concerned about gender fluidity and the challenges they face with faculty and during the job interview process.
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