During Spring 2014, I taught a section of EEC 222w Human Relations in a Multicultural Society for Honors Program students. This course involves the study of interpersonal skills, motivation, and group skills applied to diverse groups in professional settings. Students will understand opportunities and challenges about diversity in a multicultural society. Course participants will recognize and appreciate the contributions, culture, norms/value, and oppression which groups experience. Students will develop communication skills, learn to build positive and equitable environments, and practice dealing with conflict. The coursework requires 18 hours of Service Learning field experience outside of class. The coursework also requires 20 pages of writing to improve skill in communicating with academic audiences. The honors section of the course includes an intercultural partnership and ethnographic study, a research paper on the culture and experience of a culture different than one’s own, and a reflection paper about one’s own cultural autobiography. Students will complete the course with the possibility of two papers to select for their portfolio.
During AY14, I served on the committee to review the Honors portfolio developed by Erika Koenig. The materials related to the review are included in links here:
Honors Competency Assessment Rubric
Honors Portfolio Defense Requirements Fall 2013
Honors Portfolio Defense Outcome Form
These are the comments of the Committee members:
I just want to reiterate how impressed we were with your performance today and, in fact, over the previous 4-½ years here at MSU. You have been a model honors student. The revisions only have to occur sometime between now and the end of the semester, not in the next week or so, especially if you have other pressing issues ahead of you soon.
“Explain how to learn about other cultures as part of your global citizenship story based on what you learned in your coursework that can be applied to future situations.”
Another way to ask this is: “What did you learn in your coursework (EEC 220, Intercultural Communications, etc…) that taught you what questions to ask if you were to learn about a culture you have not encountered before.” What would you want to ask yourself to do (intellectually) if, someday, you have to learn about a newly discovered culture? Certainly Profs. Droogsma and Sandell have taught you some of the essential elements of culture that you would want to discover in order to be cross-culturally effective.
So, this isn’t a huge deal, just a clarification of what we believe you already know but could not bring out super effectively today. In practical terms, it may mean moving the “related coursework” artifacts to where they really belong – in the global citizenship area – and making them a more emphatic part of the development of your story about your skills in paragraphs 2-3 of your essay.
On September 6, 2014, I participated in the fall orientation for the incoming first year Honors students. The intent was to provide students with in-depth information into the Honors Program competencies, become familiar with the Honors Program, and to build a community among first-year students as well as among classes. I was on a panel of faculty members who have consistently worked with undergraduate students on research projects. We spoke to new students on proper ways to start research. The “Faculty Panel on Research” started at 11:15 am and ran about 30-45 minutes.