Towson University’s Diversity Faculty Fellows Program (DFF) supports the actualization of the university’s vision for diversity by providing selected faculty members with opportunities to infuse diversity into existing curriculum, create models to improve classroom dynamics in support of social justice, or identify strategies to enhance institutional practices. The Program provides support for TU faculty who are interested in developing or redesigning courses for major or core curriculum, developing curricular practices to support inclusive classroom environments, supporting research and teaching projects, developing pedagogy and research toolkits, and/or identifying the needs of the university or developing models to affect change.
The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce the 2017-2018 cohort of Fellows:
Dr. Maria Joao Antunes (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts). Dr. Antunes will develop a new course for Criminal Justice concentration students in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice. The course, Immigrants and the Criminal Justice System, will encourage critical thinking on issues of diversity.
Ms. Barbara Benitez-Curry (Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies, College of Fine Arts and Communication). Ms. Benitez-Curry will create a special topics course for the Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies that will explore ways to report racially related stories, cover ethnic groups using an “inside out” approach, assist the students in understanding other races and culture by exploring the richness of the communities and seeking alternative voices when covering a news story. The course will also address and explore ways to approach issues of gender.
Ms. Erin Berry (Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies, College of Fine Arts and Communication). Ms. Berry will conduct a study that will interrogate the ways that Black female undergraduates attending TU come to make meaning of their identities as they engage in the practice often described as “knowledge of self.”
Ms. Sarah Gilchrist (Research and Instruction Librarian, Cook Library). Ms. Gilchrist will create an online toolkit that will serve as a resource for academic departments interested in conducting discussions related to cultivating cultural competency.
Ms. Iona Johnson (Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology and Deaf Studies, College of Health Professions). Ms. Johnson will expand on a newly developed mentoring program for minority students in the department of Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology and Deaf Studies. The project will include monthly support meetings, and/or activities for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the majors of the department.
Dr. Mubina Kirmani (Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, College of Education). Dr. Cole Reilly (Associate Professor, Department of Elementary Education, College of Education) Drs. Kirmani and Reilly, two faculty members with contrasting backgrounds, will co-plan and team-teach students about particularly complex matters of diversity. They will examine how their own identities shape the way they are able to enter the classroom and facilitate difficult discussions around diversity, social justice, and multicultural matters.
Dr. David Robinson (Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Technology and Literacy, College of Education). Dr. Robinson will develop school media online diversity resources and create a communication center for TU’s school library media faculty and students. The center will provide opportunities to support alumni and other practicing library media specialists via resources sharing, lesson sharing, and opportunities for scholarly sharing.
Ms. Lisa T. Simmons (Lecturer, Business Excellence Program, College of Business and Economics). Ms. Simmons will develop a dialogue series for faculty that will provide training in microaggressions, unconscious bias, teaching sensitive topics and working effectively with different working styles.
Dr. Tatyana Sorokina (Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Fisher College of Science and Mathematics). Dr. Sorokina’s project will support female math majors, with concentrations in pure and applied math whose GPA is above 3.5, by connecting them with female mathematicians and graduate students to serve as role models. Additionally, a list of summer REU programs will be developed and students will participate in a workshop to help them apply for the REU programs. When students return from the REU programs they will be encouraged to present their research at the TU Expo in 2019.
