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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tom Uribes March 28, 2003 (559) 250-8459 or 278-5366
“Respect throughout the university for the dignity and rights of others, including the right to be free from discrimination and harassment and the right to speak freely, is essential to creating and maintaining an environment conducive to learning.” -- From “Campus Climate: Toward Appreciating Diversity,” a report prepared for the CSU, 1990 Cultural Competency
Workshops, Academic Presentations California State University, Fresno will celebrate one of its shining accomplishments next week: diversity. “Fresno State reflects California’s rich cultural diversity,” said President John D. Welty who will help open Diversity Week 2003 on Tuesday, April 1 at 10:30 a.m. in the Peace Garden. “The varied backgrounds of students, faculty, and staff enrich the university’s intellectual life and create its unique community,” Welty said. Since Welty became Fresno State’s president in 1991, the university has grown in the representation of a wide cross section of students who bring California’s rich cultural diversity to the campus community. Each year Fresno State attracts increasing numbers of minority and nontraditional students. More than half of its undergraduate students are minorities, and Hispanic females make up the fastest growing group of entering freshmen. Last year, nearly half of Fresno State's 4,000 postgraduates were minority students, a figure far above the regional 27 percent and the national 22 percent. Each year the number of international students also grows steadily, and last year's rose from 620 to 670 attending Fresno State. The university serves a diverse region and has become a leader in providing educational opportunities to everyone. Programs such as Summer Bridge and Summer Orientation encourage minority students to attend Fresno State and help them adjust to college life. Other opportunities such as the Ronald E. McNair Scholar, Graduate Equity Fellowship and California Pre-Doctoral Scholar programs help students succeed once enrolled and assist them in continuing graduate and doctoral studies. Welty takes pride in the university’s efforts by faculty, staff and students to build this reputation. “As a university we have the clear obligation to ensure equal access and opportunity for all to participate in education and university life, whether as students, faculty or staff,” Welty said. “We need everyone’s participation in our efforts to promote an atmosphere of understanding and cooperation that is free from bigotry and ignorance.” Amidst the richness of campus diversity was born Diversity Week, said organizer Carole Snee, director of Services for Students with Disabilities. From Tuesday’s opening event -- “Poetry and Music in the Peace Garden” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. -- to the closing event on Sunday, April 6 -- a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles -- the university will attempt to teach its students and employees to listen as well as to speak and to do both with an open mind, she said. “This is consistent with the university’s mission to foster dialogue that educates students and prepares them for effective citizenship,” said Snee. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of the Cultural Richness of California State University, Fresno,” with Diversity Week featuring various cultural and lifestyle expressions. At the opening ceremony, Welty and Dr. Jeri Echeverria, associate provost of academic affairs and chair of the President's Commission on Human Relations and Equity, will introduce the university’s Woman of Peace Committee. That panel’s mission is to determine an appropriate female figure to honor with a monument in the Peace Garden. Currently the three individuals memorialized there are men: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez. Poet Sonia Sanchez, who will speak in the University Lecture series on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Satellite Student Union, will also be on hand for the morning opening ceremony. The Cesar E. Chavez Celebration will be held Wednesday, April 3, in the Peace Garden starting with Mañanitas at 8 a.m. A program from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will include a garlanding ceremony led by Fresno State peace and conflict studies professor Sudarshan Kapoor and guest speaker, Antoniette (Toni) Chavez Sifuentes, niece of Chavez. ----------------------- The Diversity Week observance will also include two academic presentations, two cultural competency training workshops and art exhibits by members of Fresno State’s diverse community. Five academic presentations are on Wednesday, April 2: • "Latino Experiences in the U.S.," from 10 to 11 a.m. in University Student Union (USU) room 309; • "Finding our Family: The DNA Tree and Cultural Misunderstandings” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in USU 317; • “Finding our Family: The DNA Tree and Cultural Misunderstandings" from11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in USU 317; • "Integrating Diversity into the Curriculum” from 11 a.m. to Noon in USU 309; • "Know Your Users: Web Accessibility from the User's Perspective", from 2-3 p.m. in UC 200 On Thursday, April 3, the academic workshops will be: • "Asian, Pacific Islander-American, Latino, and African-American Identity Development" from 1-2:30 p.m in USU 311; and • "Confronting Bias with Children's Literature: The True Story of Our 4- and 5-year-old classroom" from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Atrium of the Education Building; and On Friday, April 4 the topic is: • “Disability Culture” from 11 a.m. to Noon in USU 317. Cultural Competency Training Workshops The two cultural competency training workshops will be Friday and Saturday. The LGBT Allies Network Cultural Competency Training Workshop for faculty, staff and students will be on Friday, April 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Renaissance Room, located on the west end of the University Center. This full day workshop is designed to help faculty, staff and students learn how to create supportive and affirming environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students at Fresno State, Snee said. On Saturday, April 5, the “Welcoming Diversity: A Prejudice Reduction Workshop” will be presented by the Fresno State National Coalition Building Institute team from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Renaissance Room. Snee said this skill-building workshop “is designed to help participants identify and celebrate all social and cultural groups, to explore and appreciate similarities and differences, and to assist in learning from one another and listening more effectively to one another. “ Registration is required for both workshops. Lunch will be provided. For more information, contact the Women's Resource Center at 278-4435. Art Exhibits Additionally, several exhibits will grace the campus during Diversity Week 2003. Art created by Fresno State’s diverse student body will be displayed in both the President's Gallery in Thomas Administration Building and the Dean's Gallery in the Music Building The Madden Library will host two displays: • One that features student cultural clubs and organizations, visiting poet Sonia Sanchez and other selected cultural holdings (glass case, second floor); and • A 10-year retrospective of Fresno State theatre posters entitled "A Decade of Drama and Diversity, 1993-2002” (bridge walkway, second floor). All exhibits will remain through the month of April are open to the public. Information Diversity Week 2003 is sponsored by the President's Commission on Human Relations and Equity and Associated Students, Cross Cultural Awareness Network, Division of Student Affairs, Multicultural Center Planning Group, Office of the President, University Lecture Series and USU Productions. For more information about Diversity Week, call Carol Snee at 278-2811. For information about the Chavez celebration, call Raul Z. Moreno at 278-5750. Updates and a full schedule as well as descriptions of the academic presentations are available at www.FresnoStateNews.com.
Academic Presentations DIVERSITY WEEK 2003 California State University, Fresno See Press Release "Latino Experiences in the U.S." Wed., April 2 10-11 a.m., USU 309 Dr. Maritere Lopez and Dr. Jesus Luna, Dept. of History Dr. Carlos Perez, Dept. of Chicano and Latin American Studies. This faculty panel will discuss several topics, including "Representing Puerto Rico: A Comment on National Geographic's 'True Colors: Divided Loyalties in Puerto Rico' "; "Diversity within the History Department, the university and the country"; and "Growth of the Latino Population in the U.S." “Finding our Family: The DNA Tree and Cultural Misunderstandings" Wed., April 2 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., USU 317 Dr. Al McLeod, Dept. of Sociology. Dr. McLeod will trace the findings of the Stanford team regarding our origins by tracing the DNA path and then compare that with the fears, confusions, distortions, etc. that we all get from culture. When the scientific evidence is embraced, we know that whoever is standing next to us is our brother or sister and that our mother and father are about 40,000 years old. The workshop will provide a combination of lecture, discussion and experiential activities. "Integrating Diversity into the Curriculum" Wed., April 2 11 a.m. - Noon USU 309 Dr. Betty Garcia, Dept. of Social Work, and graduate students. Principles for teaching diversity curriculum will be presented. This will include discussion of organizing concepts and considerations in working with classroom dynamics. Graduate students who have just completed the course will present their observations about their learning experiences. "Know Your Users: Web Accessibility from the User's Perspective", Wed., April 2 2-3 p.m. UC 200 Video presentation -- Candace Egan, Academic Innovation Center. The video features Fresno State students and faculty with disabilities discussing the problems they face and the tools they use to access the Web. It is intended to provide those who create Web pages with a deeper understanding of the experiences of Web users with disabilities and tips for making pages work with assistive technologies. The video was funded by the CSU Center for Distributed Learning and the Community of Academic Technology Staff. It was produced as a joint project of University Relations, Services for Students with Disabilities and the Academic Innovation Center. "Cross Cultural International Student Adjustment/Readjustment", Thur., April 3 10 a.m. - Noon USU 317 Dr. John Fu, University Health and Psychological Services. The old saying "Please grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference!" probably paints a good picture of the process of the adjustment to a new culture/society and later the re-adjustment back to the old culture/society. The focus of this workshop is the challenges that an International Student (or any human being) faces in dealing with the on-going changes in her/his life. "Asian, Pacific Islander-American, Latino, and African-American Identity Development", Thur., April 3 1-2:30 p.m USU 311 Dr. John Fu, Bruce McAllister, LCSW, Josie Rangel, LCSW of University Health and Psychological Services The discussion of the workshop will focus on real life experiences of the journey of becoming and being an Asian Pacific-Islander American, a Latino and an African American, the challenges as well as the joys. "Confronting Bias with Children's Literature: The True Story of Our 4- and 5-year-old classroom" Thur., April 3 3-4 p.m. Atrium, Education Building Dr. Kathy Reid, Dept. of Child, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Mary Hebert-Hall, mentor teacher, Campus Children's Center. This workshop presents as a story the true life experience of how diversity explicit books and activities were introduced into a children's center to address the situation of a 4-year-old girl who excluded other children from her play because of their skin color. The story is supplemented with information about the development of racial attitudes. Disability Culture Friday, April 4 11 a.m. - Noon USU 317 Dr. Richard Salsgiver. Dept. of Social Work. Many scholars see culture in terms of ethnicity. Some anthropologists conclude that the term culture is so overused that it has become meaningless. On the other hand, researchers and scholars concerned with the positive aspects of difference in the American society feel that indeed culture remains a viable term and that it applies to more than just ethnicity. This presentation on disability culture will examine its parameters and how disability culture manifests in the arts. Diversity Week 2003 • California State University, Fresno Competency Training Workshop for faculty, staff and students Friday, April 4, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Renaissance Room LGBT Allies Network Cultural. This full day workshop will help faculty, staff and students learn how to create supportive and affirming environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered students at our university. Issues addressed will include: culturally appropriate terms, words defining our world, oppression is oppression and transgender education. Registration is required. Lunch will be provided. For more information, contact the Women's Resource Center at 278-4435. ****************** Welcoming Diversity: A Prejudice Reduction Workshop Saturday, April 5, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Renaissance Room Fresno State NCBI Team. Welcoming Diversity is a skill-building workshop designed to help participants identify and celebrate all social and cultural groups, to explore and appreciate similarities and differences, and to assist us in learning from one another and listening more effectively to one another. Our Campus Affiliate Team of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) will conduct the workshops. Registration is required. Lunch will be provided. For more information, contact the Women's Resource Center at 278-4435 ###
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