Using Diversity to Improve Educational Experiences at the U of A

Photos Submitted

Rogelio Garcia Contreras and Jackie Wiersma-Mosley

In a framework that focuses on high impact teaching practices, the ability of students to succeed in college increases. As Generation Z embarks on college education, expectations are high for experiences rich in active learning. This session will highlight inclusive teaching practices that support all U of A students.

Please join us from 1:30-2:30 p.m., today, March 30, in a session on Zoom for all faculty, staff and graduate students interested in teaching. Rogelio Garcia Contreras and Jackie Wiersma-Mosley will share their experiences in social impact practices both in the classroom and in projects.

About our speakers

Rogelio Garcia Contreras is the director of the Social Innovation Initiative and a teaching assistant faculty member in the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Venture Innovation in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Garcia Contreras has collaborated with a variety of foundations, organizations and institutions of higher education in the design and implementation of comprehensive development initiatives in Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Haiti, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Turkey, Pakistan and the United States. He teaches classes that focus on social innovation strategies, social entrepreneurship, economic development, international development and sustainable development goals and was recently awarded the Outstanding Service Learning Teaching Award. He will share strategies he uses in his courses.

Jackie Wiersma-Mosley is a professor in the Human Development and Family Sciences Program of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. She has created curricula to increase cultural competence (via the Intercultural Development Inventory-IDI) in courses she developed, including a senior-level required course on multicultural families and a new general elective course, Introduction to Cultural Competence. She is a fellow in the U of A Teaching Academy and has been awarded the Jack G. Justus Award for Teaching Excellence in the Bumpers College and the Cognella Innovation National Teaching Award for Family Science. She will share her experiences in developing diversity-related courses and how she uses assessments to combine research and teaching.

Join the Zoom session.

This event is sponsored by the Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center and the Cultivating DEI in the Classroom Committee along with the following U of A organizations: the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Teaching Academy; U of A Athletic Department and HOGS UNITED; Office of Faculty Affairs; College of Education and Health Professions; College of Engineering; Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design; Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; Graduate School and International Education; Sam M. Walton College of Business; School of Law; and the Dr. Barbara Lofton Office of Diversity and Inclusion.