Teaching and Learning Across Cultural Strengths

Teaching effectively across cultures is a daily challenge and opportunity for faculty in higher education. College students reflect culturally diverse populations originating in differing cultural frameworks, epistemologies, and worldviews.

This interactive workshop will introduce participants to a model of cultural frameworks in college teaching and learning and assist in beginning to apply a cultural lens to teaching, learning, and reflective practice. Participants will also have an opportunity for some cultural introspection in relation to their teaching practices and their work with students in a variety of learning contexts.

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Learning Objectives

• To assist faculty to go inward reflectively to develop greater understanding of their own cultural values, beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors in teaching and learning;
• To facilitate practice in balancing pedagogies and interactions with students across cultural frameworks;
• To develop understanding of cultural strengths brought from our own origins to teach across many cultures.

About the Presenters

Susan Diana Longerbeam, Ph.D.

Susan Diana Longerbeam, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in Counseling and Human Development at the University of Louisville. She served as a university health services director and interim dean of students at Oregon State University, and she holds a Ph.D. in College Student Personnel from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in Health Services Administration from Antioch University, and a bachelor’s degree in Community Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She served on the ACPA Commission on Professional Preparation and the NASPA Faculty Fellows Council.

Dr. Longerbeam’s scholarship focuses on culture and college teaching, campus climate, and student success in higher education. Her publications include co-authored and co-edited books on culture and college teaching, Teaching Across Cultural Strengths (Stylus, 2016) and Going Inward: The Role of Cultural Introspection in College Teaching (Peter Lang, 2016). Recent journal articles include, “We cannot reach them: Chinese Undergraduate Student Perceptions of the U.S. Campus Climate”; “Putting Old Tensions to Rest: Integrating Multicultural Education and Global Learning to Advance Student Development”, “Developing Openness to Diversity in Living-Learning Program Participants”, and “Contemporary College Contexts: College Environments for Student Learning and Retention at a Southwestern U.S. University, as well as reflective work: “Encounters with Angels: A Struggle to Return Home from Study Abroad”; “One Journey of Compassion: My Search for Inspiriting Leadership"; “You home Meet Me on the Stairway: Lessons of Living Together.”

Alicia Fedelina Chávez, Ph.D.

Alicia Fedelina Chávez, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of New Mexico. She served as a collegiate leader, student affairs professional, and faculty member in universities around the country, including leading a campus in Northern New Mexico, serving as Dean of Students at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and serving as the Diversity Development Officer at Iowa State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education - Policy Studies from the University of Arizona, a masters in Student Affairs/Higher Education Administration from Iowa State University, and bachelors in psychology from New Mexico State University. She regularly works with faculty, student affairs professionals, and central administrators in the area of transforming colleges and universities to more effectively teach and serve diverse populations. Her current consulting, faculty development, leadership development, teaching, and scholarship are centered in facilitating understanding and balance between cultural epistemologies and ways of being in professional practice. She works from a belief that higher education institutions and societies benefit from garnering the strengths of many Peoples, cultures, and nations.

Dr. Chávez is published in areas of culture and college teaching as well as identity and collegiate leadership. Her publications include three co-authored books on culture and college teaching, Teaching Across Cultural Strengths: Balancing Integrated and Individuated Cultural Frameworks in College Teaching (Stylus, 2016), Going Inward: The Role of Cultural Introspection on College Teaching (Peter Lang, 2016), and Web Based Teaching across Culture and Age (Springer, 2013), as well as two co-edited books on identity and leadership in higher education, Identity & Leadership: Informing our Lives, Informing our Practice (NASPA, 2013) and, Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education (Routledge, 2015). Her academic journal articles include: Clan, Sage, and Sky: Indigenous, Hispano and Mestizo Narratives of Learning in New Mexico Context; Leading in the Borderlands: Negotiating Ethnic Patriarchy for the Benefit of Students; Spirit of Place: Crafting a College in Northern New Mexico Rhythm; Spirit and Nature: Reflections of a Mestiza in Higher Education; Toward a Multicultural Ecology of Teaching and Learning; and Learning to Value the “Other”: A Model of Diversity Development.