Managing Diversity Flashpoints in Higher Education

By (author) Joseph E. Garcia, Karen J. Hoelscher

Not available to order

Publication date:

16 April 2010

Length of book:

160 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781607096535

Covering a timely topic, which is more and more frequently in the news, this book offers vignettes that will sharpen the reader's ability to recognize and respond to difficult situations sparked by identity differences among faculty, staff, and students in college and university settings. The authors provide a systematic guide to addressing interpersonal conflicts that arise out of issues of identity difference, both for individuals and for campus work teams who provide direct service to students. Managing Diversity Flashpoints in Higher Education empowers readers to diagnose diversity flashpoint situations and positively address them without creating defensiveness and barriers to dialogue. The authors include an overview of the changing ethnic, racial, and gender composition of students in higher education in the United States and the major trends in campus responses to the changing student population. They offer an approach to creating higher education environments that welcome people of all cultural characteristics and promote civility on campus. The book is founded on the authors' research on diversity flashpoints in higher education for which they interviewed a national sample of student affairs professionals. The authors identified uncomfortable interpersonal situations with faculty members in which the discomfort arose from student identity difference. This process led to the formulation of strategies for using vignettes (resulting from interviews) in professional development sessions.
As conversations about diversity take place more and more frequently on campuses across America, the need for advisors to develop institutionally aware, diversity-friendly environments in which to promote student success has never been greater. Managing Diversity Flashpoints in Higher Education by Joseph E. Garcia and Karen J. Hoelscher, provides a framework upon which advisors and other faculty or administrators can build as we interact with students who may encounter identity-based challenges in higher education.