Conference

Building Diversity into the Agricultural Studies Major: The Stranger Assignment

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Abstract

The general education requirement for U.S. diversity was a major achievement, but a single course was never intended to accomplish the goal of increasing tolerance and appreciation of a pluralistic and multicultural society. Anti-bias and diversity education must also be presented to students in core content areas on a continual basis. This presentation will explain a diversity unit in the AGEDS 315 Leadership in Agriculture course for students from Agricultural Studies, Agricultural Education, and other Agriculture production majors. The unit addresses a need identified in the 2002 National Study of Student Engagement, which documented that nearly two-thirds of Iowa State seniors have failed to have a significant conversation with a person different from themselves. The interviewbased assignment asks mainly white, rural undergraduate students to meet and spend time with a student "different from them." The presentation will engage the audience in a discussion of the costs and benefits of the assignment, including the burden on minority and foreign students. Data from five years of assignments and evaluations will be presented to illustrate the impact on students.