Conference

Multicultural Leadership Summit: Making a Difference

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Abstract

For the last five years, Iowa State has sponsored a program entitled the Multicultural Leadership Summit. This program provides students with the opportunity to increase their awareness of issues of inclusion and to develop action plans that will assist them in being agents of change on campus. The Summit is designed to allow students to learn about themselves and others in a safe and diverse setting. Students develop personal goals and an action plan in the areas of diversity, multiculturalism, interculturalism and social justice and build coalitions with others to achieve mutual goals for social change. This year a systematic evaluation of the program was undertaken by a team of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students to determine the impact that the program is having on its participants and on the campus. Using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, this evaluation was designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of personal learning and development that occurred for participants as well as actions that were taken on campus as a result of the Summit. In this session, the research team will share preliminary results of the evaluation and implications for future Summits as well as for multicultural education in general.