The General Education Diversity Survey
Lessons Learned from the GenEd Curriculum
The material on this website emerged from a 2005 CFI workshop planned and presented by the General Education Diversity Advisory Board. Click here to download a powerpoint presentation on the workshop. The slides include the results of a 2005 “Diversity in the Gen Ed Curriculum” survey. Details about the 2005 Board and the Survey can also be found below. The current Gen Ed Advisory Board continues to work with the CFI to modify and expand this site. For more information, contact either Dr. Meg Mulrooney, Chair of the Gen Ed Diversity Advisory Board (mulroomm@jmu.edu) or Dr. Karen Santos, Executive Director, Center for Faculty Innovation (santoske@jmu.edu
Click here to download the survey
Meet the Board
Karyn Sproles, Chair - General Education
Kathy Clarke - Carrier Library
Janet Daniel - Biology
Macon Hollister - SGA
Lee Mayfield - Communication Studies
Remenga Osotsi - English
Zewelanji Serpell - Psychology
Donna Sundre - CARS
Jacqueline Walker - History
Background
The General Education Diversity Advisory Board was established by the General Education Council in the spring of 2005 in response to a call from Dr. Daniel Wubah, special assistant to the president, for all colleges to establish such a group to study diversity issues in their programs.
In order to fulfill the GEC's charge, the Board tasked itself with developing an understanding of how diversity issues are addressed in the general education curriculum.
Faculty who taught courses in the General Education Program in 2004-05 were asked to complete a brief survey regarding the diversity content of their classes and their own attitude toward diversity in the general education curriculum.
The survey was conducted in conjunction with an inventory of syllabi from general education courses taught during the same year.
The Survey
The survey was created by the Diversity Board as a way to enrich our understanding of diversity issues in the general education curriculum.
The survey includes 5 questions and a final open ended comment box.
The survey was sent to 520 faculty members; 152 responses were received.
The response rate was 29%.
Definition of Diversity
For the purposes of the survey, "diversity" was defined broadly to include: ability/disability, age, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, race, religion, sexuality, and world view.
Courses Taught
Is Diversity Included in Your GenEd Class?
Should diversity be a part of the GenEd program?
Diversity includes...
Survey Results
Of the 152 faculty members responding to the survey:
- 49% said that diversity issues are central to their GedEd classes, and 37% said that they included diversity issues in their GenEd classes as appropriate.
- 95% agreed that diversity should be included in classes in the General Education Program.
- The majority of the respondents agreed that diversity should be defined broadly to include ability/disability, age, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, race, religion, sexuality, and world view.
- The survey demonstrates wide support for diversity amont the faculty; this was born out in the inventory of GenEd syllabi the Advisory Board conducted in conjunction with the survey.