September 2007:
"Uncomfortable Conversations About Diversity"
September 12, 2007 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Viewing the DVD of the same title, we will spend our time together to create opportunities for discussion, problem solving, disagreement, and connection about issues of diversity that occur in our classes.
October 2007:
"Teaching
Confrontationally: Overturning Everything They Know?"
October 3, 2007 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Students come to college with heads full of ideas. Many of these ideas–gained from parents, pastors, and teachers–will serve them well for years to come. But others, sponged up from all kinds of sources, can cause them to stumble when they reach college. One of our greatest challenges is casting light on these obstacles, confronting our students with compelling new opinions, insightful theories, and incontrovertible evidence.
In this session, colleagues who teach controversial subjects will discuss how they confront first-year students with uncomfortable ideas. Do they pound with an iron fist? Or do they wear a velvet glove? And what do they say when the student responds, "That's not what I learned before"?
"How Biology Refutes Our Racial Myths: A Lecture by Dr. Joseph Graves"
October 10, 2007 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Dr. Joseph L. Graves, Jr., Dean of University Studies and Professor of Biological Sciences at North Carolina A&T State University, will be lecturing on his book, "The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America" at 3:30 on Wednesday, October 10, 2007.
Graves, who will speak in Room 101 of the Science Building, received his Ph.D. in environmental, evolutionary and systematic biology from Wayne State University in 1988. He has research interests in the evolutionary genetics of postponed aging as well as the biological concepts of race in humans, which his book describes.
He argues that the racial distinctions made in American society actually have no biological basis. In other words, there is no such thing as race, and it is a fallacy to suppose appearance, athleticism or health is affected by race. Graves will present his research October 10th in a talk sponsored by the office of the Dean for Multicultural Affairs at Calvin.
Graves has published his work in more than 50 papers and book chapters and has appeared in six documentary films. He has been a principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Arizona Disease Research Commission. In addition to “The Race Myth,” he has also published the book “The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium.”
For more information on Dr. Graves’ presentation, contact Razel Jones in the Multicultural Affairs Office at 616.526.8703 or multiculturalaffairs@calvin.edu.
"Reimagining Educational Excellence"
October 11-13, 2007 | Prince Conference Center at Calvin College | Grand Rapids, Michigan
Conference Registration | Conference Schedule | Presenter Biographies
Sponsored by Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, the conference will explore how the call of Micah 6:8, “to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God,” can reframe the visions of educational excellence that we pursue. Plenary speakers at this conference will be David Purpel (emeritus, University of North Carolina at Greenboro), Herma Williams (Fresno Pacific University), and Christopher Smit (Calvin College).
For further information contact:
- Seminars in Christian Scholarship
- Calvin College
- 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE
- Grand Rapids MI 49546-4402
- 616.526.8558
- fax 616.526.6682
- seminars@calvin.edu
November 2007:
"Diversity in Higher Education—Why it Matters: a Lecture by Raymond Gant"
November 14, 2007 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Raymond Gant serves as special assistant to the President of Ferris State University. In 1986, Gant founded the Office of Minority Student Affairs at Ferris State University. This office continues to serve as the Universities primary area that coordinates activities in support of personal and academic programs and activities offered to assist students with their transition to campus. Gant has administrative responsibility over the Office of Minority Student Affairs and duties as Assistant to the President. In his lecture, Gant will be looking at the complications and challenges associated with the championing of diversity and anti-racism.
December 2007:
February 2008:
"How
to Become an Outstanding Educator of Hispanic and African-American First-generation College
Students"
February 13, 2008 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Using an article by Samuel Betances as a starting point, we hope to have a lively and helpful conversation about the challenges and rewards of diversifying our course offerings. Come to share; come to learn.
March 2008:
From Every Nation (F.E.N.) Symposium
March 5-6, 2008
The Office of Multicultural Affairs is hosting the second annual "From Every Nation Symposium on Race" March 5 and 6, 2008. This symposium will feature two evening lectures by Dr. John Palmer and Dr. Kristal Brent Zook. The purpose of the symposium is to hear from leading scholars and to stimulate our own conversation as we revisit Calvin's commitment to diversity and anti-racism.
For more information on the FEN Symposium, contact Razel Jones in the Multicultural Affairs Office at 616.526.8703 or multiculturalaffairs@calvin.edu.
"Teaching Truth? Building Up Students in the Faith"
March 5, 2008 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Unlike colleagues in the secular academy, we do believe in "truth" as a vital element of knowledge. But how–and when–do we teach truth? Some avoid that question, protesting that it is hard to define "truth." And others among us simply revel in skewering our students' flawed assumptions and received knowledge. "But, at some point when teaching confrontationally, how do we pass along something firm for our students to hold on to?"
April 2008:
"Foundations for Making Racial Diversity Work"
April 9, 2008 | 3:30-4:45 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
What are other institutions of higher education doing to make "diversity work"? What can we learn from them, what could they learn from us? This session will include a time of sharing the "big picture" of the office of Multicultural Affairs, a real-time snapshot of what Calvin is doing to support an anti-racist and diversity imitative, and brief presentations of some of the best-practices of other institutions of higher education.
May 2008: