As a first-generation college graduate and graduate student, I was naïve about the world and higher education. My father, a contractor, and my mother, a secretary, are smart and driven people but were unable to assist me in determining where I should attend college and what paths I might pursue. One night while I was a teenager, my mother made a side comment that I pursue a doctorate and a career in academia. She said that I would make a good professor because, in her assessment, I have a passion for learning and care about people and helping them grow and succeed. My educational journey began with this experience and focused my outlook on helping students of all backgrounds and experiences. This event highlights my approach to diversity in higher education, which is that every individual has a unique contribution that, when understood, can help them empathize with others and add to society.
I believe that higher education should be about more than just learning facts and figures to obtain a degree. Education should open students’ minds to new ideas, opportunities, and experiences. To me, diversity is the uniqueness of ideas, perspectives, and experiences that each individual can contribute to society.When this uniqueness is understood, people have more empathy and are able to understand and share the feelings of others. Each individual has value, and it is essential that they recognize this and where they fit. By gathering and sharing one another’s unique perspectives and experiences, we strengthen our society. When people see their personal value and contribution, not only are they strengthened as individuals, but society as a whole becomes stronger. My hope for my students is that they will leave my classes with a desire to seek and evaluate information, an increased openness and willingness to listen to others, the ability to engage in the social world around them, and the motivation to take an active role in their communities.
Expanding Empathetic Consciousness. Before enrolling in the French program as an undergraduate, I lived as a religious and service missionary in France for two years. My time in France shaped my worldview. Before this experience, the world felt small and insular to me. Over those two years, I went from a modest and conservative approach to those outside of my bubble to a much more open and dynamic view. I learned to embrace and learn from people with different experiences and circumstances than those I was familiar with. While there, I spent countless hours working with people from underserved communities, immigrants, and refugees. As a missionary, I helped African refugees gain access to social resources, such as access to housing, food, and translation services. I had the humbling experience of learning French and struggling to communicate with an array of different people in a foreign language. When I returned to the United States, I had a greater appreciation for those who are different from me.
While I loved studying French, I couldn’t shake the desire to work with and help those who come from disadvantage. Near the end of my experience in my French program, I was selected to participate in a study abroad in Senegal. Throughout experience, I met people living in absolute poverty in both cities and remote villages, and yet I also visited urban areas where university students were so eager to learn that the classes were standing room only with students spilling out of doors to attend a lecture. I developed a desire to understand inequality in our society. I wanted to know where it comes from, why it persists, and what we might be able to do about it. It was this pivotal experience that led me to sociology.
Empathy in Practice. I have had the chance to work with students both at Duke and at a local community college. While students at Duke are quite diverse in their backgrounds and goals, my experience at the community college provided a contrast that was essential in my approach to higher education. Duke is a highly selective and expensive research university whose students generally come from higher income families and more privileged backgrounds. At Durham Tech, students are much less likely to come from higher income families or from families where both parents have a college degree. My students at the community college range in age from 17 to over 55, a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and various socioeconomic statuses. Many of these students are also first-generation students, students returning to school to improve their circumstances, or students trying to get a head start by challenging themselves with college material while still in high school. They also worked multiple jobs and supported families. Working with these students gave me a greater appreciation for the opportunities that I have had as well as for the ability that higher education has to improve lives, expand understanding, increase empathy, and advance society. However, even though I saw more of myself in the students at the community college, this vision of diversity, empathy, and understanding would be incomplete without the contrast provided by the students I worked with at Duke. While perhaps more advantaged, my students at Duke are equally as hardworking, talented, and driven. Ultimately, all of my students are unique individuals that have contributed to my understanding, by sharing their experiences and growth with me in and out of the classroom.
My unique experiences and perspectives help me to empathize with students and to advance diversity in higher education. As a first-generation college graduate who began at a community college, I recognize that not all students have someone in their family that can help them navigate higher education. I am committed to offering my time and insights to my students. I will take what I have learned from my extraordinary mentors and pay it forward. Having struggled to learn a second language, I sympathize, and I want to work with students whose first language is not English. Whether they are immigrants, refugees, or merely non-English speaking students, I plan to work with them and help them achieve their educational goals and career aspirations so they can find their unique contribution to society.
Empathy in the Classroom. As an instructor, I have realized how crucial diversity and empathy are to the learning environment. By listening to students and democratizing the learning process, I help students to uncover the unique contributions that they and their peers have to offer. In my classes I strive to
Ultimately, diversity is about how each individual has a unique approach to the world that stems from their opportunities and experiences. As an instructor and a mentor, I am determined to do more than communicate facts and figures to my students. I am committed to creating environments that will foster students’ growth and help them to understand their value and how they can work to empathize with others in ways that will benefit society as a whole.
I believe that higher education should be about more than just learning facts and figures to obtain a degree. Education should open students’ minds to new ideas, opportunities, and experiences. To me, diversity is the uniqueness of ideas, perspectives, and experiences that each individual can contribute to society.When this uniqueness is understood, people have more empathy and are able to understand and share the feelings of others. Each individual has value, and it is essential that they recognize this and where they fit. By gathering and sharing one another’s unique perspectives and experiences, we strengthen our society. When people see their personal value and contribution, not only are they strengthened as individuals, but society as a whole becomes stronger. My hope for my students is that they will leave my classes with a desire to seek and evaluate information, an increased openness and willingness to listen to others, the ability to engage in the social world around them, and the motivation to take an active role in their communities.
Expanding Empathetic Consciousness. Before enrolling in the French program as an undergraduate, I lived as a religious and service missionary in France for two years. My time in France shaped my worldview. Before this experience, the world felt small and insular to me. Over those two years, I went from a modest and conservative approach to those outside of my bubble to a much more open and dynamic view. I learned to embrace and learn from people with different experiences and circumstances than those I was familiar with. While there, I spent countless hours working with people from underserved communities, immigrants, and refugees. As a missionary, I helped African refugees gain access to social resources, such as access to housing, food, and translation services. I had the humbling experience of learning French and struggling to communicate with an array of different people in a foreign language. When I returned to the United States, I had a greater appreciation for those who are different from me.
While I loved studying French, I couldn’t shake the desire to work with and help those who come from disadvantage. Near the end of my experience in my French program, I was selected to participate in a study abroad in Senegal. Throughout experience, I met people living in absolute poverty in both cities and remote villages, and yet I also visited urban areas where university students were so eager to learn that the classes were standing room only with students spilling out of doors to attend a lecture. I developed a desire to understand inequality in our society. I wanted to know where it comes from, why it persists, and what we might be able to do about it. It was this pivotal experience that led me to sociology.
Empathy in Practice. I have had the chance to work with students both at Duke and at a local community college. While students at Duke are quite diverse in their backgrounds and goals, my experience at the community college provided a contrast that was essential in my approach to higher education. Duke is a highly selective and expensive research university whose students generally come from higher income families and more privileged backgrounds. At Durham Tech, students are much less likely to come from higher income families or from families where both parents have a college degree. My students at the community college range in age from 17 to over 55, a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and various socioeconomic statuses. Many of these students are also first-generation students, students returning to school to improve their circumstances, or students trying to get a head start by challenging themselves with college material while still in high school. They also worked multiple jobs and supported families. Working with these students gave me a greater appreciation for the opportunities that I have had as well as for the ability that higher education has to improve lives, expand understanding, increase empathy, and advance society. However, even though I saw more of myself in the students at the community college, this vision of diversity, empathy, and understanding would be incomplete without the contrast provided by the students I worked with at Duke. While perhaps more advantaged, my students at Duke are equally as hardworking, talented, and driven. Ultimately, all of my students are unique individuals that have contributed to my understanding, by sharing their experiences and growth with me in and out of the classroom.
My unique experiences and perspectives help me to empathize with students and to advance diversity in higher education. As a first-generation college graduate who began at a community college, I recognize that not all students have someone in their family that can help them navigate higher education. I am committed to offering my time and insights to my students. I will take what I have learned from my extraordinary mentors and pay it forward. Having struggled to learn a second language, I sympathize, and I want to work with students whose first language is not English. Whether they are immigrants, refugees, or merely non-English speaking students, I plan to work with them and help them achieve their educational goals and career aspirations so they can find their unique contribution to society.
Empathy in the Classroom. As an instructor, I have realized how crucial diversity and empathy are to the learning environment. By listening to students and democratizing the learning process, I help students to uncover the unique contributions that they and their peers have to offer. In my classes I strive to
- Welcoming students of all social classes, races, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, and sexes into my classroom and my purview as a mentor.
- Creating regular labs or workshops where students can openly share their unique approaches and experiences with their peers.
- Allowing for flexibility in my classrooms to accommodate students that might be facing an array of challenges outside of their schooling.
- Utilize a variety of teaching and grading methods to create more opportunities for the highest number of students to succeed.
- Seeking outreach programs in the community to help facilitate a college education to first-generation students, foreign-language students, immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized groups.
Ultimately, diversity is about how each individual has a unique approach to the world that stems from their opportunities and experiences. As an instructor and a mentor, I am determined to do more than communicate facts and figures to my students. I am committed to creating environments that will foster students’ growth and help them to understand their value and how they can work to empathize with others in ways that will benefit society as a whole.