This Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the BC Fireside Room, there will be a Student Success workshop and lecture available for all Bakersfield College faculty. Brown University professor of history and director for the study of race and ethnicity in America, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, will be speaking to faculty about thinking through the diversity in classrooms.
Christopher Doyen, associate professor of English at the Delano campus, said that he decided to bring this workshop to the faculty at BC. He says, “It is important for an instructor to be aware and to bridge the gap of diversity between the students and the teacher.”
According to Doyen, the workshop will discuss how teachers can deal with certain sensitive scenarios and how to deal with these issues and topics without offending anyone. “Our main goal is to work through sample scenes with sensitive issues that include everyone, and to [show how to] have as many students as possible succeed, stay in college and do better. We can do this through understanding diversity better,” he said.
Doyen added that this is a positive workshop and that it doesn’t have to be negative. “We’re not trying to solve a problem. This is an opportunity to learn more about students through a positive tone, so it’s not a chore.”