Faculty/Staff Mini Grant Awardees

The purpose of this project is to help students understand themselves and others so they can thrive academically and relationally. Students will take the StrengthsQuest assessment and receive their top 5 five naturally recurring talent themes or “Strengths”. FSUS instructors will review the Strengths resources with the students to help them understand how to apply their natural talents toward relationships and academics to succeed in college.

Self
Instructors will help students understand their Strengths. Students who understand themselves can be more strategic in their own success (e.g. a student with the “Focus” strength may feel depressed or stressed when college life gets chaotic, but can use the “Arranger” strength to get organized and back on track).

Academics
Instructors will help students leverage their Strengths to do well in college. A student who lacks Strengths in the “Executing” category may use Strengths in the Strategic Thinking, Influencing, and Relationship categories to organize a study group, thus forcing oneself to study.

Relationships
When students understand individuals are different, they learn to respect their distinctiveness and find creative ways to work together toward a common goal. Strengths allow students to see diversity, not as black/white or male/female, but as individual human beings who have their own talents that make them unique.

Ferris students, faculty, and staff have many opportunities to broaden their cultural horizons through existing diversity and inclusion programs and/or curricular activities. A vast majority of these opportunities center on cultural exposure or immersion, which then can lead to deeper learning experiences in areas that have yet to be explored. One such area could focus more on issues related to gender equity. Campus members can experience various aspects of diversity and inclusion to heighten their own awareness and sense of understanding across gendered differences as these differences intersect other forms of identity. As far as gender is concerned, however, opportunities to learn more about it within social and cultural contexts are limited.

To further promote intercultural competence that fosters deeper interaction and meaningful engagement, this project’s purpose is to initiate dialogue on gender-themed topics, gauge interest in activities related to women and gender within the Ferris community, and serve as a catalyst for future programs and initiatives. This learning opportunity will provide a practical approach to understanding the influence of gender differences in social interactions and holistic practices that could mitigate potentially harmful situations.

The grant will provide funds to bring corporate executives to share diversity and inclusion practices and expectations in the workplaces the executives oversee. The format will be a 90-minute event initiated by introductions of attending executives, a discussion of diversity and inclusion practices by each represented corporation, and finally a question and answer forum with attendees. The event will be held in the evening in order to draw the widest population of participation.

In October 2014 a group of faculty members including: David Frank, Daniel Adsmond, and Lilia Caserta were invited to participate in international science conference in Kazan, Russia by Kazan National Research Technological University. As a result of various presentations and meetings we established friendly communication among Kazan National Research Technological University and Ferris State University. Three chemistry faculty members from Russia expressed their desire to visit Ferris State University to learn about American higher educational system and modern methods of teaching science courses. They will be participating in various question and answer sessions and the spring international festival. Also, they will be presenting topics on Russian higher educational system and modern Russian student population. Russian faculty members will visit classrooms within the College of Arts and Science. They will interact with Ferris faculty, administration, and students to teach and learn about mutual goals and future projects.

During the spring semester of 2015, we would like to make concrete connections between the two universities with practical plans of future joining projects, publications, and conferences. As a long term goal we see this project as developing a successful faculty and student exchange program.

The Indian student population, which is 1% of the main campus student population, is the fastest growing minority population in the FSU system. The Indian population is underserved in a number of ways including no specific program or funding support.

These students provide the opportunity for a cultural exchange to the campus community that for many campus members may be their first exposure to Indian culture. Because the local culture is dramatically different from Indian culture, and the FSU community is one that is not likely able to travel to India, we are in a unique position to provide a cultural exchange. Without a retention initiative that includes acclimating Indian students to the local area and an effort of the local community to understand and appreciate Indian culture, it will be difficult to retain and grow the Indian student population at FSU.

Held in Madison, Wisconsin, The White Privilege Conference is not "designed to attack, degrade or beat up on white folks". It is a conference that challenges participants to examine concepts surrounding privilege and oppression. Solutions and team building strategies that work toward a more equitable world are emphasized. Race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc are examined.

More than 1500 attend this conference annually. participants include high school and college students, teachers, university faculty, higher education professionals, spiritual community members, and members of the corporate arena. More than 35 states are usually represented as well as Australia, Bermuda, Canada and Germany.

It is the desire for the College of Health Professions' Diversity Committee to have three members and three student members attend this conference.

The conference attendees will be expected to share their conference experiences with the other members of the committee during their April 2014 meeting. The dean will be invited to this meeting as well. It is also expected that the attendees will develop a presentation for the College of Health Professions' faculty and staff which will be presented during faculty week in August 2014 and/or September 2014 college meeting. A proposal or proposals will be developed for the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning for a workshop based upon their experiences at the conference. It is the hope that the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will be interested in these proposals.

Requested
$3,893.65

Funded
$1,699.00

The Mythology of the Jewish Experience will be and exploration of Jewish mythology as well as mythologies about Jews. The image of the Jew has always been a protean one, changing over the course of millennia, shaped and reshaped to fit diverse cultural, political and theological needs. Thus, Jews are portrayed as communists and capitalists, liberals and fascists, killers of Christ, enemies of humanity, the evil behind all evil, the minions of Satan.

Aviva Cantor has spent a lifetime combining activism with journalism. She has been described as the "great synthesizer," bringing together Jewish feminism, Zionism, socialism, animal rights and concern for the environment. "She is best known for her work as co-founder and editor of Lillith, the independent Jewish feminist magazine, her landmark The Egalitarian Haggadah, and her passionately analytical and theoretical work*, Jewish Women/Jewish Men: The Legacy of Patriarchy in Jewish Life, and exploration of Jewish History, culture and psychology."

In her more than forty years of journalism, Aviva Cantor has reported on Jewish communities in Africa, Latin America and Europe. During her visit to campus she will also meet with our journalism students and discuss the ethics of journalism and how journalism has changed over the past half century.

*Amy Stone, Jewish Women, http//jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cantor-aviva

The Rankin Art Gallery, the Office of Multicultural Student Services, The Kendall Gallery, and Artworks of Big Rapids are working together to bring the stunning tradition of Oaxaca Folk Art to Ferris State University. The work will be on display at each location; Big Rapids main campus, Kendall Grand Rapids campus and Artworks of Big Rapids.

This exhibition will take place in tandem with the OMSS organized events that make up FSU's Hispanic Heritage celebration. Along with the art on display, the artists will be brought to our communities to talk to our students, faculty, staff and our public, covering topics that include information about the rich cultural heritage of Oaxaca Mexico, the current political climate of their country and most importantly the tradition of Oaxaca wood carving.

Along with meeting the artists and learning about their lives, students will have the opportunity to observe Jacobo carving and Maria painting during workshop sessions. Students and the public will also have an opportunity to learn and apply the unique method of painting in the colorful and delicate style. Workshops, demonstrations and presentations will be scheduled in all three locations.

Nowruz - Persian/Iranian New Year Festival is a 1-day festival that will be celebrated on the 20th of March with visitors from all walks of life. This will be the first time it is celebrated on a Ferris State University campus.

Nowruz is a strong and unbreakable chain that connects several countries with diverse cultures, languages, and religions in different parts of the world that all once constituted the civilization of Greater Persia. All the Iranians in this great land, the Persian-speaking minorities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe; the people of Tajikistan and Afghanistan; and groups of people in Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Armenia, Albania, and Iraq celebrate Nowruz annually and consider it to be one of their main national festivals.

At this event, one beautiful and eye-catching Haft-Sin table will be displayed in the IRC connector. One or two Persian student(s) or community member(s) will explain the meaning and the symbolism of each item on the Haft-Sin table during the program. There will be an introduction about Nowruz, its history, and an explanation of the Haft-Sin Table by Sara Ansari in one of the rooms in IRC followed by a presentation about Persian culture and its connection with nature by Dr. Shahram

Revised September 5, 2012 Parastesh, Iranian Scholar at Ferris. In the evening, Persian food will be served to all attendees to give them a taste of the Middle East as well take part in a Nowruz custom.

Birkam Health Center at Ferris State University has systems in place to provide quality health services to students. While we pride ourselves in the provision of quality, comprehensive and affordable health care, Birkam Health Center is challenged to effectively provide care to Low English Proficient (LEP) students and students with particular disabilities. The specific challenge discussed here includes interpreting the spoken and written word for our LEP and International student population. A number of International students in the beginning English classes have come to Ferris State University without English-speaking skills or a very limited capacity. One can imagine the potential difficulty this would pose for a student seeking appropriate health care on campus.

LEP students have the right to receive health information in their preferred language venue. This venue includes written information and verbal information including those cultural factors that affect understanding of health information. Our goal is to provide this by using special phones, translated materials, language services education, interpreters and marketing supplies for LEP.

"Native Exploration: Native American Pow Wow & Round Dance" is a new initiative to promote, teach and engage our campus community on Native American culture. The two-part event is one students, faculty, staff ad community members will enjoy and be able to participate in. The first event is a Traditional Pow Wow. Historically, Pow Wow's started in the 19th century, and today's gatherings are based on the fundamental values common to Native Americans across North America: Honor, Respect, Tradition and Generosity. The event at FSU will be the first of its kind here on campus that will include singers, dancers, vendors and families from all over Michigan to share and celebrate the culture.

The second event will be a Round Dance. Students, community-members will be invited to participate in the Round Dance exhibition. The Round Dance will be participatory, and all will see the evolution to modern from Pow-Wow to Round Dance. The event will include a talk from professional Native drummer on the history and meaning of the Drum to the indigenous People, and a Dreamcatchers workshop by the FSU RSO Circle of Tribal Nations.The events will be free and open to campus, a small fee will be charged for community members.

Dr. Renn's keynote address and workshop are designed to heighten faculty and staff awareness of the challenges LBGT students face in the classroom. These challenges range from benign neglect of LBGT perspectives and student perceptions that faculty do not understand them, to experiencing outright hostility from faculty and other students.

Research (e.g., Cotton-Huston and Waite, 2000; Lopez and Chism, 1993) suggests that lesbian, gay, and bisexual students experience high rates of discrimination and harassment on campus and that the classroom environment has an impact on student's coming-out experiences. There is also research (e.g., Malinowitz, 1995) to suggest that the coming-out experiences of students are linked to the retention and success of students in colleges and universities. This keynote address and workshop are designed to heighten faculty and staff awareness of these issues and provide them with concrete strategies for how to address them in the classroom.

Mary Forintos