Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Diversity Committee

In the pursuit of academic excellence, Delta State University is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive academic community that fosters productive intellectual exchange while bridging gaps in the differences in the human experience. DSU’s goal is to encourage the contributions of each individual in its learning community by providing venues for multicultural education and training in an environment of mutual respect. Through the recruitment and retention of a diverse student body, faculty, and staff, Delta State exemplifies its understanding and appreciation of the individual fabric that creates the rich tapestry of our global community.

Advisory Committee Members

  • Sylma Ferreira
  • Michelle Johansen
  • Shalando Jones
  • Michael Lipford
  • Marlan McElroy
  • Brittany Reed
  • Chunhui Ren
  • Christy Riddle
  • Temika Simmons
  • Leslie Stewart
  • Shelia Williams

Advisory Committee Goals

  • Launch campus-wide “Diversity Awareness Campaign” to promote multicultural awareness and sensitivity and to increase visibility of Diversity Committee
  • Increase/broaden membership of Diversity Committee
  • Use more visual communication to promote diversity- posters, displays, website (ongoing)
  • Create and implement “Diversity Champions” with recognition going to individual or department who best promotes academic and social inclusiveness across campus
  • Develop and implement strategies specifically for recruitment and retention of faculty
  • Provide orientation for incoming faculty
  • Provide more programming, such as guest speakers and panel discussions, that focus on diversity-related issues
  • Provide support for incoming underrepresented faculty working on advanced degrees
  • Provide opportunities for faculty, staff and students to enhance their understanding of diversity and of multicultural sensitivity
  • Continue diversity workshops for faculty, staff, and student leaders
  • Promote curricula to include more opportunities for student engagement in issues of diversity in classroom
  • Encourage the university to create the position of Chief Diversity Officer.  The President’s Cabinet identified as one of the university’s strategic directions for the Academic Year 2012-13 the following: Create position of Chief Diversity Officer as the next step in the expansion of this important area of institutional life. The university is seeking to identify funding for this position and discussions are underway about the job description.

Social Sciences and History 

  • GEO 201. INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • GEO 303: WORLD REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY 
  • GEO 405: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
  • GEO 435: GEOGRAPHY OF RELIGION
  • CRJ592 /PSC 592 : WOMEN, POLITICS & POLICY
  • HIS 433. AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY
  • PSC 325 : WOMEN AND POLITICS
  • PSC 492: Special Topics:

 Black Political Thought
– Minority Politics
– Black Feminist Thought 

  • PSC 444: Civil Liberties / Civil Rights
  • SOC 450/SOC 550: RACIAL AND CULTURAL MINORITIES.
  • SOC/ COD/PSC 514: GENDER IN A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
  • SOC 468/ SOC 568: GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
  • SOC 456/ SOC 556: RACE, CLASS, and GENDER
  • SOC 432/ 532: SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER: SOUTH ASIAN PERSPECTIVES
  • COD 522: ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
  • SOC 585: POPULATION

Languages and Literature

  • COM 325: Intercultural Communication
  • COM 400: Rhetoric of Social Movements
  • COM 202: Interpersonal Communication
  • ENG 453/553: African-American Literature

ART

  • ART 419 Women in the Arts: This course will offer an introduction to the role played by women as creators, patrons, and subject of art, from the Middle Ages to the present. It will examine the artistic as well as social, political, economic contexts in and against which women artists had to work and how that context impacted the art they have created.

Special Education

  • CSP 340. SURVEY OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN: Characteristics, needs, and developmental issues of children and youth with exceptional learning needs.
  • CSP 348. COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION: A study of parent involvement in special education with emphasis on conferencing, counseling and training parents/guardians to meet their child’s individual needs.