Curricular Initiatives

During the last four years the faculty has made considerable progress in terms of introducing more diversity and multiculturalism into the curriculum.  Approximately one-third of the 23 urban-oriented courses developed with the Pew Urban Curricular Initiative grant are germane to issues of multiculturalism, including Professor Cheryl Greenberg’s “Immigration and Ethnicity in America,” Professor Gail Woldu’s “Current Themes in Black Musical Expression,” and Professor David Reuman’s “Achieving Quality Integrated Education.”  The College’s first tenure-track specialist in South Asian history was appointed, as was a medical anthropologist whose expertise and work bear directly on minority and multicultural issues. Within international studies, a tenure-track position in Ottoman/Middle Eastern history was created, and a proposal for a position in the history of Sub-Saharan Africa is pending. A Jewish studies major was created.  And gay and lesbian studies have been strengthened and expanded through such measures as the awarding of summer grants for course development--now nearly 50 courses pertaining to gay and lesbian issues are listed in the course catalog; supported by a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant, the Trinity Center for Collaborative Teaching and Research offers a reading group focused on queer theory (as well as one on race).  The $5-million Kellogg Foundation grant awarded to Trinity last year will establish important academic and co-curricular linkages to the Hartford community, many of them with members of racial and ethnic minorities. The recent de-colonization series and migrations/diaspora series were highly successful and engaged many members of the Trinity community in dialogue within and outside the classroom about issues relating to identity and culture.  In addition, there has been faculty discussion recently about creating some type of “multicultural” or “cross-cultural” distribution or general education requirement, further testifying to heightened awareness and appreciation of the fact that diversity and multiculturalism contribute substantially to the richness and value of one’s education.