UTSA presents research symposium on diversity

By Nina Sosa
Diversity Coordinator, Office of Institutional Diversity

(Nov. 8, 2006)--UTSA's Academy for Teacher Excellence, the Office of Institutional Diversity and the Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESO) will host a research symposium and authors' panel discussion from 3 to 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 9 in the Buena Vista Theater in the Downtown Campus Buena Vista Street Building. A reception follows from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Meeting Assembly Room (1.338).

With the theme, "Cultivating Diversity Through Education," the event is free and open to the public. The symposium and discussion are part of UTSA Diversity Month. The sessions will highlight research and published works by UTSA faculty on diversity issues.

From 3 to 4:30 p.m., the Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE) will present the research symposium hosted by Lorena Claeys, ATE executive director. Symposium speakers and topics include:

• Belinda Bustos Flores, associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching -- Academy for Teacher Excellence: Components, Milestones and Successes
• Wayne Wright, assistant professor of bicultural-bilingual studies -- Catching Up in Math: The Case of Newly Arrived Cambodian Students in a Texas Intermediate School
• Mari Riojas Cortez, associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching -- Teaching Math and Science Literacies Through Play: Pre-service Teachers Implement the Project Approach
• Christine Moseley, associate professor of of interdisciplinary learning and teaching -- Ethnicity as a Construct in Influencing Environmental Education Efficacy Beliefs of Pre-Service Teachers

From 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., a UTSA authors' panel and discussion will be moderated by Ellen Riojas Clark, professor of bicultural-bilingual studies. Published works will be displayed. Speakers and topics include:

• Ruben Martinez, professor of public administration -- Transforming Multicultural Organizations into Diverse Organizations
• Shirley Mock, senior researcher, Institute of Texan Cultures -- Diversity of the Women in the Black Seminole Community
• Carolyn Orange, professor of educational psychology -- Promoting Diversity Through Student-Sensitive Classrooms
• Eugene Stone-Romero, professor of management -- The Consequences of the In-Group vs. Out-Group Status on the Way Individuals Are Treated in Organizations

For more information, call (210) 458-4120 or 458-6170.

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Academy for Teacher Excellence

The Academy for Teacher Excellence offers mini-grant research awards as an opportunity for professional development for faculty and doctoral students in the UTSA College of Education and Human Development including research on issues affecting the quality of education for diverse students.

ATE projects are designed to enhance UTSA's ability to prepare teachers for diverse classrooms, to retain and graduate Hispanic and low-income students, to establish teacher preparation programs that comprehensively integrate diversity issues and other related issues of concern for faculty members.