July 22, 1996
Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens or Ellie Shick, (615) 322-2706
Vanderbilt programs address
student retention, teaching values
POSSE BOOSTS CAMPUS DIVERSITY A unique scholarship program started
at Vanderbilt and replicated at Rice and Lehigh universities is helping
top-ranked schools not only to attract but also to retain students of color
on campus. The College Posse Scholarship Program recruits and trains teams
or "posses" of New York City high school students from culturally
diverse backgrounds to address issues of diversity on a college campus.
The program began in 1989 when Vanderbilt's Peabody College formed a partnership
with metaNetworks, a youth leadership-training organization, to identify
and recruit students with exceptional leadership potential. The posse acts
as a support system to ensure each student's academic success. Kito Huggins,
the past president of the Student Government Association at Vanderbilt,
and Jackie Lopardo, a Vanderbilt homecoming queen, were among the posse
members who graduated this year. Vanderbilt has accepted eight outstanding
freshmen who will form a new posse this fall.
MINORITY EDUCATORS PARTNERSHIP AIMS TO OFFSET SHORTAGES Vanderbilt
University, a nearby technical institute and a government jobs training
program are teaming up to reverse a significant decline in minority teachers.
The new partnership seeks to recruit non-traditional students who are interested
in a teaching career. In addition, a former elementary school teacher who
is a Vanderbilt teacher-in-residence is working to revive Future Teachers
of America clubs in urban schools. Many of the clubs, which were started
by the National Education Association to generate interest in the profession,
became inactive in the 1980s. Students who join the clubs follow a teacher
for a day and learn what courses they need to become a teacher.
TEACHING VALUES IN THE SCHOOL It's not a question of IF values should
be taught in school, but HOW, says a Vanderbilt University ethicist. Don
Welch says whether they realize it or not, faculty already teach values
by virtue of their curriculum choices, classroom behavior and extracurricular
activities. He recommends values be taught the same way religion is taught
in some universities -- from a secular viewpoint without proselytizing or
bias. In his book, "Conflicting Agendas: Personal Morality in Institutional
Settings," Welch explores cases in which valid moral concerns point
in opposite directions.
-VU-
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This document last updated Jan. 9, 1997