SOCIAL  DIVERSITY  IN  THE  GEOGRAPHY  CURRICULUM
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Penn State:

As it turns out, Penn State is taking a new, more expanded look at diversity.  A plan to enhance diversity at Penn State was conceived just this year, augmenting Penn State’s already existing diversity plan.  This new plan will establish an Africana Studies Research Center within the College of Liberal Arts, provide more support for the African-African American Studies Department (yes, the name includes the word African twice…)  Additionally, the University Administration will make a recommendation to the Faculty Senate that the current diversity requirement at Penn State be strengthened by focusing more clearly on diversity issues of greater relevance to students.  And finally, the Office of Undergraduate Education will be assuming responsibility for the implementation of a Pre-Freshman Seminar experience designed to acquaint incoming students with issues related to racism and diversity.

There is a diversity requirement at Penn State, which requires all students to complete at least 3 credits in the program..  It is called the Intercultural and International Competence Requirement, and it was mandated originally in 1990. Since then, the program was revised and given its current name in 1999. Courses emphasizing the development of intercultural competence of students should provide a study of one or more of the following elements:

1. the nature of relationships among cultures, their change over time, and impact on the global society;
2. the interrelations between dominant and non-dominant cultures, either in the United States or elsewhere, with special attention to the dynamics of difference and opportunities for encouraging insights into the experience through such study in the United States;
3. significant cultural experiences and/or achievements of individuals (identified by ethnicity, race, class, religion, gender, physical/mental disability, or sexual orientation) and the relationship between the individual experiences, the group's culture, and other cultures.

Courses taught in the area of Intercultural and International Competence should help the students to:

1. see nations and cultures not in isolation, but in relation to each other;
2. cultivate their awareness of the pluralism and diversity within international cultures;
3. convey consideration for different cultural values, traditions, beliefs, and custom;
4. appreciate the diversity that exists among persons who share a particular social identity;
5. convey consideration for different cultural values, traditions, beliefs, and customs;
6. increase their knowledge about the range of cultural achievements and human conditions through time;
7. recognize and be sensitive to the different ways social identities have been valued;
8. reexamine their beliefs and behaviors about social identities (e.g., ethnicity, race, class, sexuality, gender, physical disability, etc.);
9. be more sophisticated in their understanding of the nature of stereotypes and biases;
10. convey consideration for different cultural values, traditions, beliefs, and customs;
11. be able to interact successfully with representatives of other nations;
12. be able to interact effectively with persons of different social groups;
13. increase their knowledge of, and ability to locate and evaluate information about other parts and peoples of the world.