Publications and Policies > Diversity Facts 2007–08

What about curricular and academic efforts?

Numerous examples include the following:

• Requiring all students via Miami's liberal education plan to take foundation courses that include at least one course in a United States culture and one in a world culture.
  
  
• Offering majors or minors in eight diversity-related disciplines, including Women's Studies, Latin American Studies, International Studies, Disability Studies, Black World Studies, East Asian Studies, Jewish Studies, and Middle East and Islamic Studies. These can be found among our comprehensive listing of majors and minors.
  
  
• Offering instruction in 13 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, Latin, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.
  
  
• Offering thematic sequences in 19 different diversity-related areas: Women, Art and Art History; World Cultures; World Cultures, Policy, and Ecology; World Cultures and Social Relations; Relational Communication and Development in Modern Society; Cultural Studies and Public Life; Women and Literature; African American History and Literature; Families in Diverse Contexts; Urban Geography; Sociological Perspectives on Aging; Aging in Diverse Contexts; Women and Gender in History; People and Power in the Americas; African and African-Derived Music in the Western World; Religion and American Life; The Historical and Comparative Study of Religion; Sociological Perspectives on Inequality; and Women and the World.
  
  
• Completing historic, artistic, and educational community projects. Students in the Department of Architecture and Interior Design have worked in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine community since 1996. Miami's Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine now offers all Miami students the opportunity to live and learn in Cincinnati's urban core. Contact: Thomas Dutton, Center Director, Dept. of Architecture and Interior Design, duttonta@muohio.edu
  
  
• Providing a range of performance opportunities for students exploring non-Western music. Performance opportunities abound for all students by audition, as ensembles are not limited to music majors. These ensembles include the following:
  
  
  • Miami University Steel Band—Directed by Chris Tanner (Dept. of Music), this performing ensemble actually comprises two, with more than 50 members appearing on and off campus in more than 40 educational concerts per year throughout the region.
    
    
  • Miami's Balinese Gamelan Ensemble—Directed by William Albin (Dept. of Music), this group formed in 2003. A community gamelan group also meets.
    
    
  • Global Rhythms Ensemble (right) —Directed by Srinivas Krisnan (Miami alumnus, artist-in-residence, and instructor), Ethan Sperry (Dept. of Music), and Roger Davis (Dept. of Music), this ensemble includes Western and non-Western instruments and performs music from all over the world. In 2006, Global Rhythms played the Hollywood Bowl.
    
    
  Visit the Department of Music for news and information on all performing ensembles.
  
  
• Creating 16 Living Learning communities in various residence halls to provide opportunities for exploring other cultures in depth. For example, the Mosaic program, which began in 1996, offers first-year students a chance to learn about different cultures and lifestyles and includes a one-credit seminar course. The International Living Learning Community houses 100 students, of whom 40 percent are international.
  
  
• Expanding university-sponsored study abroad options. Miami consistently ranks among the top 20 universities in the nation for the number of students studying abroad. The Office of International Education provides international education services, consulting assistance, programming activities, and advocacy leadership in support of the University's international education goals. It also helps Miami to expand the international dimension in learning, teaching, research, creative activities, and service.
  
  
• Participating in STARS (Student Achievement in Research and Scholarship), a mentoring program funded by the Ohio Board of Regents. STARS encourages talented students from underrepresented ethnic groups to pursue graduate school. Students in the program work on a research project with a faculty or staff mentor.