The strategic plan process is a massage from Chancellor ‘’ Steven Angle ‘’ as an inspiration for students forward success in order to improve lives and build communities by inviting them to join in building stronger ties between the UTC campus and community. The main goal of the strategic plan is to make different in the life of the community by focusing in what to do and how. It is a preparation process to the future of the students in how to collaborate with community partners, faculty, and staff to find the correct solution.
Reading 2
“The Bedford Handbook”
Summary:
The read2acheive program was written to provide positive reading experience toward students, facility, and staff. It is a directly benefits the first year students in providing a reading experience. It seeks to develop first year student’s connection, experience, and learning during career. It also strength student’s conversation with others. As it required for the English department classes we can find it at UTC bookstore, it is important for students to intimates common experience.
Statement of Use:
The book is a great motivator for students to improve their experience overall and specifically for first year students that will lead them to reach success. By introducing the students to the academic and intellectual culture of the university the book is a perfect guide for the academically studies.
Reading 3
Lawler, Peter A. “Diversity, Heterodoxy, and Political Science.” National Review, 2016, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/439913/natural-foundation-academic-controversy.
In the article “Diversity, Heterodoxy, and Political Science,” Peter Lawler raises many important questions which relate to the problem of the system of education in the United States of America. Firstly, the author mentions about the diversity and tries to define its real nature. It is essential that he discusses this concept in the context of economics, politics, and culture. It allows concluding that before establishing real diversity in the society, it is necessary to ensure the safeness of the space where each opinion has a right to exist. In this term, Lawler mentions about the threat to higher education in the USA. The main danger is that the system of education may be reduced to the twin standards of competency and diversity (Lawler). The author also gives useful recommendations to campuses which are aimed to prevent infantilizing students. Moreover, Lawler emphasizes the necessity of rethinking and analyzing all opinions in order to avoid serious mistakes while making important decisions which have an impact on the society.
Statement of Use:
The article “Diversity, Heterodoxy, and Political Science” by Peter Lawler can be considered as a credible source because it reveals a serious problem existing in the system of higher education in the USA nowadays and explains the relation among such issues as diversity, heterodoxy, and political science. Moreover, the article allows understanding the author’s position clearly. It is the advantage that Lawler supports his argument with concrete examples which are related to politics (elections and American Political Science Association). That is why this argument seems convincing and may be used in further researches. Finally, it is worth to remember about the connection between the true diversity in politics and the system of higher education. It would have a positive impact on the whole society.
Reading 4
Routledge, Clay. “We Champion Racial, Gender And Cultural Diversity–Why Not Viewpoint Diversity?.” Scientific American Blog Network, 2016, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/we-champion-racial-gender-and-cultural-diversity-why-not-viewpoint-diversity/.
“Where The Country Is Becoming More Diverse.” Washington Post, 2017,
Summary:
The author provides the bright example of how both conservatives and liberalists promote the prejudice. According to the research, conservatives are less tolerant to target groups considered as political allies such as, for instance, atheists. Liberalists, in turn, demonstrate intolerance to conservative target groups, for example, evangelical Christians (Routledge, Clay).
One may also observe that the biases emerge during the transformation of conceptual variables into measurable ones.
Routledge concludes his contemplation claiming that the lack of viewpoint diversity has adverse effects on university life. He believes that colleges would significantly benefit from viewpoint diversity which, according to him, would make campuses the “safe space” that “facilitate intellectual, social, and personal growth” (Routledge, Clay).
Statement of Use:
In this article, Clay Routledge claims that modern individuals learned to accept diversity, especially its types that were previously neglected. Nowadays, racial, gender and cultural diversity are positively treated by American citizens, primarily by college campuses (“Where The Country Is Becoming More Diverse”). Still, the viewpoint diversity remains in shadows and is often disregarded.
Reading 5
Phillips, Katherine W. “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” Scientific American, 2014, www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/.
Summary:
In this article, the author discusses benefits of humans in the case of diversity. Firstly, the author starts her article with a brief description of the concept of diversity. In particular, she presents three facts, such as the diverse people are more creative, great problem solvers, and intellectual innovators. At this point, the author moves to the explanation of these three features of diverse people and states that these individuals are more competitive in the world’s market. For example, about 2,360 companies were examined globally, and scientists found that diverse people had the better average return and growth in the comparison to the traditional and local employment. Finally, the author underlines the opinion that the diversity of the workplace not only increases the performance but also geographical and other types of reflection, including analysis of the data. Thus, diverse people have more creative ideas to respond to the world around in any sense.