Audrey Clingenpeel is a junior and upon coming to Longwood she was very interested in taking classes that focused on diversity, but was disappointed to find that Longwood offered few classes on that topic.
Clingenpeel was confused by the small amount of Longwood's diversity classes. Luckily for her, this August, she will be able to begin classes that are a part of the new Race and Ethnicity Study minor.
Starting in the fall 2020 semester, Longwood will pilot some classes for the new minor. David Magill, professor of literatures of diversity, has been facilitating making this minor a possibility.
Magill stated, “Students were the reason we created this minor.”
Longwood faculty Dr. Larissa Smith, Professor David Magill, Dr. Scott Grether, Dr. Spencer Tricker, Dr. Shayla Betts, Dr. Jesse Goldberg and faculty scholar Hannah Dudley Shotwell are coming together to make sure they reach their goal of having this minor available in August.
Dr. Grether, assistant professor of sociology, is assisting with the creation of the minor.
“Part of my training as a sociologist is in racial inequality, inequality in general. My master's thesis was related to racial inequality in family life,” stated Grether on why he wanted to be a part of this.
This coming August a Sociology of Race and Ethnicity course will be piloted and taught by Grether. The course will focus on racial inequality using data.
Andrea Dogbo is a communication studies major and vice president of the WeForShe organization. Dogbo thinks bringing this minor to campus would be a great idea.
“There have been many efforts to get minority students to come to Longwood and I think that would be a good start," Dogbo said.
She also stated, “I genuinely feel it will make every Longwood student into being a citizen leader in the long run, who will be able to communicate with people from all different backgrounds.”
Courtesy of Longwood University.
