A class offering different perspectives on stereotypes, biases and how to deal with them will be available for West Virginia University students in the spring semester.
Kaleidoscope: Intergroup Dialogue or COUN 483D, will be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., and offers an honest conversation with fellow classmates about cultural issues and diversity.
Shelley Savage, multicultural specialist and psychologist with WVU’s Carruth Center, will teach the course. She and Chelsea Derlan, a WVU graduate, proposed the class after last year’s Diversity Week, when a similar discussion was held.
"Anyone who has faced a stereotype bias or is just curious to know and learn about the world can join this class," Savage said.
The class is a safe space for students to talk about personal experiences, develop friendships, and address questions and problems the generation faces.
It will not be a lecture class, but the medium of learning will be discussions, readings, projects, guest speakers and class activities.
Students will learn concepts from fields such as psychology, social work and sociology relating to social and cultural issues, address stereotypes, misinformation and misconceptions facing groups on campus and in society and explore the similarities and differences in experiences across society.
The class will continue based on student feedback at the end of the semester.
Students of all majors are invited to the class.
"The class aims at giving students an opportunity to talk on issues in an open and honest environment, and to come up with solutions to the problems addressed," Derlan said.
By the end of the course, students will be able to develop skills to work with differences, disagreements and conflicts as opportunities for deeper understanding and transformation.
The class only holds 20 seats, and 10 have already been filled. Currently, only one male is registered and Savage encourages more to sign up.
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