WSU Vancouver’s University-Wide courses are there to help incoming freshmen with the basics of college preparation, but there are a few reported changes in this year’s curriculum, including topics relating to race, culture and identity.
Navigate, discover and become are the three words attributed to WSU Vancouver’s core values for new students. Professor and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, Thabiti Lewis, said the mantra was the foundation behind his ideas when changing the UNIV course, to focus on discussion topics related to identity and culture. Lewis and Felix Braffith, director of student equity and outreach, have collaborated to implement changes in classroom discourse, altering the new student theme to “This is me.”
“With this curriculum, in two years, you will see that we will have a larger, more self and culturally enlightened campus community, and because about 85% [of students] remain in the area, those individuals are going to flood into our community, and we are going to see a more enlightened Vancouver campus. So, the change is already happening,” Lewis said.
While the new curriculum works to combine student success concepts such as time management and identifying campus resources, the primary focus will revolve around self-discovery. One course adopting the curriculum, UNIV 104, will include concepts from the book, “Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture & Identity” written by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi. When reading the novel, students, professors and peer mentors are expected to facilitate conversations about discovering their own identity, and understanding how others’ identities play a role in the community as well.
“Asking yourself who you are in terms of race, in terms of cultural identity, is the first step that any of us have to take before we can truly understand the people around us and the people in our community. So that examination of self is actually a student success strategy for them to make sense of the experience [when] transitioning into college, because it is so much different than the world they experienced in high school.” – Felix Braffith
Various UNIV courses will have peer mentors, who sit in on classes and engage in conversations with students. As the curriculum changes, peer mentors are required to take various summer training courses that involve studying the curriculum closely and developing peer relationships with students enrolled.
Ian Urias, student peer mentor and a sophomore majoring in business administration, said he thinks the new UNIV course alterations will influence the entire culture at WSU Vancouver as new teachings of identity and culture take place.
“On the macro level, these new curriculum changes will impact our culture, freshman and our transfer students. I feel like over time, not only will our students have the exposure at least to the idea of different identities, and just thinking about their own identity, but [also] to figure out what they want, who they are for themselves and [what] their career is at WSU Vancouver,” Urias said.
Incoming freshmen and transfer students who enroll in the UNIV courses can expect to see the new curriculum change. Future UNIV courses are expected to adopt a similar model including UNIV 250 and UNIV 304, courses provided for transfer students. For those who are interested in enrolling, contact a student adviser, or visit the undergraduate advising page here for more information.
Olivia is a senior studying English at WSU Vancouver.