Multiple dimensions of identity and undergraduate diversity workshop facilitators
College and university student populations are more structurally diverse than they have ever been, yet students from historically marginalized identity groups are routinely subjected to discrimination, racism, and other acts of intolerance on campus. Many colleges and universities in the United States now offer or require courses, workshops, or intergroup dialogues aimed at improving campus climate by fostering interactions among students from different social groups. Previous literature on diversity education has explored the challenges that instructors encounter as they teach students about diversity topics, but little research has examined the experiences of undergraduates who take on this work. This qualitative study used multiple dimensions of identity theory as a framework for exploring the experiences of 13 undergraduates who facilitated diversity workshops for first-year students during the spring semester of 2017. The study’s findings indicate that facilitating diversity workshops introduced facilitators to language and concepts that allowed them to process their identities in new ways, taught them to be more aware of their own biases and assumptions, and encouraged them to confront racist, sexist, or homophobic language outside of the workshops. The study’s findings also reveal the implications of tasking undergraduates with the difficult work of teaching diversity to other students as they simultaneously undergo their own critical development. The study highlights the interconnected, dynamic, and contextual nature of social identities, supports existing research on college student identity development, and adds to the body of literature on diversity education by including the voices and experiences of undergraduate instructors.
Diversity, Higher Education, Identity Development, College Students
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign