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College of Education and Human Services

Diversity and Inclusion Report

2017-2018

Committee: Joshua Pardon, Hikaru Murata, Mike Mendenhall

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School of Digital Media

During this academic year, the Television and Digital Media Production department produced five episodes of Expect Diversity. Expect Diversity is half-hour television talk show program produced by students in the TDMP 385 Television Studio Production course under the supervision of TDMP Professor Glen Okonoski. The show is hosted by Vice President for

Diversity and Inclusion Dr. David Pilgrim and tackles important contemporary issues like feminism, politics, race relations, and history. This year’s episodes include Confederate

Monuments (https://vimeo.com/237813114), Gun Control (https://vimeo.com/241953476),

Income Inequality (https://vimeo.com/246492980), Freedom of Speech

(https://vimeo.com/254031122), and Sexual Assault (https://vimeo.com/258285268).

On April 13, 2018, the School of Digital Media’s Registered Student Organization Media

Communications Association held the 18th annual Ferris Media Festival. Faculty Co-advisors

TDMP Assistant Professor Joshua Pardon and DAGD Assistant Professor Marty Lier mentored

the MCA students throughout the academic year in producing and organizing the event. The

daylong event featured six presenters from across the

country who shared a broad range of perspectives and

expertise from their experiences in a variety of digital

media careers. Presenters included media professionals

such as game designer Daniel He Wang who is

currently working on Spider-Man (PS4) as project

manager at Insomniac Games, LA. Born in China,

Daniel has has also worked on AAA games such as For 3

Honor, and 2 for

Shanghai Studio and his CGI credits for TV/Film

include Trollhunters and Ratchet & Clank. Also

featured at the Media Festival was documentary film

and TV producer Don Perry. Don is the CEO of Digital

Diaspora Family Reunion LLC, an organization which

uses the intersection of history and visual literacy to

bring people together. He is also Executive Producer for Family Pictures USA, a new television series in development, the pilot for which was shot in

Detroit during the summer of 2017. TDMP Assistant Professor Joshua Pardon assisted Don and his production crew in the location filming for this innovative program.

TDMP Associate Professor Nick Kuiper served as Chair of the Academic Affairs

Diversity Enhancement Award Committee and also attended the Faculty Center for Teaching and

Learning’s Institute on Inclusion and Inclusive Classrooms.

TDMP Assistant Professor Joshua Pardon secured broadcast distribution for a documentary film entitled “The Poor Farm” (https://vimeo.com/244844364), produced with assistance from TDMP students. "The Poor Farm" is a documentary film that tells the story of the Eastmanville Poor Farm in Ottawa County, Michigan. Founded in 1866, it was the longest continually operating Poor Farm in the United States, serving the indigent, the developmentally disabled, and the addicted for over 130 years. The program is distributed to public and non- commercial television stations nationwide via the National Education Telecommunications

Association (NETA) Program Service. 4

Joshua Pardon

School of Criminal Justice

The law enforcement academy spent three weeks in November teaching on the topic of

diversity. Dr. Vanderkooi stated that recruits were required to meet the following objectives:

• Increase awareness and understanding of a multi-cultural society in relationship to contemporary policing • Describe the benefits of understanding diverse cultures in your living and working environment • Create greater awareness and understanding of the basic nature of culture • Improve community relations and reduce conflict by recognizing and appreciating differing cultural traits and values

Mike Mendenhall took three sections of his Introduction to Criminal Justice courses to the Jim Crow museum at Ferris State University in the fall of 2017. This visit to the museum was part of a weeklong project, which Mendenhall completed during a FCTL project. The project was completed through the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning and focused on Sundown

Towns in America; specifically the role of law enforcement in these towns. This project is 5

through the Junior Faculty Fellows Program.

The goal is to show students a part of history

that has affected views towards law

enforcement, and communities at large. After

the visit to the museum, students learned about

sundown towns and black codes. They were

then given a group assignment which looked at

racial bias in policing. A pre and post survey was given to the students for feedback. Afterward, students were able to reflect on the material they viewed in the museum, as well as discuss how this era has impacted the criminal justice system today.

On February 13, 2018, Officer Jared Prado from the Madison Police Department in

Madison, WI came to campus to

give a talk on the importance of

diversity in a police department

and the importance of working

with juveniles. Students from

Mendenhall’s juvenile

delinquency courses as well as students from Dr. Hogan’s courses were present to learn about different perspectives from the criminal justice field as well as emerging trends in policing.

Dr. Hundersmarck discusses the topic of race in the criminal justice system extensively in the current topics course he teaches. Along with this, he discusses race as it relates to the death penalty and the war on drugs. In the course Police and Society, Dr. Hundersmarck talked about 6 race and disparate police action, both real and perceived, as well as use of force. Finally, Dr.

Hundersmarck discusses the effect of race and policing type in his courses. Each of the professors in the criminal justice program discuss the topic of race as it relates to their course.

Mike Mendenhall

School of Education

The School of Education makes a significant effort to

promote an awareness of diversity on the Ferris campus.

Dr. Hikaru Murata arranged an opportunity for the Study

Abroad Program participant to meet with two exchange

students from Otemon University, Osaka, Japan this school

year (see the picture below).

Also, Dr. Murata has been promoting the Japan Exchange

and Teaching program (JET program) since 2005. He invites the JET program coordinator from the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit, MI to the

Ferris State University Campus every other year.

Hikaru Murata

Looking Ahead

The College of Education and Human Services diversity and inclusion committee will continue to seek new ways to teach and foster a more diverse and inclusive environment. One goal for next year in criminal justice is to bring back Officer Prado to present on the topic of implicit bias training. Mendenhall would like to join with the social work department to include 7 students from both programs to learn about how both social workers and police officers work together in the field. We continue to be open to any ideas or suggestions to help make our college more diverse and inclusive, both inside and outside the classroom.