Joshua Pardon, Hikaru Murata, Mike Mendenhall
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1 College of Education and Human Services Diversity and Inclusion Report 2017-2018 Committee: Joshua Pardon, Hikaru Murata, Mike Mendenhall 2 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, Far Cry Primal and Watch Dogs 2 for Ubisoft 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. .