Six NIU faculty members will give presentations on multi-cultural issues related to their courses this week, following last week’s nine presentations.

The series of lectures, held at the Holmes Student Center’s Blackhawk Cafe, is the second part of a project that began early last summer when faculty members from a variety of disciplines participated in the seven-day Multi-cultural Curriculum Transformation Institute sponsored by the Provost’s Office.

The faculty had to apply to participate, and the Provost’s Task Force on Multi-cultural Curriculum Transformation chose the applicants who attended the institute.

Murali Krishnamurdhi, director of faculty development and coordinator of the institute for the past two years, said the goal of the annual program is to educate faculty about how to transform their curriculum so that it is more accommodating to students from diverse backgrounds.

“At the institute, they attend a lot of speeches and presentations, watch videos and participate in activities so they can include more multi-culturalism in their teaching,” he said.

Linda Derscheid, an associate professor of Family, consumer Nutrition Science, participated in the institute and gave her lecture on Tuesday. She said the institute was very helpful.

“We are all talking on how we’ve transformed our curriculum and syllabi to make it more inclusive,” she said.

Diane Cearlock, a professor in School of Allied Health Professions who lectured Oct. 21, also participated in the institute.

“I teach clinical laboratory sciences,” she said. “I spoke about how my students completed experiential training at the Tri-County Community Health Center, which treats many low-income patients of many cultural backgrounds.”

Cearlock said she received $500 after completing the institute, and should receive $500 more shortly from the Provost’s Office for reporting on her progress in using what she learned from the institute.

The presentations, which are open to the public, have garnered few audience members thus far.

“Seven people attended my speech,” Derscheid said. “They were mostly faculty and staff.”