A Quarterly Newsletter. Welcome to the Spring 2014 Diversity Matters! This is our 3rd installment of the newsletter for the academic year.

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1 Diversity Matters! A Quarterly Newsletter Produced by: The Inclusive Excellence Committee The Multicultural Interest Group A Letter from Your Editors: In this issue: p. 2 Psychology Department Hosts Marsico Scholar Skyler Leonard Omar Gudiño p. 3 p. 4 Mental Health Day Aimee Reichmann-Decker p. 5 Día del Niño Skyler Leonard Inclusive Excellence in Teaching Ana Draghici Outreach on the Science of Perception Larissa D Abreu Welcome to the Spring 2014 Diversity Matters! This is our 3rd installment of the newsletter for the academic year. Diversity Matters! is a collaborative effort between the Inclusive Excellence Committee and the Multicultural Interest Group. The goal of our quarterly newsletter is to highlight some of the multicultural work being conducted by our in our community. In addition, we seek to enhance the ways in which our department members connect and collaborate with one another. In this edition, three of the five articles focus on mental health. The articles highlight recent events organized by our department members to raise awareness and improve the quality of mental health services on our campus, in the community, and in families with minority backgrounds. The other two articles focus on education. One introduces science education outreach work done by our faculty member Tim Sweeny together with graduate students from the department, and the other summarizes suggestions made by department members to increase inclusive excellence in teaching. We hope this newsletter encourages and inspires all of you to further engage with and appreciate multiculturalism both professionally and personally. Ana Draghici, ASC Psychology Graduate Student Pilyoung Kim, Psychology Faculty Page 1

2 Department of Psychology Hosts Marsico Social Science Visiting Scholar by Skyler Leonard and Omar Gudiño Anna S. Lau, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology at UCLA, served as Marsico Social Science Visiting Scholar at the University of Denver from April 30th to May 2nd, Dr. Lau is a distinguished scholar whose research examines the adjustment of immigrant and minority families, with particular expertise in Asian American families. The goal of the Marsico Scholar s program is to contribute to the intellectual vitality of the University by having vising scholars engage with both students and faculty across various settings. Dr. Lau s visit focused on engaging the DU community in issues related to immigrant and ethnic minority mental health. During this visit, Dr. Lau gave a lecture on immigrant mental health to an Abnormal Psychology class. Her talk highlighted the unique experiences of immigrants in the United States and how this impacts their mental health. One major theme of the talk was the idea of the immigrant paradox - the finding that while many first generation immigrants face greater exposure to stressors, they appear to evidence better mental and physical health than more established immigrants. Possible explanations and implications of these findings were discussed. Undergraduate students commented that, the visiting scholar opened my eyes to the topic of immigrant mental health and that they, see diversity in a new light. Dr. Lau also led a discussion in the Multicultural Issues and Mental Health graduate class. In this discussion, students delved into the competing priorities of adapting mental health treatments to be culturally competent, but maintaining fidelity to evidence practices that have been found to be effective. The importance of conducting research to understand the extent to which treatments should be adapted and what the best practices are for adaptation arose as important steps in engaging with this dilemma. As part of her visit, Dr. Lau also met with faculty members and attended the Diversity Science colloquium. On the final day, she presented a talk, titled Advancing Research and Action on Asian American Mental Health, to the university community at large. Community members, faculty, mental health practitioners, as well as graduate and undergraduate students were in attendance. Dr. Lau described the findings of research on mental health of Asian Americans and treatment disparities among Asian American youth. Strategies for reducing disparities include universal screenings, piloting interventions, and focusing on social marketing and engagement. The work by Dr. Lau s team with school partners to reach children in need demonstrates the importance of cultural sensitivity and competence when working with diverse populations. Page 2

3 Día del Niño: Department of Psychology Volunteers to Serve by Skyler Leonard On Saturday, April 26, 2014 the Services for At- Risk Youth and Families (SAYF) Research Lab, along with the Multicultural Issues and Mental Health class, and Multicultural Interest Group (MIG) volunteered at Día del Niño (Day of the Child), a health, wellness, and resource fair. The event was organized by Centro Dones de la Comunidad, the Jefferson Center for Mental Health, and Jeffco Schools Title I. Dr. Omar Gudiño and his students spent the afternoon providing free mental health screeners and conferences to children, adolescents, and parents in English and Spanish. The screeners included a broad overview of strengths and challenges impacting the mental health and behavior of Latino youth. The team also provided information on resources in the community for those looking for additional services. The event was a success with over ten volunteers turning out and many free screeners conducted. Departmental Discussion of Inclusive Excellence in Teaching by Ana Draghici Faculty and graduate students from the Department of Psychology gathered on Friday, May 2nd for an open discussion about fostering inclusive excellence in teaching. The conversation started with the recognition of the fact that theoretical aspects of inclusive excellence may be difficult to translate into practice when teaching. The discussion then focused on examples of challenges and opportunities around the practice of inclusive excellence in the classroom. Some prominent issues that were brought up included: (1) treading the fine line between making use of examples that are more inclusive, without singling out specific individuals, or asking people to speak on behalf of their minority group; (2) creating environments where people feel safe and comfortable sharing their unique perspectives; (3) how to prevent people from sharing their biased or hurtful opinions; (4) making sure students have the tools and opportunities to be successful regardless of their background; (5) teaching social and cross-cultural psychology without spreading stereotypes. The discussion ended with the suggestion of moving away from a focus on what is or isn t offensive, and instead focusing on what is or isn t engaging. Some things may be offensive, but they can be used as an opportunity to engage students and correct biases. Both students and faculty agreed that discussions on this topic should continue in Fall Page 3

4 University of Denver Hosts Mental Health Day by Aimee Reichmann-Decker Mental Health Day was an April 2014 initiative to decrease the stigma associated with mental illness and normalize seeking treatment for psychological problems. The programming was supported by the Center for Multicultural Excellence through a grant to help create a more inclusive campus environment for students, faculty, and staff. The Department of Psychology, Health and Counseling Center, MIND, the Multicultural Interest Group, Psi Chi, and Psychology Club collaborated on a multifaceted initiative to raise awareness and lower stigmatization at DU. A recent literature review on mental illness stigmatization (Parcesepe & Cabassa, 2013) recommended several interventions, including, 1) diminishing the perception that individuals with a mental disorder are likely to engage in physical violence, 2) using education-entertainment strategies to customize the message to the target audience, and 3) providing the opportunity for positive personal experiences with individuals living with mental illness. Based on these recommendations, our programming included two key components - mental health screenings and an education-entertainment campaign, including, film-making paired with a panel-discussion and reception, and visual awareness (e.g., tees, wristbands, and informational posters). The Stress and Wellness Checks were conducted by the Health and Counseling Service with assistance from graduate students from the Psychology Department. These mental health screenings served over 175 members of the DU community, including undergraduate and graduate students from all the divisions of the university. The screenings were intended to normalize seeking treatment, educate about common psychological symptoms, and to provide referrals to individuals needing further assistance. As part of the education-entertainment campaign, the student group MIND created an original documentary. The film, Unsilenced, featured DU students and faculty discussing living with mental illness. Following the documentary Sarah Belstock, DU Director of Public Health, lead a panel discussion with experts (Dr. Omar Guidiño from Clinical Psychology and Nick Sotor from the Health and Counseling Center) and students and faculty affected by mental illness (Amanda Pennington and Dr. Jennifer Campbell). A reception preceded the film and panel to allow for socializing with the filmmakers and panel. The documentary, panel, and reception achieved several aims -- normalizing individuals with mental illness, instilling hope for those impacted by mental disorders, lowering stigma through education and positive personal experiences, and perhaps most importantly, presenting a human face to mental illness in the DU community. Unsilenced will soon be available for general viewing on YouTube. Ultimately, the programming to create a more inclusive campus environment around the issue of mental illness was modestly successful. We intend to continue Mental Health Day into the future to promote psychological health and well being. Page 4

5 Outreach on the Science of Perception by Larissa D Abreu Dr. Tim Sweeny, principal investigator of the Visual Perception, Emotion, and Cognition laboratory, brought a unique project from his postdoctoral work to our department. The goal of this project is to inspire young people to engage in science learning, and hopefully to pursue careers in the sciences. This outreach has been applied to elementary, middle, and highschool students, and particularly targets public schools in low-income areas, where emphasis on the sciences may take a back-burner position relative to education in basic math and literacy. Bringing science to these schools in an interactive, hands-on way is engaging and challenges students to think outside the box about some everyday occurrences. Additionally, this work gives students a chance to see what scientists do - an opportunity that is usually not available until college, when interests have often been formed already. Drawing from Dr. Sweeny s work on visual perception, we used optical illusions to demonstrate how the brain perceives and processes visual information. Optical illusions are entertaining and can show that students curiosities and interests are not only shared by scientists, but are scientific in nature. This revelation is especially illuminating for otherwise science-averse students, who may believe a number of myths about what science is. Dr. Sweeny gathered a group of seven graduate students and five undergraduate volunteers and lab members to prepare the materials for this semester s presentations in six schools in the Denver area. After the supplies were gathered, we used the two months remaining in the semester to reach out to over 500 children over 7 events. This was both a unique learning experience for the children and teens who participated as well as for the graduate students who were involved. We had to determine how to best present optical illusions without relying on the crutch of PowerPoint presentation format, and how to effectively communicate important ideas to a younger audience, building in crucial learning on the brain and dysfunction without lapsing into jargon. One presentation involved using sodium lamps to illustrate color blindness and another used strobe lights to explain motion perception and how debilitating motion blindness can be. Now that the group has worked out the structure of presentations, we hope to continue this outreach program for years to come. One student asked how he could become a vision scientist, and another middle school student decided on the spot that he wanted to attend DU. Dr. Sweeny and his outreach team aims to continue to bring the abstract of science into tangible, exciting reality and to inspire children to carry a sense of curiosity and wonder throughout their lives. Next Issue! We will produce the next issue (Vol. 4, No. 1, Fall Quarter 2014) of Diversity Matters! in the next few months. If you would like to contribute in any way, please contact Ana Draghici (ana.draghici@du.edu). We look forward to hearing your feedback and to introducing two new co-editors for the Fall 2014 newsletter! Page 5