Diversity Statement

When I am thinking about being an educator and a young academic who supports diversity, equity and inclusion in class, research and service, an image of a chameleon comes to mind. As a child, I was amazed by these small creatures who change their skin patterns and coloration. I learnt that the change of skin colours functions not only in camouflage but in communication and signaling. By changing skin coloration, a chameleon communicates its intentions and condition to other animals. Working in diverse environments requires an academic to be a ‘chameleon’ — while maintaining personal integrity, it is important to be flexible, adapt to the changing environments and the needs of the community and students, use different communication techniques (‘skin coloration’) to achieve educational and research goals.

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Being a part of CEU’s international and vibrant community, I have the privilege to learn from professionals about what teaching in a diverse classroom means. A particularly inspiring example was given by my academic advisor, Professor Marsha Siefert. Her courses are always popular among students not only because of the subject but due to the friendly and welcoming atmosphere she creates in class. When during the first session she invites students to introduce themselves, it is not a formality, but an opportunity to know each other and understand students’ expectations and special needs. Professor Siefert always asks what region students came from to learn about their cultural and educational backgrounds; she also encourages students to share their research topics. It is not just a curiosity: based on the informal survey, she adds readings to the syllabus that match students’ research and personal interests. She calls for students to participate in the discussion, knowing their expertise, and asks them to share their insights. It helps students to grow self-esteem, confidence in academic communication, and to praise diversity in the classroom. Professor Siefert gave me a role model of an open-minded academic, who supports inclusion and respect in class. I learn a lot from her and implement it into teaching practice.

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My own experience of teaching in a diverse classroom has been shaped by teaching for the Global History Lab project. Since September 2021, I have been teaching students from Palestine, Kenya, and Nigeria. Their educational institutions are part of the Open Society University Network, which aims at fostering critical thinking and democratic values and inspires students to address global challenges by getting to know other societies and communicating with a global community of learners. In this project, the teaching fellows are dealing with different faces of inequality in the globalized world: technological, gender, economic, and educational. I teach students with the traumatic experience of war, displacement, and permanent stress. It took me some time to figure out how this experience shapes students’ thinking and behaviour and what can I do to make our classes a safe place for learning and creativity. I usually start with adapting the general syllabus to students’ learning needs and expectations, as well as designing the class considering technical limitations the students have (not all of them have a stable internet connection). Moreover, I developed some sensitivity towards cultural differences and styles of communication, which might be drastically different from site to site. I am always looking for opportunities to understand my students better by learning about their cultures. For example, I have asked students from Ibadan to share with me their favourite Nigerian books and films. It helps us to find a common ground and references we all can address.

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Besides culturally different groups, I have been teaching young mothers, students with diagnosed ADHD, and students who just came back from military training. All these experiences affect the learning process and as a young and inexperienced teacher, I have lots of questions about how to support the students in and behind the class. I was “learning by doing,” since I had no special training on how to deal with such situations. I have started looking for solutions and luckily figured out that there are a few working groups for educators to share experiences and successful practices. For example, I have participated in a working group, which seeks durable solutions for refugee youth education. I am also educating myself in new teaching frameworks, such as Social, Emotional and Ethical (SEE) Learning, which I believe will make my impact on the learning community more nuanced. I plan to learn closer SEE ideas and implement them in practice to support diversity and inclusion in class.

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