Critical Moments

Access and Equity
Critical Moments

Critical Moments is a retention, awareness and change project for students of color, other underrepresented students, and the institutions they attend.

The project prepares students, faculty, and administrators to respond proactively to campus and classroom events that involve issues of race, gender, class and other differences through detailed discussion of in-depth case studies based on extensive interviews with individual students. The interviews focus on describing situations that caused the student to think about dropping out of college -- the "critical moment."

Case stories can be used in a variety of educational settings: academic courses, co-curricular organizations, community settings, and staff/faculty development institutes.

Begun in the Goodrich Scholarship Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the pilot phase in Washington State was undertaken by Seattle Central Community, Tacoma Community College, The Evergreen State College, and South Puget Sound Community College in partnership with the Washington Center.

The Critical Moments Project
When students of color and other underrepresented students share their experiences about college, often a remark or incident was a "critical moment" - do I belong in college? Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, this handbook introduces Critical Moments work and includes: a seven-step model; guidelines for writing and facilitating case stories; accounts of how campuses have adapted the model; and sample case studies.
Malnarich, G. & Gillespie, D., eds. 2004.

A Community of Voices: A Video
Edmonds Community College has produced a series of videos that focus on students' experiences with "__isms," those critical and uncertain moments when perceptions of difference create uncertain interpretations. Used in classrooms and professional development workshops, videos invite viewers to explore three questions: what are __isms?; where do they come from?; Can __isms be changed?

DiversityWeb
This website includes a comprehensive collection of campus practices and resources on diversity including strategies for institutional change, syllabi and resources for curriculum transformation and faculty development, campus climate research and assessment practices, research on the impact of diversity on student learning, and examples of effective campus initiatives and community partnerships.

More Resources

washcenterevergreen.edu
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