Overview – Multicultural Education Certificate Program (MECP)
Dr. Nicholas Wysocki
Assistant Professor
Education Studies
College of Education
Winona State University
(319) 331-5784
Rationale for Certificate Program
Demographic differences (e.g., ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, gender, sexuality, religious, linguistic, and physical/cognitive) characterize members of our social and professional communities. The Multicultural Education Certificate Program is designed to prepare professionals to work more effectively with diverse clientele within their respective education, health, law enforcement, social service, faith, non-profit, arts, military, business and industry sectors throughout Olmsted and Winona counties. This certificate program provides participants with the opportunity to both analyze their own cultural experiences and work more closely with both clientele and their communities to examine how services can be provided in a more equitable manner.
Certificate Courses
This certificate requires 4 courses (A total of 9 credit hours) – these courses are to be taken in a sequential order with each course serving as prerequisite for the next course in the sequence.
MECP 500: Foundations of Multicultural Education (3 Credits) – Fall 2016
MECP 510: Home, Community, and Work Analysis (2 Credits) – Spring 2017
MECP 520: Systems of Discrimination and Social Justice (3 Credits) - Summer 2017
MECP 530: Professional Presentation of Research (1 Credits) – Fall 2017
(Note: A new cohort would also start in Fall 2017)
Course Descriptions
MECP 500: Foundations of Multicultural Education (3 Credits)
Foundations of Multicultural Education is the first course in the Multicultural Education Certificate program. This course is intended to provide participants with an understanding of the five Dimensions of Multicultural Education, most importantly the dimension of Empowering School Culture. Participants will discuss the application of this ideological dimension to their respective education, health, law enforcement, social service, faith, non-profit, arts, military, business and industry sectors in Olmsted and Winona Counties. Participants will come to understand how their own demographic characteristics and cultural experiences impact their work with clientele in said sectors through the assessment and discussion of their own Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) results. Finally, participants will shape their Intercultural Development Plan (IDP) through the use of the IDP template as well as ongoing discussions with identified cultural brokers.
MECP 510: Home, Community, and Work Analysis (2 Credits)
Home-Community-Work Analysis is the second course in the Multicultural Education Certificate program. This course is intended to provide participants with an understanding of the principles and techniques of ethnography. Participants will engage in an ethnographic analysis of a specific cultural community (or communities), organization, or social phenomenon within their respective education, health, law enforcement, social service, faith, non-profit, arts, military, business and industry sectors in Olmsted and Winona Counties. Participants will construct a Demographic Profile of this cultural community as well as select “cultural brokers” who will help them identify the strengths and challenges present in said community. Participants will complete the Winona State University Institutional Review Board proposal as a culminating requirement of this course.
MECP 520: Systems of Discrimination and Social Justice (3 Credits)
Systems of Discrimination and Social Justice is the third course in the Multicultural Education Certificate program. This course is intended to provide participants with an understanding of the levels of discrimination that impact clientele in their respective education, health, law enforcement, social service, faith, non-profit, arts, military, business and industry sectors in Olmsted and Winona Counties. Participants will identify respondents and conduct interviews with both these individuals and “cultural brokers” within their respective sectors. Participants will engage in ethnographic data collection, data analysis, and “member checking” in order to both learn more about their own socially constructed privileges and identify ways to engage in collective efforts for social justice. This data analysis and collective efforts will constitute the Results and Discussion sections of their Research Papers.
MECP 530: Professional Presentation of Research (1 Credits)
The Professional Presentation of Research is the final course in the Multicultural Education Certificate Program. This course provides participants with the opportunity to develop a research presentation to be delivered to a professional audience in their respective education, health, law enforcement, social service, faith, non-profit, arts, military, business and industry sectors. Participants will identify sector-based professional organizations as well as upcoming opportunities to present said research. Participants will choose a presentation format, develop strategies to present their research in a succinct manner, and make decisions about presentation delivery.