Consulting Services for Higher Education
Dr. McManus and his colleagues work with colleges and universities, across departments and disciplines, in the following areas. All of our services are designed in consultation with internal leadership in order to address the unique needs of each institution.
with students at Dartmouth
Strategic Planning for Diversity
As with any aspect of organizational development, strategic planning is critical for the development of effective and sustainable practices related to diversity and multicultural education.
We'll work with administrators and other leaders to develop strategic plans for diversifying student populations, staff, and faculty; implementing curricula that is multicultural and actively addresses equity issues; and developing constructive and practicable diversity programs.
Strategic Planning for Diversity includes an assessment of your institutions specific strengths, areas that need improvement, and what your internal/local resources could do to make inclusive excellence the norm for your students and community. The results of this, or a previous assessment, would be used to guide a short, midrange, and long term planning process that would include members of all key constituencies.
Leadership Development
Leadership Development services range from working with you to develop leadership programs for students to leadership coaching on equity and diversity management for administrators/executives.
with Halima Fisher and her students
at Lyman H.S., Orlando, FL
Co-Curricular Student Affairs Program Development
The learning that occurs outside the classroom is a critical part of a student’s college experience. The development of co-curricular experiences that complement classroom learning can contribute significantly to the strengthening of students’ cultural competencies.
We work with student affairs professionals and faculty to develop co-curricular, experiential and service learning opportunities for students that will contribute to their continued development of critical cultural competencies. The skills, knowledge and dispositions developed through such experiences are an asset for graduates both personally and professionally.
Professional Development
In addition to courses directly related to diversity, a multicultural education includes addressing issues of equity, diversity and inclusion across the curriculum. For example, in teacher education an introductory course in curriculum & instruction would include meaningful attention to culture and learning styles in the development and delivery of a lesson plan.
We provide professional development for faculty interested in infusing the tenets of diversity and multicultural education in their courses and pedagogical practices.
Educator Mentoring
The classroom provides a unique opportunity for diversity related discourse. At times it may be challenging for professors, regardless of discipline, to effectively facilitate dialogues related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability and other dimensions of diversity.
Dr. McManus & his colleagues will provide one on one consultation for educators that recognize the importance of diversity related discourse and would benefit from the consultation of a specialist for addressing challenging diversity issues in the classroom and/or effectively managing diverse classrooms.
For more information please contact us.