Dr. Sherri Pataki received the Mary Walsh Roth Teaching the Psychology of Women Award for innovative teaching related to diversity.  She will receive this award at the 115^th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco, CA this August.  

To increase students’ understanding of diversity, one of Dr. Sherri Pataki’s goals in teaching Psychology of Women last semester was to give students a global perspective on gender and women’s issues.  Rather than discussing cross-cultural issues broadly, she decided to focus on the lives of women in Africa to give students the opportunity to learn about a culture in which they knew very little. 

To enable students to learn about the lives of African women in the most accurate and personal way possible, Dr. Pataki contacted a girl’s school in Kitale, Kenya using the internet resource www.epals.com which connects classrooms around the world.  Using Epals, she contacted an instructor at a girl’s academy in Kenya and asked if his class would correspond with hers about their culture, personal lives, and the role of women.  This became a very enriching class experience.  The individual letters from Kenya were full of detail and reflected the unique personality of each student.  They provided first hand perspectives on topics such as female circumcision, property rights, schooling, family, and education.  This experience also created unanticipated opportunities for service learning. The girl’s academy in Kenya recently began a women’s basketball team and needed training materials.  Through Nicole Fee (class of 2007), the Psychology of Women class was able to send training materials, team shirts and backpacks to each woman on the Kenyan team which were all generously donated by the Westminster College Women’s Basketball team, and other students sent books and materials related to understanding American culture. 

The class also learned from local speakers. Westminster student Ann Ebhojiaye (class of 2008) whose family is from Nigeria came to speak about her personal experiences in Africa.  Chub Dietz, a Pittsburgh resident who started a non-profit organization to provide healthcare, schooling, and housing in Kenya (Rainbow Christian Missions) came to speak with the class as part of a Peace Studies Coffeehouse. Following his presentation, he gave the class a copy of unpublished, personal life stories written by a group of Kenyan women infected with HIV as a way to share their life stories with their children.  Reading these accounts personalized the AIDS epidemic in a way that statistics never could and many students decided to write personal notes of thanks and encouragement to these women.