Programs for Awareness in Cultural Education
 
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Programs for Awareness in Cultural Education (PACE) was established in 1993 as a partnership between the Greenfield Intercultural Center and the Graduate School of Education to train students to increase cross-cultural awareness at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Navneet Khera, a graduate student at the time, founded the program at the initiative of GIC's acting director Joseph Sun, with advice and support from GSE Professor Nancy H. Hornberger. Khera's original conception remains the core of the PACE experience today. Graduate level courses are co-facilitated by instructors to create with students a pedagogically democratic space for sustained engagement and dialogue around cross cultural issues. Collaborative experiential learning and textual knowledge is interwoven with lived experiences as students explore difference among each other and within themselves. Instructors and GIC staff continue to work with these students on campus after the course component is finished to deepen their knowledge and identify applied strategies for engaging in social change.
Program Structure
| PACE now includes three graduate level courses (open to all Penn students) offered throughout the academic year. The courses provide students the opportunity to develop the skills and experiences that allow them to design and lead cross cultural discussions. After completion of a course students join the PACE experiential community which allows students to further engage the issues developed in class and develop the skills of facilitating cross cultural dialogue. The experiential community also serves as an on-campus resource that assists organizations and individuals throughout campus and the local community in starting difficult but necessary dialogues and programs that deal with the many dimensions of human interaction - gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, class, and others.
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Democratic Classroom Environment
| Within each PACE course we strive to create an environment where students are engaged and active participants in a democratic learning process. Within the PACE context democratic education means that students are peer educators - creating knowledge with the instructors rather then acting as containers waiting to be filled by expert knowledge. It also means that a supportive environment for cross cultural dialogue dismantles and exposes the hierarchy both within the structure of the classroom itself and between course participants.
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Elements of democratic education:
. Course are facilitated by two instructors to model cooperative learning facilitation.
. Shared decision-making among the students and instructors.
. A learner-centered approach in which students choose their daily activities.
. Equality among instructors and students.
. The community as an extension of the classroom.
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Program Goals:
. For students to address issues of cultural awareness, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc.
through cross-cultural dialogue, introspection, research, writing and service learning.
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. Creating "Peer Educators" by enhancing the following skills in students:
- Interpersonal communication
- Self-awareness
- Self-assessment
- Facilitating
- Self-esteem
- Improvisation
- Team building
- Reflective listening |
. Provide opportunities to peer educators for experiential learning through workshops and other service
to the Penn community. |
. Create a resource for ongoing outreach to all members of the university community by being a model
service-learning experience. |
| . Contribute to creating a campus climate that fosters understanding. |
Program Requirements:
. Apply for entrance into a academic course.
. Attend a weekend retreat (Friday - Sunday) a the beginning of the semester.
. Weekly 3 hour class sessions at the Greenfield Intercultural Center.
. Complete assignments as designated in the syllabus (usually includes readings, refection papers,
in-class facilitation, and a final research project.
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Post Course Experiential Community:
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. Engaging in "Post PACE" Community for a designated term (usually one year).
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Engagement can (but does not have to) include:
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. Conduct workshops, discussion groups, etc. for departments, offices, student organizations and
other off-campus institutions.
. Serve as mentor for the PACE class following your year of training.
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Benefits:
. Earn graduate level course credit.
. Learn workshop design and facilitation.
. Develop the skills necessary for participating difficult cross-cultural discussions.
. Explore the intersection of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, culture, society, and education.
. Improve and develop storytelling and performance skills.
. Learn how to incorporate performance art into a learning environment.
. Explore the intersection of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, culture, society, education, and art.
. Make strong and lasting connections with fellow course members and the diverse community of PACE
members, instructors, and advisors.
. Improve public speaking skills.
. Make strong and lasting connections with a diverse group of fellow PACE members, instructors, and
advisors.
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Staff
| Ty Furman |
TPACE Instructor |
| Valerie De Cruz |
TPACE Instructor |
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Director of GIC |
| Chaz Howard |
PACE Instructor |
| Erin Kearney |
PACE Instructor |
Course Offerings:
| Students must apply for entry into the courses. Applications and the dates of the application processes are available here. All Penn graduate and undergraduate students from all twelve schools are eligible.
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