Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance: Writing for Change: About the Authors

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Susan M. Shaw, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Women Studies Program and Interim Director of the Difference, Power, and Discrimination Program at Oregon State University. She is co-author of Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings, and has won numerous teaching awards, including the OSU College of Liberal Arts Thomas Meehan Excellence in Teaching Award. Most recently, she was named a Recipient of the L.L. Stewart Faculty Development Award, which will assist her in developing a new course, “Hate, Resistance, and Reconciliation.” She has also been honored as an OSU Women’s Center Woman of Achievement.

Janet Lockhart, graduated from Oregon State University with a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Scientific & Technical Communication, Archaeology, and Women Studies. Her thesis explored the concept of “immanence” (connectedness) in ancient and modern cultures. In addition to her work as a technical writer, she has taught writing at the community college level. Her publications include the first edition of Writing for Change and The Life Skills Resource Guide, a handbook for the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence in Corvallis, Oregon.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank graduate assistants Janet Armentor and Trina Filan for their time, energy, and enthusiasm in helping produce this resource.

We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Writing Intensive Curriculum (WIC) Program at Oregon State University in providing a grant for the development of the first edition of Writing for Change.

About DPD
The Oregon State University Difference, Power, and Discrimination Program was developed between 1990 and 1994 in response to a request from students to incorporate material dealing with discrimination and diversity into the undergraduate curriculum. The University currently offers a range of courses across many disciplines that meet DPD criteria, addressing issues in the United States including unequal distribution of power, discrimination arising from socially defined meanings attributed to difference, and the interactions of social categories in contributing to issues of difference, power, and discrimination.

The DPD Program provides volunteer faculty participants with opportunities to develop coursework through a speaker series, noon brown-bag seminars, and the yearly Faculty Development Seminar. This venue gives faculty a chance to engage in community discussions with their colleagues, helps increase awareness and sensitivity to difference, and provides them with teaching resources, including Writing for Change, for planning, teaching, and revising courses for the DPD requirement.