New courses on Latino literature, urban education offered in spring 2009

January 20, 2009

Beginning in spring 2009, two new courses focused on Latino literature in the U.S. and issues and policies in urban education will be introduced into the curriculum at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Two UW-Whitewater professors received grants to offer new, semester-long courses that take a deeper look at race and ethnicity.

Languages and Literatures Professor Pilar Melero’s new course “U.S. Latino Literature” will explore the literature of Latinos in the United States.  “At UW-Whitewater, we don’t have a course that exposes students to the work of Americans of Dominican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran or other Latin American descent,” Melero said.  “The new course I’m teaching and developing will do exactly that: explore the literature of Latinos in the United States.”

Melero attended the Recovering U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage conference and met several writers in preparation for the course. 

“I plan to use the writers’ texts and perhaps bring one of them to campus to meet with students regarding his or her work,” she said.

Melero has also attended lectures, researched archives regarding Hispanics in southeastern Wisconsin and helped write a play featuring “Newyorican” (members of Puerto Rican culture located in New York), Mexican and Mexican-American culture.

“Being awarded this grant has helped me prepare a solid class that will feature not only the literature of Hispanics already published, but also unpublished materials from author Cristina Rivera; my own research on Hispanics in the area; and possible visits by the authors themselves,” Melero said.

Educational Foundations Professor Amy Shuffelton’s new course “Urban Education: Issues and Policies” will focus on problems children of color, African Americans and Latinos face in urban schools. “The course will focus on the problem of unequal achievement and various reasons why urban students are lagging behind,” Shuffelton said.

Over the summer, Shuffelton used the grant to do extra reading in a field relatively new to her.  “This is a field that I believe is increasingly important for not only future teachers, but social workers, business people and anyone in public service to know about.”

“Southeastern Wisconsin has a number of urban school districts, and Whitewater could benefit from a course like this,” Shuffelton said. “I’ve enjoyed learning more about urban schools and taking the time to think carefully about how to best structure a learning experience for UW-Whitewater students.”

Both U.S. Latino Literature and Urban Education: Issues and Polices courses will be offered in spring 2009.

The University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity awards faculty, staff and students interested in curricular development of race and ethnicity through a variety of grant programs.