How do we engage students meaningfully and substantively in learning, encouraging them to develop the inter-cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills that will prepare them for citizenship in our increasingly diverse society and world? I teach at Dickinson College, a small, highly selective, liberal arts school that is historically white, and remains predominantly so. The challenge for us is how to engage primarily white students in meaningful dialogues about diversity, even as we work actively to diversify the student and faculty body. While there is much work to be done, one of the most effective ways we have found of doing this, is to engage students in collaborative fieldwork with diverse communities.

Published as:Rose, Susan D. Engaging Students in the Field. Social Problems Forum: The SSSP Newsletter 35, no. 2 (2004): 9-12. For more information on the published version, visit Society for the Study of Social Problem's (SSSP) Website.

Susan Rose is a professor of Sociology at Dickinson College.