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Jacquelyn Wiersma-Mosley (right) in human development and family sciences teaches two classes which address intercultural competence – Multicultural Families and Introduction to Cultural Competence.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jacquelyn Wiersma-Mosley, U of A associate professor and researcher in human development and family sciences, was presented a Cognella Innovation in Teaching Award for Family Science at the 2019 National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference.

Publisher Cognella and NCFR partnered to create the award, which recognizes outstanding instructors in family science who go above and beyond to introduce cutting-edge teaching practices that engage students and advance the discipline.

Wiersma-Mosley, a faculty member in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science’s School of Human Environmental Sciences, used her experience teaching large introductory courses on family relations and adolescent development to create two new courses – Multicultural Families and Introduction to Cultural Competence.

The courses strive to increase student awareness of their own ethnic identities, reflect on families from a diverse array of cultures and develop critical thinking skills needed to effectively engage with people from different cultures. To increase ethnic identity among her primarily affluent Caucasian students, she uses Ancestry.com’s DNA analysis as an innovative and unique way for students to understand where they come from. It also provides students with empirical data of their genetic ethnicity using DNA for an assigned genealogy project.

She also became a trained administrator in the Intercultural Development Inventory to assess student’s intercultural competency learning and to examine the impact of her curriculum. She provides students with the opportunity to “choose their own adventure” where they select activities and assignments they feel will increase their intercultural competence. Students analyze media content, write papers about historical figures, examine cultural issues in the news, reflect on their own ethnic identity and genealogy, attend cultural events, and write reflection papers on their own stereotypes, privileges and implicit biases.

The conference was in November in Fort Worth, Texas. NCFR is the oldest nonprofit, nonpartisan, multidisciplinary professional association focused solely on family research, practice and education.  

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2.7 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.