Preface

This book was written by faculty at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) with the purpose of “advancing equity and the intellectual and personal growth of students” and strengthening “a culture of care inside and outside the classroom.” (Mission Statement of BMCC)

The book is also intended to further the value of “creating exceptional teaching and learning environments inside and outside the classroom; valuing the experience and knowledge students bring to the classroom, and engaging them in the construction of knowledge.” (Values of BMCC).

Consequently, the chapters of this book are written in language that is accessible to our students and use examples that reflect and respect the experiences of our students, who are diverse in many ways: race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexuality, preparedness for college, etc. For each chapter, the author articulates clear learning objectives and follows up at the end of the chapter with review questions that will help students to demonstrate their understanding of the content and how it relates to or serves to empower them with knowledge and skills to challenge the status quo and address the circumstances or experiences of their lives. At the end of each chapter, there are suggested class activities that are meant to create a culture of care, inclusion, and respect for the diverse experiences and voices of students.

We are convinced that by offering this OER/ZTC text to our students and anyone else who uses it, we will contribute to the culture of care, support equity, give faculty control over content, and empower the experiences and voices of our students.

The book was written through the personal sacrifice of time and talent of the faculty in BMCC’s Department of Speech, Communication, and Theatre Arts and Library, and we are grateful to each one of the authors. We are also grateful to Professor Jean Amaral at the BMCC Library, who showed immense interest and support in this project and found funds to provide a stipend to each author. We extend our gratitude to all who provided funds to support the project.

Finally, we wish anyone reading this text to do so with an open mind, respectful of diversity of voices and experiences, and an openness and commitment to equity, intellectual growth, and social justice.

Anthony Naaeke, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Speech, Communication, and Theatre Arts
Borough of Manhattan Community College

This Open Educational Resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.