Glossary

The following terms are provided in order to facilitate a mutual understanding that will ease communication among faculty, students, administrators, and staff.

Accessibility: The ease by which students may grasp educational information or use campus facilities.

Accommodations: Special educational considerations mandated by federal law for students with documented disabilities, such as extra exam time, an interpreter, special exam room.

Adult learner: A college student not considered a traditional age student, students in their late 20's and older.

African-American: A person of African ancestry who is also a citizen of the USA, historic countries of origin include present-day Ghana, Angola, Congo, Senegal, Nigeria, and Gambia.

Affirmative Action: Established during FDR's presidency, intended to provide minorities with increased social, economic, educational, and other opportunities.

Asian American: A person of Asian ancestry who is also a citizen of the USA. Countries of origin include China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hmongh, and India among others.

Disabled student: A student with any documented disability. Such students may or may not require accommodations.

Climate: Refers to a person's perception of how well he or she is being received in a given setting (i.e. classroom climate or campus climate).

Ethnic: Of or relating to sizable groups of people with a common, distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.

European American: A person of European ancestry who is also a citizen of the USA. Countries of origin include Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Russia, and many others.

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual: Refers to an individual's sexual orientation and related issues.

Gender: Refers to an individual's male or female status and issues related to that status.

Hispanic/Latino(a): A person whose cultural and linguistic affiliation is rooted in Spanish traditions, such as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Panamanian, and Colombian.

Indian/Native American: Any person whose ancestors were members of the original nations in what is now the USA, such as Sioux, Apache, Seminole, Crow, Mohawk, Cheyenne, and Ute.

Identity: Refers to the cultural values or perspectives an individual most strongly relates to, such as an Asian identity.

International student: Any student whose country of origin is not the USA.

Learning style: The manner in which a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment. Components of learning style are the cognitive, affective and physiological elements, all of which may be strongly influenced by a person's cultural background.

Pedagogy: The strategies, techniques, and approaches that teachers can use to facilitate learning.

Culturally responsive pedagogy: Specific teaching strategies, techniques, curricular materials and methods that teachers should use in order to ensure that all students will have equity in the educational process. It embraces the examination of unequal power relationships that emanate from racial/ethnic, gender, ability, and social economic status.

Marginalization: The feeling of exclusion that is frequently encountered by people who are not part of the majority culture.

Prejudice: The quality of adversely prejudging entire groups of people without knowledge or examination of facts with which to form informal judgments.

Teacher expectation: The perception a teacher holds about a student's academic ability, which greatly influences how well a student may actually perform. Many factors may strongly influence the perception including the student's racial, ethnic, and other cultural characteristics.

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