FALL 2008 - UW-Milwaukee

More documents

Recommendations

Info

A D M I N I S T R A T O RP R O F I L EPatricia ArredondoBy Marla HyderUWM’s associate vice chancellorfor Academic Affairs is a livinglegend. Literally. In 2004, theAmerican Counseling Associationconferred the title Living Legend uponPatricia Arredondo and just four otherpsychologists, each of whom helped laythe foundation for a different sphereof counseling research. The awardrecognized Arredondo’s seminal workin multicultural counseling, a relativelynew field that has gained increasingcredibility in large part due toArredondo’s contributions.These contributions have grownout of Arredondo’s passionate advocacyof cultural competency training formental health educators, researchers,and practitioners. According toArredondo, developing culturalcompetency means “thinking abouthow you see the world and how thatmight be fairly applied with otherindividuals in other settings.” It entails“understanding the worldviews of otherpersons, their values, their traditions,and looking at these as assets, not asliabilities.” Even though our countryhas come a long way, she says, manypeople still do not recognize theiruncon scious thoughts, practices, andsystems. Counselors must learn aboutother cultures and about white privilege,acculturation, and ethnic identity.Arredondo became aware ofcultural differences while growing upin a small industrial city in Ohio thatwas home to a large immigrant population.Though her own family hademigrated from Mexico, she foundherself surrounded primarily byEastern Europeans and Puerto Ricans.She reflects, “My interest in workingwith underrepresented groups startedin middle school and high school. Ibecame sensitized to cultural, color,class, and gender differences becauseI was going to school with mostly kidsof another ethnicity.”Another piece of the puzzle thatwould eventually become her careertook the form of a guidance counselorwho helped Arredondo prepare forcollege. Although she studied Spanishand Journalism at Kent State,Arredondo didn’t forget the influenceof that counselor. After teaching highschool Spanish for a few years, shedecided to pursue a Master’s inCounseling and work as a high schoolcounselor.Throughout her career, Arredondohas understood the importance ofmen toring and networking. She bene -fitted from both early on and has beenreturning the favor to students andjunior faculty ever since. It was a mentorwho suggested she pursue a doctoraldegree in counseling psych ology atBoston University. Arredondo says,“Sometimes mentoring is just a matterof asking, ‘How are you doing? Haveyou thought about a Master’s or PhD?’When someone else believes you havepromise to fulfill a doctoral program,that provides an empowering feeling.”Arredondo’s passion for mentoringextends beyond the academy. Whileteaching at Boston University, she “sawthat there were things we were teachingin graduate school that could be takento the workplace.” So in 1985, shefounded the organizational consultingcompany Empowerment Workshops,Inc. Despite some bumps along theroad — like having no one sign up forclasses on procrastination — Arredondobuilt a successful business that providedcontinuing education and organizationalassessments in such areas aswork force diversity, stress/time management,and gender issues in theworkplace.“I always pay attention to issues ofdiversity in the workplace,” she says.“It’s not an explicit part of my currentjob description, but everyone shouldbe paying attention to this.” Her jobdescriptions as associate vice chancellorfor Academic Affairs, interimdean for Continuing Education, andprofessor of Educational Psychologyinclude plenty of other responsibilities,however, from chairing the PlanningSupport Team for UWM’s Master Plan,to strengthening both research andaccess at UWM, to extending a UWMeducation to more working adults inthe Milwaukee community. On top ofall this, she maintains an active publicationschedule, handles numerousspeaking engagements including arecent keynote at the World PsychotherapyConference in Beijing, andserves on a number of boards. Inrecogni tion of all her con tri butions, shewas awarded an honorary doctoratefrom the University of San Diego in1998.Arredondo believes that all insti tutionshave structural, socio cultural,and interpersonal barriers that mayprevent individuals from advancingbecause they do not fit a certain prototype.“Do some role-taking,” she suggeststo those who do not face such barriers.“Consider what it would be like to cometo an institution or a class where youwere one of a few or the only studentof an under represented minority.Actively check out your assumptions andbiases about someone who is visiblydifferent from you. How might thosebiases and assumptions impact the wayyou work with that person? Check outboth your verbal and nonverbalcommunication, how you engagestudents, how you help them engagewith one another, and how you createa sense of community in a classroom.”Wise words from a living legend.18 Fall 2008/Myriad
F A C U L T Y / S T A F FP R O F I L ESwarnjit AroraBy Marla HyderProfessor Swarnjit Arora can stillsee the bodies. Bloodied andmaimed, they line the path ofescape from his home in western Punjabacross the newly carved boundarybetween Pakistan and India. It is 1947and the British Indian Empire has beenabruptly partitioned into separatecountries, triggering an explosion ofviolence between Muslims, Hindus,and Sikhs. Two of Arora’s uncles havebeen burned alive.One by one, seven-year-old Arora,his five siblings, and his parents andgrandparents cross the monsoonfloodedRavi River on the back of acamel, their only means of transportation.“The trains were massacres,”Arora remembers. “Sikhs and Hinduswere killing everyone going in onedirection, Muslims were killing everyonegoing in the other direction.”Once in India, Arora’s familytraveled from one refugee camp toanother, finally landing in Kingsway, alarge camp in Delhi. The drastic changewas disorienting. “One day, you have abeautiful home, friends, and business,and then in 24 hours you get pluckedand moved and have nothing,” Arorasays. With a little help from the government,they eventually moved into aone-bedroom, tin-roofed shelter inNew Delhi. Although there were noschool buildings, Arora began to learnHindi; his former studies in Urduwere of no use in this new country.At nights, in order not to disturb thenine others sleeping in the sameroom, he did his homework outsideunder a street lamp.An early propensity for mathematicsset the course for Arora’s career.While an honors student in mathematicsat the University of Delhi, Arora bene -fitted from a new program insti tuted bythe chancellor, who brought “the bestof the best” from Harvard, Oxford,and Cambridge to teach economicswith an emphasis on econometrics, orthe use of math and statistics ineconomics. Thanks to the chancellor’s“experiment,” Arora studied underfuture Nobel Prize winner AmartyaSen and other top economists. Upongraduating with their master’s degrees,most of Arora’s classmates headed tothe United States or Europe. “All ofmy friends were leaving, so I thoughtI’d better go, too,” he remembers.Arora arrived in Buffalo, New York,on August 27, 1967 with $3.54 in hispocket to begin a doctoral program atthe State University of New York atBuffalo. Five years later, with a freshlyminteddoctorate from Buffalo andpost-doctorate from the NationalBureau of Economic Research, Aroramade his way to UWM.“The people have been the bestof the best here,” says the belovedprofessor, extolling the faculty, students,and quality of life that have kept himhere for the past 36 years. Though hetraveled back to India to marry thewoman his father chose for him, andthough he has held visiting professorshipsin England and Germany andtraveled frequently around the world,he always comes back to Milwaukee.Arora has passed his love of travel andsense of global citizenship to his son,who currently lives and works inSingapore, and his daughter, whogathers data in Africa and India anduses computer models to calculatemedicinal demand for the ClintonFoundation’s HIV/AIDS relief work.Arora’s work at UWM has beenrecognized with numerous honors, buthis service extends far beyond UWMinto the wider community, partlythrough the Institute for Survey andPolicy Research, which he has directedsince 1982. Since its inception in 1968,the Institute has evolved into a majorresearch resource for the entire stateof Wisconsin, in addition to providingresearch support to faculty and theUWM community. Its surveys andpolicy papers are regularly used bylegislators to influence public policy.“One of our whole objectives isthat we cannot live in ivory towers,”says Arora. “It’s important to bridgethe gap between the university andthe community.” The Institute iscurrently focusing on Wisconsin’seconomic health and how to stop the“brain drain” by cultivating jobs thatwill bring the younger generations back.As much as he believes in hishighly-acclaimed research and in thecomputer programs he develops,those aren’t what ultimately motivatesArora. “Interaction with students iswhat keeps me going after 44 years ofservice,” he says. He has mentoredmany students, especially students fromIndia. Arora passionately believes thatthe university and community mustsupport students coming from othercountries and help ease their cultureshock, but he expects a lot from these— and all — students in return:“Work your tails off. I came herewith no money. I didn’t know anyone.Education saved me and it’s the onlything that will take you anywhere. Theonly way you’re going to succeed iswork, work, work.”He has certainly taken his ownadvice, and it has carried him throughtragedy into a life of service and asuccessful career. To use his favoritephrase, Swarnjit Arora is “the best ofthe best.”Fall 2008/Myriad 19
Page 1 and 2: MyriadInside:Celebrate 40 Yearswith
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS2 Celebrating 40 years of p
Page 5 and 6: of programs and servicesAcademic Op
Page 7 and 8: Full-Ride Scholarships Availablefor
Page 9 and 10: Cache Owens (GREEN BAY, WI)GREEN BA
Page 11 and 12: The Life Impact Program office door
Page 13 and 14: UWinteriM class at the Katrina Memo
Page 15 and 16: S T U D E N T P R O F I L ECatherin
Page 17 and 18: S T U D E N T P R O F I L EAnna Con
Page 19: S T U D E N T P R O F I L EErica Pe
Page 23 and 24: F A C U L T Y / S T A F FP R O F I
Page 25 and 26: F A C U L T Y / S T A F FP R O F I
Page 27 and 28: Mia L. LytlePhD: Biological Science

FALL 2008 - UW-Milwaukee

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?