Diversifying a Department

Dr. Ana de la Serna, an Assistant Professor of Communications at CSUDH, is making sure that the school knows what it means to be diverse, as she chairs the Diversity Committee within the Communications Department. Diversity is very important to society and future generations. Awareness of different cultures and genders is very important as a communicator.

People can get misrepresented in the media. In order to avoid this issue it is important that they do not feed into stereotypes or misconceptions. Stories and news headlines need to be inclusive of everyone, that way the facts are not misleading. Dr. Ana de la Serna envisions students being prepared for these types of situations, as they teach them more about diversity.

Two years ago, when she was offered the position of tenure-track Assistant Professor, her only condition was that she was able to teach about culture and inclusion. She had a vision of teaching students about culture so they can be ready for the real world and learn how to craft messages that are going to be inclusive.

The first step in her vision was to create a Diversity Committee in the department. This committee now includes Internship Coordinator Lisa Mastramico, Assistant Professor Toddy Eames and Dr. de la Serna.

Based on their work, the Communications Department decided that they wanted to implement the school's diversity guidelines to its fullest. The guidelines include making sure that professors include a diversity statement on their course syllabi, promote diversity events, and hire a more diverse faculty.

"This campus particularly is very, very committed to diversity and inclusion to make sure all students have the same academic opportunity," Dr. de la Serna said.

The effort she has put into the COM Diversity Committee shows as students are more aware of the changes around the school. These changes are not only happening in the Communications department but in the whole school as well.

The new science building is set to open by the end of the year. Last year the LGBTQ center was moved inside the LSU building. The school is also re-modeling the library, the third floor is now where all the student assistant programs are.

These actions are also part of this diversity strategy in order to have all students feel welcome and included in the campus. The goal of the university is to have the most diverse campus and Dr. de la Serna has been persistent and hopeful to make sure it happens.

The student body has been the primary partner because they are the ones who host a lot of school events. Their efforts to have different cultural school events be more inclusive has been effortless. This is because Dr. de La Serna has been leading the committee and assuring everything gets done.

There are also several classes being offered through the Communications Department that focus on cultural competency, diversity, and inclusivity. This includes Cross-Cultural Journalism, which focuses on analyzing news from around the world and how to write for them. This class is aimed at helping journalism students shape their cultural skills and learn how to write with different cultural audiences in mind.

One of the reasons Dr. de la Serna came to CSUDH is because the school is very diverse. "The school has been very receptive and supportive of this curriculum and started to let the department teach more classes focusing on culture," she said. The Communications Department just needed a strategy on how to target students.

Another goal of the program is to have a diverse faculty. Dr. Miriam Hernandez joined the faculty in Fall 2019. She heads the PR department with the help of Dr. de la Serna. She studied in Mexico and taught in China for eight years. Dr. Hernandez aids the PR/Advertising faculty by teaching some of the classes and advising the PR student organization.

The students are adapting to the changes very well. They are participating in class and making connections with their classmates. They are also making sure that they help each other out in understanding all of these concepts. "They need to listen to people and what they have to say," Dr. de La Serna said. This is the type of behavior that pushes her to keep working on this committee.

Diversity is becoming more in demand in the communications industry, as companies start hiring more people with different cultural backgrounds to help them target those specific audiences.

CSUDH has grasped the idea of what it means to be diverse. These past few years, the student body has grown and the diversity of its students, as well. Dr. de la Serna has executed her strategy well and with the help of the university it has become a success in the Communications Department. In a couple of years the goal is to have more classes that teach more about culture and the media. So far it has been a great success, the only thing left to do is keep being persistent and attentive.

These cultural classes have been around for a couple of years and taught by Dr. Burkey and Dr. de la Serna, which further helps put her diversity strategy into place.

Students can also take Gender, Culture and Strategic Communication as an elective. It focuses on creating strategic communications campaigns targeting different cultural audiences. Different campaigns are analyzed as to why they failed or had success. The mission is to create campaigns that are going to be inclusive of everyone and not disrespect marginalized groups.

"I think the culture classes in the COM Department are really helpful and serve well in our field, because we need to learn about different types of conversations and personalities," Jax, a PR/Advertising student, said.

There have been a lot of changes in the department overall to make sure that what is being taught about diversity and inclusivity carries on to the real world. "Students are going to go into the world and they need to know how to interact with people of color. If they are open to cultures they are going to have a richer experience," Dr. de la Serna said.

Dr. de la Serna has made an impression in the department and across all Communications majors. She has taught multiple classes throughout her time at CSUDH and been in charge of a lot of projects. She also collaborates with Dr. Nancy Cheever when it comes to hiring a faculty member.

"The university is all about diversity, and one of the pillars of the university is that it is a Hispanic serving institution," she said.