Equity-Minded Pedagogy Spring 2025 supported by Center for Teaching & Learning at Sacramento & the Chancellor's Office.

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Equity-Minded Pedagogy | Ahrum Chang

Representation, Empathy, Empowering

Reflection on Instructional Change:

In module 1, I examined whether the CSUS faculty demographics represent its student diversity in 2024. I am interested in this topic since it closely relates to what I have studied and taught. Numerous studies on representative bureaucracy in the field of public administration have presented beneficial outcomes, such as public policies and programs that reflect minority interests, resulting from increased minority representation in various public service contexts. In public educational contexts, there are different demographic characteristics to consider, and I focus on the racial identity of faculty and students. The CSUS data page shows a considerable gap between the student body (21% Asian, 7% Black, 37% Latinx, 22% White) and that of faculty (13 % Asian, 5% Black, 58% White, 10% Latinx). CSUS is one of the HSIs, and the result was especially disappointing. It also makes sense that Sacramento State implemented a cluster hire of faculty members with expertise in working with Latino students last year. I believe diversifying faculty demographics is not merely a matter of achieving visible diversity but an opportunity to bring a more inclusive and equitable classroom environment.

For my leveraging data assignment in module 3, I looked at "Which courses have the largest GPA equity gaps?" at Sacramento State through the CSU Student Success Dashboard last year. In this assignment, I primarily focused on first-generation students in their freshman and sophomore years since I have interacted with many first-generation students in my department. It turns out that the Digital Film and Video class was the one that showed the most enormous GPA gap between first-generation and the rest of the students. The average GAP for the first-gen students is 1.39, while the rest is 2.4. This data provides evidence that when utilizing some technological tools or programs in class, students have different learning paces or styles. I am currently teaching a Method class using statistical software. This encourages me to think about the class that uses technological programs and the faculty's role in preventing potential disparities in student learning. I found that the teaching materials should be diversified (e.g., visual materials, numeric materials, etc.) so that students can sufficiently practice the class contents using various resources.

From the student support module, I learned that we should carefully respond to students with empathy. Responding with empathy means not just answering the questions students ask or helping with their class assignments. Instead of jumping into fixing something for them, we should let students’ reactions come first. By actively listening to their concerns, emotions, or tons of voices, I want to let students know that they have the right to feel that way.

I have enjoyed all FLC activities through the five modules throughout the semester. I especially enjoyed reading other colleagues’ posts. I was surprised to see a similar experience to mine and felt supported. The most memorable activity was the first one—identity mapping. That made me learn more about myself and how different identities can intersect with each other. In my Public Management and Administration class, I used to teach various individual, institutional, and environmental/structural factors that translate demographic representation in bureaucracy into actual public service/policy outcomes. This identity mapping exercise can be incorporated into my class content and my attitudes to meet students with various backgrounds.

**Faculty Bio**
Faculty Picture	About Me
Ahrum Chang	Ahrum Chang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Administration and affiliated faculty at Asian Studies Program. She is currently serving as a member of the Diversity Scholarship Committee at Sacramento State. She teaches public management and quantitative methods courses for graduate students working in state and local government in the region. Her research focuses on achieving equitable and effective management and service delivery in the public sector.

**This work was supported by:**
Projects	Logos
National Science Foundation Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM Zone DUE 1832335 US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project Degree with a Purpose P031S210061 US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.