Sue, D.W. & Sue, D. (2002). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. (4th Edition). New York, NY: Wiley.

A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the Counseling Webboard at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/graduate/webboards/

Okun, B.F., Fried, J., Okun, M.L. (1999). Understanding Diversity. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

This course is designed to develop appropriate skills, competencies, and knowledge bases and to examine the beliefs of counselors working with people across cultures. The course focuses on researching, reading, and developing an understanding of cultures, customs, languages, traditions, religions, and spiritualities of people across cultures. Emphasis is given to the understanding of counseling individuals in a very diverse world. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: GUCO 533 or EDCP 612. Prerequisites: All undergraduate foundation courses.

The goal of this course is to familarize students with various theories, counseling techniques, and a wide range of issues regarding fair, ethical and effective counseling in a world of cultural differences. A broad goal is to expand cultural awareness and knowledge in order to facilitate an appreciation of diversity in lifestyle and orientation, including culture, race, ethnicity, disability, age, language, gender, and sexual preference issues.

By the end of the course, students will be able to: 

1. Understand and discuss current theories of multi-cultural counseling.
2. Discuss issues of diversity as they relate to counseling practice.
3. Be familiar with current literature and research pertaining to the social patterns and counseling needs of various minority populations.
4. Develop a more culturally sensitive perspective in the role of professional counselor.
5. Describe the impact of the western "world-view" on American society.
6. Understand and discuss personal cultural heritage and its impact on the development of counseling skills.

Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:

A 92%
B 80 – 91%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%

Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate
students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at
http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs.

Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.

In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:

Participate in classroom discussions............25%
Write and Present Movie Review..................25%
Book Review and Presentation to Child...........25%
Complete one or more written examination(s).....15%
FACES exercise in class.........................10%

Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours of additional for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.

Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment. Plan on committing approximately 150 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables.

Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present
your research in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this
typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual
material. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual
presentation for your instructor and classmates.

Complete one or more written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical
thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.

Specific Projects for the class include:

Movie Project:

Rent a movie (video or DVD) and do a critical analysis of it. Bring one or two of the most salient clips and lead a discussion of it with the class. Your presentation should last no more than 30 minutes total, and should cover an elements of issues such as race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, etc. The movie need not focus solely on the issue, but the issue should be one that affects the movie in a substantial manner. Any commercial film that is appropriate for the subject will do.
Box office hits are often good for this assignment.

You will be graded on the content of your short analysis (no more than 2-3 pages typed), and also graded on your presentation. It should be professional and substantial. Make your points well.

Book Review:

Go to your local library and check out a book that is grade level 12 or lower, that focuses on a multicultural issue. Read it and engage a child (age appropriate to the text and subject) in discussion about it. This can be your own child, a neighbor, etc. These books are often on coping, social injustice, etc.

Write a reaction paper about this experience. This should cover the subject (content), your intent, the child’s reaction, your own reaction, and if you would choose to do it again and if you would do it the same way or do it differently. If differently, then how would you change it? Also, what did the content of the text reflect about your own beliefs? Be sure to include the author information and book information including publisher.

This schedule presents 16 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a regular three-hour weekday meeting, a half-day on weekends, or a full week of DE.

June 3, Friday evening 5-9 Initial meeting:
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Orientation to subject
The Nature of Multicultural Counseling Therapy
Cultures in Exile

June 4, Saturday 9-6 Second meeting:
Historical Perspective of Multicultural Counseling
A Look at Our Own Resistance
Small Group Exercises
Barriers to Appropriate and Effective Multicultural Counseling

June 5, Sunday 9-6 Third meeting:
Current Issues and Literature Review of Multicultural Issues
Small Group Discussions and Exercises
Genogram Debriefing and Genogram due.

June 6, Monday 5-10 Fourth meeting:
Counseling Asian Americans
Counseling African Americans
Available Literature Review

June 7, Tuesday 5-8:30 Fifth meeting:
Counseling Hispanic Americans
Counseling Native Americans
Available Literature Review

June 8, Wednesday 5-10 Sixth meeting:
Counseling Individuals with Disabilities
Counseling Multiracial Families

June 9, Thursday 5-8:30 Seventh meeting:
Racial Identity Development Models, Both Multicultural and White

June 10, Friday 5-9 Eighth meeting:
Available assessments for use with Multicultural Families
FACES II

June 11, Morning, Saturday 9-12 Ninth meeting:
Worldviews
Counseling Sexual Minorities
Counseling Women

June 11, Afternoon, Saturday 1-4 Tenth meeting:
More assessments for use in Multicultural Counseling (Solution
Focused)

June 11, Afternoon, Saturday 4-5
Course Evaluations and Examination