Norma Martínez-Rogers brings her energy to Nursing

With her dynamic presence and infectious energy, Norma Martínez-Rogers instantly commands both interest and respect. Upon returning to Bloomington for her second summer of participation in the Minority Faculty Fellowship Program, Martínez-Rogers expanded her original project from a Summer Session I course to a full-summer, real-life, hands-on experience. Offered by the Nursing School, Martínez-Rogers' course, entitled "Multicultural Awareness," took a two-level approach to the teaching of diversity issues. For the first part of the summer, students learn about the importance of understanding and reacting to multicultural issues in nurse/patient relationships. In order to begin to appreciate and understand other cultures, Martínez-Rogers believes one must first recognize the intricacies of one's own culture; she says, "It's about learning who you are." Toward that end, in addition to learning about the particular health problems and issues facing cultures such as rural Appalachia, students in this course also participate in more personal activities such as compiling genealogies that reflect their own family trees. "Don't think of diversity in terms of color of skin," Martínez-Rogers tells her students, "Think of it in terms of individuality."

During the second part of the course, students are able to apply some of the knowledge and techniques they acquire when Martínez-Rogers takes them to observe the health and living situations of workers in several of Indiana's migrant camps. The class visits three different migrant camps in the Indianapolis area, which range in quality from high to quite low. Students then compare the conditions in these camps to those of camps during the 60s push for unionization. Always thinking of ways to enrich her students' experiences further, Martínez-Rogers hopes to return next year and add a new component to the course in which students would actually live at the camps for a period of about three weeks.

Yes, that's right: Martínez-Rogers plans to return to IU, if possible, to continue the work she has begun toward diversity. Not only does she have much to offer this university, but she feels that it has much to offer in return and says, "Bloomington provides a lot of opportunities for me to learn." Although she returns to her position as full-time faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center at the San Antonio School of Nursing, Martínez-Rogers plans to return to Bloomington in December to run a workshop in diversity for the School of Nursing here at IU.