National award recognizes higher ed administrators for commitment to diversity
Patrick Coggins
Patrick Coggins, Ph.D., J.D., Ed.S., LL.D, chair of the Faculty Senate and member of the President’s Cabinet at Stetson University, has received the 2017 Giving Back Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The honor is the only national award that recognizes college and university administrators for their commitment and dedication to diversity through leadership. Coggins, along with 38 other recipients, will be featured in the April 2017 Leadership Support and Giving Back issue of the magazine.
Coggins was nominated for this award by a Stetson colleague for his dedication and devotion to inclusivity and diversity within the Stetson campus, the education system, the community and world. In addition to serving on the Faculty Senate and President’s Cabinet, Coggins is a professor of education and multicultural education. He has had extensive experience designing and teaching courses in cultural diversity, multicultural education ESOL, social studies methods and classes on cross-cultural communication.
“The Giving Back Award is awarded to leaders of institutions of higher education who exemplify what it truly means to ‘give back’ to others,” says Holly Mendelson, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. “These administrators are role models, and we honor their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion on their campuses and in their communities.”
Using his academic background plus his own life experiences, Coggins has developed and evolved many methods for teaching his students. His intent is to make them more aware of their worldviews and how those views impact others around them. Most importantly, Coggins strives to eliminate the academic achievement gap and the implicit and explicit bias between diverse and majority students by creating an atmosphere of cultural competence between students and faculty while instilling the need to overcome racial, gender and ethnic barriers that impede living in a modern multicultural, multiracial society.
To read more about Patrick Coggins and his work, see “Teaching the Basics: Core competencies in education begin with empathy, equality and cultural understanding,” on pages 36 and 37 of the Winter 2017 issue of Stetson University Magazine.
