Culture Corner Highlighting Iran

TEMPLE, Texas (April 21, 2009) - As the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine has grown over the past 32 years, one significant change has been the broadening of the college's racial and ethnic spectrum. The college has students, faculty and staff that hail from all over the world and come from varying backgrounds. This prompted the Learning Resources staff to develop a way for them to share about their cultures and customs with their classmates and colleagues.

Dr. Gale Hannigan, Director of Informatics for Medical Education, came up with the idea last year to start a Culture Corner on both the College Station and Temple campuses. Her idea was to have students participate in highlighting a new country, its culture and customs each month.

"We have a diverse school and we knew that others would be interested in learning about other cultures if we could find a way to make the information available," Dr. Hannigan says. "The students have become involved and really helped to make this a positive way to get people talking about and more interested in other cultures. The Culture Corner provides opportunities for interaction for those who might not normally have this conversation."

Learning Resources staff member Litao Wang, Instructional Design Specialist, is from China and volunteered to feature her home country in January and celebrate the Year of the Ox. February highlighted Africa, followed by Iran in March. Fourth-year student Puya Alikhani brought photos, artifacts and fabric from his home country for a display that shared traditions of the Persian New Year celebration. April features India, its rich culture, and even Indian snacks.

"We really feel like this is a great way to keep the heritage of these countries relevant and fresh," Dr. Hannigan says. "Practitioners benefit from knowing about the cultures and backgrounds of the patients they see, so this will be a positive thing for our medical students. Learning Resources is a learning environment, so we think it's fitting that we support cultural understanding and empathy."

For more information on how to get involved with the Culture Corner project, contact Dr. Hannigan at ghannigan@medicine.tamhsc.edu.