April Conway

Statement of Diversity
My intercultural responsiveness is built on both personal and professional experiences. For
instance, I grew up in a racially, economically, and linguistically diverse city in the southwestern
United States. My secondary and higher education experiences were influenced by the people I
studied with including queer and international peersand the places where I chose to study,
including several Latin American countries. As a secondary English teacher, many of my
students were immigrants or refugees and English language learners, and the majority were
from low-income households. When I taught writing at a community college, many of my
students were service men and women, and many were non-traditional. As a writing instructor
and a writing tutor at a public state university, my students and tutees are racially, nationally,
linguistically, and economically diverse; some are first-generation college students; some are
veterans; and some (quite openly) are from sexually marginalized populations. I also worked as
a teacher consultant to facilitate writing and strategizing workshops for teachers on the Din
reservation. Experience as an educator working with diverse populations has prompted me to
consider the cultural connections and the differences between individuals and groups,
especially regarding methods of communication. I therefore incorporate mixed approaches
that are culturally attuned when teaching rhetorics, writing, multimodal composing, and other
literacy practices. My goal as a culturally responsive educator is to help students sustain and
build upon their self agency with these practices.