Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Professor of Human Diversity Class Creates Trustworthy Environment for Students to Learn Empathy

Wednesday, May 13, 2020, By News Staff
Share
Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
person standing talking on microphone

Xiafei Wang

In a world where embracing differences and understanding diversity is more important than ever before, Professor Xiafei Wang wants students to embrace others’ differences and take a stance on social justice. But her first goal for students is to gain a deeper understanding of their individual self and presumptions they hold so they can have an open conversation. That’s her focus in Human Diversity in Social Contexts (SWK 328), a course she teaches in the Falk College’s School of Social Work.

“I hope students can spend some time to think about how their own personal experience influences their values and how they interact with others,” Wang says. “The second goal is that I hope my students can be curious or have empathy for people who are different who do not have privileges, privileges that they have or have totally different or disadvantaged living experiences.”

Megeno Adbi, a sophomore social work major, took the course to explore the depth of diversity. Adbi feels Wang allows students space to grow.

“Professor Wang is amazing. She doesn’t hold anything back when speaking on such topics; she will emphasize to us in any aspect,” Adbi explains. “She understands that people have different upbringings, but in her class she wants people to be at the same level of understanding.”

Wang’s background provides her students with a unique look at diversity. Wang served as a research assistant on the project “Evaluation of Chinese National Working Committee on Children and Women & the United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Child-Friendly Spaces Project in China,” funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund. Working with refugees who were persecuted in their own country for their different religious practices, Wang shares this experience with her students to encourage them to embrace differences.

Adbi believes the benefits of taking a diversity course with Wang, whom Adbi describes as “humble, gentle and understanding person,” allows her to enhance his understanding of how important diversity is not only to the field of social work but to all aspects of daily life.

Wang was raised and went to college in China and experienced an authoritarian-style way of teaching that she felt was isolating and unapproachable. In the courses she teaches, Wang strives to create a safe, trustworthy space for students to discuss aspects of diversity, including white privilege and systematic structural barriers that marginalized populations face, encouraging her students to be agents of change.

“As social work instructors, we need to think about how we approach students if we want to truly value diversity,” Wang says. “It’s not just how we teach a course, but how we value it in our daily life and how we meet our students’ needs.”

Story by Emma Henzes ’20, a communications intern in the Falk College

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Doctoral Candidate Wins Grant for Research on Infrastructure, Violence and Resistance in Pakistan
    Friday, August 1, 2025, By News Staff
  • Co-President of Disability Law Society Eyes Career in National Security Law in Washington
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Jordan Bruenger
  • Lender Center New York Event Gathers Wealth Gap Experts
    Wednesday, July 30, 2025, By Diane Stirling
  • After Tragedy, Newhouse Grad Rediscovers Her Voice Through Podcasting
    Wednesday, July 30, 2025, By Chris Velardi
  • Back-to-School Shopping: More Expensive and Less Variety of Back-to-School Items
    Tuesday, July 29, 2025, By Daryl Lovell

More In Health & Society

Bringing History to Life: How Larry Swiader ’89, G’93 Blends Storytelling With Emerging Technology

Instructional design program alumnus Lawrence “Larry” Swiader ’89, G’93 has built a career at the intersection of storytelling, education and technology—a path that’s taken him from the early days of analog editing as a student in the S.I. Newhouse School…

4 Maxwell Professors Named O’Hanley Faculty Scholars

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs announced the appointment of four new O’Hanley Faculty Scholars: Brian Brege, Sarah Hamersma, Yüksel Sezgin and Ying Shi. Selected in recognition of their exceptional teaching, scholarly achievements and service to the institution,…

The Racket About Padel: Newhouse Students Partner With Global Media Firm to Track Rise of Sport

Why all the racket about Padel? Students and faculty in the Newhouse School of Public Communications collaborated with a global communications consulting firm to release a report about the emerging sport’s rapid rise in popularity. The report, “Celebrities, Community, Content,…

Fact or Fiction? The ADHD Info Dilemma

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing and most popular social media platforms in the world—especially among college-age individuals. In the United States alone, there are over 136 million TikTok users aged 18 and older, with approximately 45 million falling within…

Lab THRIVE: Advancing Student Mental Health and Resilience

Lab THRIVE, short for The Health and Resilience Interdisciplinary collaboratiVE, is making significant strides in collegiate mental health research. Launched by an interdisciplinary Syracuse University team in 2023, the lab focuses on understanding the complex factors affecting college students’ adjustment…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.