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Cara Anderson

In her sociology courses, Dr. Cara Anderson challenges her students to examine their often tightly-held beliefs about American culture.

“As Americans, we are often taught to be independent, but we are still obligated to function and to participate in our community as thoughtful, aware citizens,” she said. “In order to do that, we need to understand our own culture and how we reflect this culture to others.”

Dr. Anderson also teaches students that their culture has value. “Frequently, people examine other cultures and find value in the exotic, in the different. I try to point out how each student’s own culture is important.”

One way Dr. Anderson teaches her students to learn more about each other’s culture is by encouraging classroom discussions where students are free to share their thoughts, opinions and the reasons behind their feelings. She hopes these discussions allow students to have a better understanding of their world, themselves, and their perceived notions of race and gender.

“I challenge my students to be aware of race and to take personal and behavioral standard that reflects social justice rather than a colorblind mentality. Race matters because, unfortunately, people are treated differently because of their race.”

But the students are not the only ones learning. Through these discussions, Dr. Anderson frequently finds herself learning from the students.

“One thing about faculty at King is that we willingly admit that we don’t know it all—we’re not done yet. We’re not here to disperse knowledge and tell students how or what to think. We’re here to learn alongside the students, and together we have the freedom to explore, to discover, to take risks, to make mistakes, and to grow.”