"Seeing" Color

According to statistics from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, roughly 4.5 percent of the world’s population experiences color deficiency, in most cases associated with difficulty seeing color in the red/green spectrum. Only about 1 percent of humans have monochromacy, meaning total color blindness where they only see shades of black and white. In the United States, the percentage of the population that is color blind is somewhat less at 3.7 percent. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, men are much more likely to be color blind than women. This is because males get an X chromosome from their mother and a Y chromosome from their father, while females get an X chromosome from each parent. Males only need to have one abnormal gene on their one X chromosome to be color blind, while women need to have the abnormal gene on both of their X chromosomes. Recent research also suggests that white boys are about twice as likely to be color blind than Hispanic boys, almost four times more likely to be color blind than African American boys, and about one-half more likely to be color blind than Asian boys.

In recent weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about color, or other, blindness of a different sort when I (or to be clear, the University) received letters that have some adaptation of the following:

It reminds me of my early days as a mid-level professional in higher education (assistant director of the student union at the University of Virginia) where for the first time in my life, I worked in a setting where I was the minority—my boss and my colleague assistant director were African American women and on my staff were a Jewish woman and a gay man. Every day they taught me something about being an “other,” and the degree to which I did not, or chose not, to SEE, particularly the privilege I enjoyed. Sure, it hurt. It hurt a lot. But it taught me that not only was it OK to see color, or gender, or ethnicity, or sexual orientation, but that it respected them to see it. Prior to that experience, I was a “I don’t see color” person, my way of equating our experiences as if differences didn’t matter, wanting to avoid what I perceived would cause offense, and assuaging my guilt. Wow, was my life enriched by my UVA experience!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the 19^th Annual Youth Recognition Awards Breakfast in Paterson. Every single one of those amazing awardees, and the Youth Council itself, was a person of color. And, I had the fortunate opportunity to sit at a table with one of the winners who, as a high school senior, quizzed me about our 4+1 program in business on the pathway to the MBA! Yet, the young man also expressed his fear about how to pay for college and the meaning of some document he was working on called the FAFSA. Let’s counter monochromacy and “see” in vivid color, take comfort in the fact that the courts are doing their job, and continue to do the work we know is right for making our communities and country a better place. We are William Paterson!

Academic News

Academic Affairs Mid-Year Update from February 7. The Academic Affairs presentation slides, Provost Powers’ remarks, and a recording of the session are now posted to the Provost’s website for your reference on our collective pathway to accelerating distinction.

UCC Updates and Opportunities. A second round of UCC 2.0 course proposals is underway. Submissions for Areas I through N are of particular interest. Interested submitters are invited to contact the director of the UCC if/as they have questions. On April 11, a workshop entitled What is “Critical” About Critical Thinking and How to Approach Tame, Critical, and “Wicked” Problems? will be held at 1:00 p.m. via Zoom. The purpose of the session is to convene faculty considering a proposal submission (or who have submitted) a UCC course in this area. With the aid of a panel of faculty with experience teaching courses that integrate either or both critical thinking or problem-solving elements, attendees will learn what will make for a strong course with these foci.

Office of Sponsored Programs Updates. In the last month, we received several new grants. Virtual Peer Support PLUS Fitbit to increase Physical Activity was brought in by Dr. Lydia Albuquerque, nursing. This NJDepartment of Health award was funded at $52,380. In addition, Quay Davis in the College of Adult and Professional Studies brought in additional awards for the Professional Certifications and Alternate Credentials program totaling nearly $2 million from the NJ Department of Labor Workforce Development. This is round two of the 2025 Incumbent Worker Training Grant Program in the fields of construction, healthcare, food and beverage, and transportation. Sherrine Schuldt in Public Health secured a Passaic County Addiction Prevention grant for $40,600 along with a Passaic County Prevention Education grant for $55,270 focused on underage substance abuse. Corinee Datchi in Psychology secured a $69,970 contract for an academia/industry collaboration with Canfield Scientific to create research tools.

Program Vitality Reports. The annual reports are now posted to the Provost’s Office News & Events website, organized by college, along with a letter to the Faculty Senate Chair about it. Five years of data on undergraduate and graduate programs are included in the reports, as are such data for minors and certificates.

Recent New Program Approvals. The Educational Policy Committee of the Board of Trustees recently approved for transit to the full Board the approval of a new master’s degree in education technology and instructional design as well as two graduate certificates in music and 3 post-master’s certificates and two graduate certificates in education.

Facts & Figures

WP growth in enrollment from 2020 to 2023 ranking in NJ among all institutions (public, private not-for-profit, private for-profit) per IPEDS:

Women:  #2       African American/Black:  #1       Hispanic:  #3

Quotables

“Instead of being blind to race, color blindness makes people blind to racism, unwilling to acknowledge where its effects have shaped opportunity.”

—Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone 

and How We Can Prosper Together

“Our ongoing examination of who we are in our full humanity, embracing all of our identities, create the possibility of building alliances that may ultimately free us all.”

—Beverly Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the  

Cafeteria?

“It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.”

—Nelson Mandela, Foreign Correspondents Association Dinner, 1997

The Provost’s Office is Brenda, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Rhonda, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at

973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu