“Many of my students are first-generation Americans - because we are a community college, we are also allowed to accept students who do not have legal status in the United States – and I have a wide range of students from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Europe. I think it’s helpful to talk about my [Fulbright] experience so they realize that I understand what it’s like to be somewhere and feel different based on your culture or your language. ”
Dr. Joyce Maxwell graduated with a PhD in English Education from Columbia University and is currently a professor of English at the Elizabeth campus of Union College of Union County, a community college in New Jersey. Her work and research are broadly focused in the areas of racial justice and antiracism, Black and racial linguistics, narrative inquiry and ethnography, and antiracist pedagogy.
As a Fulbright Specialist, Joyce was matched with Stanisław Staszic State University in the small city of Pile, Poland. While in Poland, Joyce conducted a series of workshops on multiculturalism and cross-cultural competencies in the context of the medical sciences to prepare faculty, hospital staff, and students to work with an increasingly diverse patient population.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Can you tell us a little about your project? What were the goals for the project, and what was your role as a Specialist there?
The university where I taught was looking for someone to discuss multiculturalism within the medical sciences. I predominantly teach nursing students and health science majors because my campus is directly connected to the largest university hospital in New Jersey. I would say a good 90% of my students are in the nursing field, but they are also from very diverse backgrounds. As a result, I was interested in the program in Pile, Poland, because they were looking for someone to discuss multiculturalism, diversity, race, and ways they could build that into their curriculum in Poland. They recognized that they are predominantly a very [racially and culturally] homogenous society and wanted to be able to prepare future practitioners in the nursing and emergency fields to be able to work with patients who were from diverse backgrounds or had different cultural ethics or norms.
What did a typical day look like for you as a Specialist?
I am typically an early bird, so I arrived at 7:30 in the morning each day and hosted a good four workshops a day. I would meet with the nursing and paramedic science professors in the morning and in the afternoon, and then host one to two workshops for students. On Fridays, I was meeting with anyone from the president and the vice president to the international relations department. I also did lectures with the English department, the elderly community, and visited different high schools and hospitals. It was quite busy!
Joyce (first row; center) engaged with Pile’s local community through visits and talks at high schools, hospitals, and community organizations for the elderly.
What was the most impactful or memorable part of your time there?
Honestly speaking, you know, in my community Poland is not the first place you think of to visit. I'm an adventurous person, but I did know that this was going to be a more homogeneous community and unfortunately in my community, Poland has not always been cast in the best light.
But I will say I was so well taken care of, I cannot speak highly enough of the community, the professors, the students in Poland. They wanted to make sure that I tried Polish cuisine, they took me out on weekends to make sure I wasn't alone, I toured so many places, I've made great friends, I even started running with a community member - and we still keep in touch! So, I never felt unsafe, and I never felt… unwanted, for lack of a better word. That was huge for me.
“I cannot speak highly enough of the community, the professors, the students in Poland...I toured so many places, I’ve made great friends, I even started running with a community member - and we still keep in touch! So, I never felt unsafe, and I never felt… unwanted, for lack of a better word. That was huge for me. ”
That’s so wonderful. Have you continued to be in touch with your host? Do you have any sort of collaborations planned?
The chair of the nursing department and I worked on a guidebook together in the form of something called Graphic Medicine, which Poland does not have yet in their curriculum. This is something that I took courses in and have used while teaching about diversity. She created a guidebook for multiculturalism in graphic medicine for her master's students, and it's being published by a prestigious publishing company in Poland. She’s also repeated some of the pedagogical strategies that I taught them while there, and now she's using them with her students.
Joyce (center) conducted numerous workshops for staff and students at her host institution, like this one on cultural awareness and intercultural communication skills
I am hopeful that I can make some connections between our nursing program here and the nursing program there, and our paramedic sciences program here. I think that once we get that off the ground, it will be helpful to have some type of multicultural exchange, even if it's virtual. I am in conversation with the dean of my campus to have a virtual conference with the nursing program there and the nursing program here, which will be really fun. Who knows? Maybe we’ll one day be able to organize something here or there where we can go as a group of professors and have some form of exchange in that way as well.
How has your Fulbright experience impacted your work here in the United States? Is there anything that you took away from your experience that you're now integrating into your classes?
I think it's helpful to talk about my experience teaching and living in Poland and feeling like the outsider in my classes. I use that as a parallel for some of my students who feel like outsiders here so that they realize that I understand what it's like to be somewhere and feel different based on your culture or your language, or whatever the case may be.
Many of my students are first-generation Americans - because we are a community college, we are also allowed to accept students who do not have legal status in the United States – and I have a wide range of students from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Europe. Because of that, I focus predominantly on diversity, race issues that affect immigrants due to the population that I serve.
We often keep souvenirs and keepsakes to remind us of impactful experiences, and Fulbright is certainly a transformational experience! I’m curious if there’s anything you brought home with you as a memento of your time in Poland?
I am actually wearing a necklace that was given to me by the nursing professors in Poland. I love it, I wear it all the time! I take it off and then I'm like, oh, where's my necklace? It's one of the few pieces of jewelry that I wear constantly.
I had also made friends with one of the women who worked at the dormitory. She would come in every day and clean the dormitory – she spoke no English, I speak very little, if any, Polish, but we figured out how to use translate on our phones, and we just developed these relationships. She gave me this beautiful vase with flowers in it that I still have.
I have one more – it’s in my hair! I have a bead that a very dear friend [a nursing professor] gave me. We went to Gniezo, which is the first capital of Poland, and we went to the museum and she purchased this for me. This never comes off, as you can tell, so every time I see it I think of her.
Colleagues in Poland closed out the Fulbright Specialist project with a special Closing Ceremony for Joyce (second from right).