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ODA director forums continue

By Angela Hatcher, News Editor

This week, the division of Student Affairs is inviting all students to attend forums for the election of a new Director of Multicultural Affairs position.

The candidates include: Yvania Garcia-Pusateri, Assistant Director of Diversity Affairs and Coordinator of Diverse Student Development; Kelley Camille Kimple, Associate Director of Multicultural Affairs at Baylor University; and Sherlonda Clarke, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH).

Garcia-Pusateri held a forum from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Monday. Kimple's forum is from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Clarke's forum is from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 5. All forums will be held in Armstrong Student Center Community Lounge Room 2048.

The forums and open positions are a direct result of new changes to facing the Office of Diversity Affairs (ODA).

In late February, a student forum was held in the ODA by Scott Walter, assistant vice president of student affairs, and Jane Brownell, vice president of student affairs, to discuss the changes that will occur at the ODA for the coming 2016-2017 academic year.

Primarily, the new ODA will combine three different, currently separate centers -- The Women's Center, the current ODA and the LGBTQ Center. The goal is to promote intersectionality and increased interaction for all diverse students on campus.

The new model forces the centers to function as a cohesive unit with one presiding director while allowing current directors of each center to maintain their positions.

The new model was was spurred by the retirements of Juanita Tate, director of divisional initiatives in the current ODA, and Gerald Yearwood, its senior administrative director.