Office of Multicultural Student Success named three coordinators to operate its new identity-specific student resource centers: Patricia Santoyo-Marín (left), associate director and liaison to undocumented students, Michael Riley, LGBTQA resource center coordinator and Johnny Lasalle, intersectional programs coordinator. (DePaul University/Jamie Moncrief)
This summer, Student Affairs restructured the Office of Multicultural Student Success to create three, identity-specific student cultural and resource centers at DePaul. Announced in spring 2017, the changes were made in response to student, faculty and staff requests, and are aimed at better meeting the needs of under-represented and marginalized student groups at DePaul. In addition to the centers, Office of Multicultural Student Success staff expanded to include a new intersectional programming coordinator position and an undocumented student point of contact.
"It's been amazing to watch members of the DePaul campus community mobilize and offer their assistance and support throughout the creation of these new centers and initiatives," says Rico Tyler, associate vice president in Student Affairs.
Eugene L. Zdziarski, vice president for Student Affairs; Rico Tyler, associate vice president in Student Affairs; Kim Everett, PhD, director of the Office of Multicultural Student Success and other staff made considerable progress toward establishing new spaces, programs and services, and full implementation of the centers is expected to be complete in fall 2017.
Center Locations
The Black, Latinx and LGBTQA cultural and resource centers will be housed on the third floor of the O'Connell building at 1036 W. Belden Ave. in Lincoln Park. Each center will be staff by a coordinator and a graduate assistant. An associate director in the Office of Multicultural Student Success will oversee the centers and their staff, as well as serve as the undocumented resource person. All of the coordinators, including the intersectional programming coordinator, will have offices in O'Connell building. The associate director will have an office in the new Office of Multicultural Student Success suite in the Lincoln Park Student Center suite 105.
The four coordinators will move into their offices on September 18. Prior to that date, services will be provided by the Office of Multicultural Student Success from the Lincoln Park Student Center suite 105.
Staffing
Search committees were established for each of the positions, and after extensive searches three of the five positions have been filled:
Michael Riley, coordinator for the LGBTQA Resource Center
Johnny LaSalle, coordinator for intersectional programming
Patricia Santoyo-Marin, associate director and undocumented student resource person
Offers have been made to two candidates for the coordinator positions in the Latinx and Black student cultural centers and should be announced soon.
The university is currently working with students on how to best serve its Asian-American students and what best practices may be adopted to support them.
Undocumented Student Scholarship
The Office of Multicultural Student Success also is accepting applications this fall for the undocumented student scholarship, which was put to a referendum by the Student Government Association last spring and was overwhelmingly approved by students. The scholarship is supported by a $2 increase in the student activity fee. The scholarship is renewable for up to three years. This year, it will be disbursed during the winter quarter, but in subsequent years, applications will be accepted in the spring for disbursement beginning the following fall.