The discussion will be held Thursday about the importance of minority faculty on campus.
Shayla Mays believes in order to have an effective liberal arts education, an exposure to diverse opinions and perspectives is essential.
“We are trying to get a well-rounded education and be influenced by different types of beliefs and be challenged at some of the ways that we may have grew up,” Mays, an intern at Campus Crusades for Christ, a campus ministry organization, said. “So I think it prepares us for the real world in a more accurate way.”
The Women’s Center will host its Brown Bag Lunch and Learn on Thursday on how a junior mentoring program will benefit multicultural faculty and staff.
The event is meant to focus on the importance of having a support system for minorities in faculty, especially women, Sarah Jenkins, the program coordinator for the Women’s Center, said.
“I think retention is a really big issue that they are concerned with in terms of racial minority faculty,” Jenkins said. “Even after you attract minority faculty, making the space welcoming and inviting (so) that they want to stay for extended periods of time is really important. So I imagine that that will be a big topic of discussion.”
The event will be held at 12 p.m. and will be led by Alicia Chavira-Prado, the special assistant to the vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion.
“As far as I understand it the program is kind of — it’s her baby,” Jenkins said.
Chavira-Prado will discuss the Multicultural Junior Faculty Mentoring Program, which involves tenured, diverse faculty members who support new members in becoming acclimated to life at Ohio University.
“I’m looking forward to it very much because it’s particularly for diversity in faculty, and they are the most vulnerable to the processes,” Chavira-Prado said. “They have particular challenges that others might not, so I think it’s been successful. So far it’s a pilot year, and I think we are doing pretty well. People are excited. They are very much into it so it’s been good.”
There will be a dialogue on why mentorship is important in addition to the concerns of retention rates of minority faculty, according to the OU Women’s Center calendar.
Mays said she definitely would be interested in checking out the discussion and said it is important to have the minority voice heard on campus.
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“Not one minority person can speak for everyone, so having multiples voices speaking to you, different decisions have influences,” Mays said. “I think (the discussion) will give a variety of perspectives and insight in different agendas and issues.”
Mays also said the community as a collective whole has an interest in hearing the different voices of demographics in Ohio University culture.
“We have a wide range of international students and other racial ethnicities, so why not give them opportunities to speak into things just like everyone else?” she said.
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