Due to the growing number of members and events put on from groups involved with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), a new position has been created and filled for the benefit of the office. Mark Anthony Brumfield, currently an Resident Education Coordinator at the Longwood Landings, will transition to the position beginning May 12 of this year. His official title will be the Office of Diversity and Inclusion involvement and engagement coordinator.
One of the responsibilities Brumfield will be in charge of consists of handling programming for events held on campus through the office and by the various groups incorporated with ODI. Brumfield will work closely with these groups to make sure scheduling and the execution of the events go according to plan. Other responsibilities will include leadership development for the various groups through ODI as well as mentoring and advising for them.
Leadership development will involve Brumfield finding, as well as setting up, ways for groups and individuals associated with the ODI to obtain leadership experience. This can involve groups traveling off campus to weekend retreats or attending leadership workshops on campus.
Advising and mentoring will comprise of Brumfield making sure groups and individuals that work with Dr. Jamie Riley, director of ODI, are getting the right information as well as sending the right messages to the community.
Riley said there was a lot of competition for the job once it was posted. In total, they received around 60 applications for the job, and from there had to narrow it down to four. Students from the organizations he works with participated in the interviewing process. "I really wanted student groups to see who they would have a good fit with as well as effectively meet their needs," said Riley.
With the addition of an involvement and engagement coordinator in the office, Riley said he also wants to begin a new model for holding events on campus. This model will now be aligned with national awareness months. Brumfield will also be involved with helping this model take off on campus.
This new model will now entail all of the events associated with a particular awareness to be held during that particular awareness month. For example, during Hispanic Heritage month, which is held in September, all events associated with Hispanic heritage will be held during that month. Other months to make note of include Black History Month in February and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) awareness, which is in October.
Riley said he needed an involvement and engagement coordinator when he realized that with just one person working with so many groups, it limited his ability to work with them effectively.
"I felt like I was doing what I could, but not to the best of my ability," said Riley. Riley said ideally, he would like to have an office set up similar to that of other universities that have multicultural programs larger than that of Longwood.
Riley's next steps are to find an assistant director as well as a graduate student to work out of the office. Riley said they will add a graduate student to their office in the fall, but that is all the plans they have for now.
