Celebrate Diversity

Campus office focuses on student diversity

Staff from the Office of Student Diversity and leaders of various student groups provide a variety of programs designed to celebrate diversity on the PSU campus.

Education and celebration are the twin roles of the Pittsburg State University Office of Student Diversity, according to Eric Wilkinson, who oversees multicultural recruitment and programs in PSU’s Office of Admission and Enrollment.

“Educating our students to be aware of cultural differences prepares them for life,” Wilkinson said.  “The Office of Student Diversity seeks to nurture a safe environment to dissolve cultural ignorance and insensitivity.”

Wilkinson said that celebration of diversity is equally important.

“The OSD celebrates our individual differences,” Wilkinson said, which may be racial, religious, socio-economic, gender, age, or country of origin.

To accomplish these goals, the Office of Student Diversity sponsors and supports a number of activities throughout the year. Those include regular Diversity Snack Hours; diversity seminars and workshops; support for student organizations such as the Black Student Association, Hispanics of Today and the Native American Student Association; participation in diversity and multicultural conferences; celebration of national heritage months; advisement for prospective and current students; and access to educational and developmental resources in the Multicultural Resource Center and MRC computer lab.

Wilkinson said that at a time when the U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, his office is becoming more a part of the mainstream of campus life.

“To me, the Office of Student Diversity is really The Office of Different Students,” Wilkinson said. “We want every student on campus to fully appreciate not only their own differences, but the differences of those around them.”

On the Web: <http://www.pittstate.edu/admin/vpaa/studentdiversity/OfficeofStudentDiversity.html>
E-mail: <eawilkin@pittstate.edu>

---Pitt State--