The appointment of Karlos Santos-Coy to a new one-year Leadership Coordinator position within the Office of Pluralism and Leadership reflects just one of a number of staffing transitions the office has undergone in recent years, according to OPAL Director Alysson Satterlund. While Aeriel Anderson and T.M. Mosley recently filled the positions of pan-Asian and black student advisors, the searches for an LGBT student advisor and an assistant director of the Center for Women and Gender are ongoing.
The changes in staffing represent an opportunity to strengthen OPAL's services and infrastructure while addressing the problems caused by over a year of staff shortages, Satterlund said. The fresh perspectives and experience of the new advisors will help the office improve its offerings and communicate better with the entire Dartmouth community, she said.
LEADERSHIP COORDINATOR
Karlos Santos-Coy joined OPAL on Sept. 3 as a facilitator for the office's leadership programs and an advisor to the First Generation Network, Satterlund said.
During his one-year temporary appointment, Santos-Coy will collaborate with Satterlund to write grants and seek donors to fund the work of a committee that will develop OPAL's Leadership Discovery Program, she said.
Under the umbrella of this program, Santos-Coy and Satterlund will work to expand OPAL's internships, programming, workshops, interaction with other centers on campus and offerings in culturally competent leadership for students.
Santos-Coy served for seven years as an advisor on multiculturalism and student leadership at California State University, Sacramento, according to the OPAL website. During part of his time at CSU, he worked with Satterlund to develop a "wholistic student leadership program," which expanded from 40 students to about 700 under their direction, according to Satterlund.
"I'm really excited," she said. "We did some work that we're really proud of together."
STUDENT ADVISORS
This summer saw the appointment of two new assistant deans Aeriel Anderson, advisor to pan-Asian and Asian-American students, and T.M. Mosley, advisor to black and African-American students.
Since arriving on campus in first week of August, Anderson and Mosley have spent their time meeting with students both formally and informally, attending interdepartmental meetings and becoming acquainted with the campus, they said.
"Everyone has been incredibly warm and welcoming," Anderson said. "I think there's a lot of positive energy in OPAL and across campus."
The position of Pan-Asian student advisor was previously held by Nora Yasumura, whose decision to leave her post in April for a social work position with the Dartmouth Health Connect clinic was met with a deep sense of loss among many students.
Anderson has served as an international consultant on issues related to diversity in higher education and an advisor to students of color at Georgetown University, according to the OPAL website. At Dartmouth, she aims to be as accessible as possible by maintaining an open door policy, attending student group meetings and making a point to be in student spaces, she said.
Anderson said she is most eager to spend time with students, "learning what makes them tick, what they're excited for and how we can get the community moving forward."
Mosley also expressed eagerness to begin developing relationships with students, and during her first week, she facilitated a Diversity Peer Program and began meeting with students seeking advising to discuss Dartmouth Plans, course loads and the balance between work and social life, she said.
She hopes to create a vibrant blog for the Office of Black Student Advising "as another avenue for students to have a voice and connection to the College," she said.
She said she will also work on fostering connections with the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary this October, and on developing protocols that will promote consistent standards of OPAL programming.
"I want to make sure that I'm being intentional," Mosley said. "I'm not a person to force change it's organic and informed."
Olivia Scott '13, who interned last year for the Office of Black Student Advising, said that OPAL has done "a great job" in offering advising support since Quantrell Willis stepped down from the advising position in November due to family obligations.
"It hasn't been ideal to be without an advisor, but OBSA wasn't left without assistance," she said.
The position of advisor to black students has undergone considerable turbulence since the resignation of Samantha Ivery in June 2011, an event that prompted widespread discussion of the College's struggle to retain female minority staff, according to various students and administrators.
While the community has been "exceptionally genuine" and open since her arrival on campus, Mosley said she believes it is important for advisors in her position to have their own network of support and to pay attention to their own well-being.
"You can't be a light for students if yours is burnt out," she said.
OPAL advisory services are designed to complement other offerings on campus by providing culturally informed support to students who traditionally have been underserved or underrepresented in American colleges and universities, Satterlund said.
"Their achievement is directly related to institutional agents people who provide expertise on how to navigate the experience of being the only out lesbian in a class, or how to navigate micro-aggressions related to being a person of color in a student organizational meeting or practice, or work through stereotype threat, or racism or sexism," she said.
The new advisors said they hope to provide this type of support while expanding the cultural competency of Dartmouth student leaders.
"There's definitely something unique about being able to connect with someone from a similar identity or background with similar lived experiences," Anderson said.
LGBT ADVISOR SEARCH
OPAL is currently undergoing a national recruitment effort for the position of assistant dean and advisor to LGBT students, according to Satterlund. The current advisor, Pam Misener, announced in June that she plans to leave the College in January 2013.
The news of Misener's departure followed the College's announcement that April Thompson, former associate dean of the college for campus life and Misener's wife, would leave Dartmouth to become Binghamton University's dean of students in the 2012-2013 academic year.
While Misener is not a member of the search committee for her replacement because of College policy, she has been working informally with students to discuss the qualities and skills they hope the new advisor will bring, according to Satterlund.
Satterlund said she hopes to conduct on-campus interviews by the end of September and will look for candidates who have the ability to work across "intersections of identity," bringing an understanding of students who identify not only with the LGBT community but also with other minority communities on campus.
The new advisor will also be involved in designing ally programs and working to promote an LGBT affinity house in 2013.
CENTER FOR WOMEN AND GENDER
Former Assistant Director of the Center for Women and Gender Stephanie Chestnut left the College in mid-August to pursue her education, and the position is currently the only vacancy within the OPAL infrastructure, according to Satterlund.
The posting for a new assistant director will be listed in approximately two weeks after human resources and the legal department formally approve it. Although Satterlund said her timeline may be "aggressive," she hopes to have a new assistant director in place by the end of October.
GOALS OF OPAL
Despite being in the midst of a transitional period, OPAL maintains a number of objectives for the upcoming year, including expanding the Diversity Peer Program and Leadership Program offerings, creating a system to assess the effectiveness of current programs, increasing access to OPAL student internships and writing grants, Satterlund said.
More broadly, Satterlund said she hopes to make OPAL more accessible to students at Dartmouth who may not immediately identify with the diversity services that OPAL offers.
"As busy as the folks in OPAL have been, we haven't been as good at communicating the good work that we do," she said. "Students might self-select out, but really OPAL is for everybody."
An LGBT affinity house is currently in development and is one of several prospective projects that Satterlund said she hopes will bring Dartmouth to the level of peer institutions in terms of diversity offerings.
"I would love for Dartmouth to be as innovative as it has the capacity to be," she said. "While I never want to discount all of the hard work that has happened and continues to take place here, there are definitely some programs, like the affinity house, that I'm hoping to be a part of."
Satterlund came to Dartmouth in June 2011 as the first official director since Sylvia Spears left the position to become acting Dean of the College in 2009. At the time, the position was abolished as a budget-saving measure.
Following this transition, Ivery and Misener helped to take on the responsibilities of directing the office in addition to their normal obligations as student advisors.
OPAL will hold an open house in the Collis Center on Sept. 4 for new students interested in advising or learning about the office's programming.
