The Office of Multicultural Affairs participated in this year’s St. Pete Pride Parade. The parade is one of OMA’s annual events. Courtesy of Jerrica Stovall
By Dinorah Prevost
As the Office of Multicultural Affairs looks to revamp itself, a few new faces are arriving in SLC 1400.
Flore Septimus arrived on campus about a month ago as OMA’s new graduate assistant. A Tampa graduate student, her own undergraduate experience with OMA led her to the St. Petersburg office.
“I really wanted to gain that experience, what it’s like on the other side and the different perspectives and how I can support a student,” she said. “So that’s really what made me interested in applying for this position.”
Septimus won’t be only the new face among OMA’s key staff members this semester. The office’s new assistant director, Tristen Johnson arrives later this month.
OMA’s previous leader Javier Gonzalez left in April after receiving a dismissal letter in March from Dwayne Isaacs, director of student life and engagement.
Jerrica Stovall, assistant director of activities and programs, said Gonzalez’s position as coordinator of multicultural affairs was reworked to attract applicants with “more experience.”
“The position in its previous form was a program coordinator position and we worked hard to rework the position to get reclassified as an assistant director,” she said.
Johnson was chosen from about 100 applicants. She previously worked as program coordinator of ‘Our Wisconsin,’ a diversity and inclusion program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“What we also loved was her connections in the on-campus interview,” Stovall said. “Everybody just had a feeling from Tristen like ‘Wow, we had a conversation and it felt like I had known her for a while.’”
Reworking Johnson’s position is part of the larger revamp that OMA is undergoing.
A recent addition to OMA’s student groups is the Office of Multicultural Affairs Programming Board, which merges two older programs, Multicultural Activities Council and Ignite. The group plans “diverse entertainment, cultural celebrations, social and educational programming,” according to OMA’s website.
“OMAPB is basically a rebranding of sorts so that we can be a little bit more inclusive of everyone and their identities,” Flore Septimus said. “We want to focus on more than just multicultural initiatives so putting an emphasis on social justice and educating, as well as having the space for celebrations.”
“We’re revamping sort of what we provide…and the resources that are coming out of the office,” Stovall said. “We’ve rebranded with our logo, we have different students in here now, we have OMA (Programming Board) and so we’re just getting ourselves out there and really building up from the foundation.”
The Office of Multicultural Affairs promotes diversity and inclusion on campus through workshops and trainings and also houses about nine student groups.
Groups under OMA include Black Student Alliance, The HERD Step Team, Gospel Choir, Latin American Student Association, South Asian Association and P.R.I.D.E. Alliance.
Septimus emphasized that OMA is a place where students can come to express themselves.
“If (students are) looking for exploring, if they’re looking for support, if they’re looking for a challenge, that’s what we’re here for.”
OMA has two upcoming events: “Culture Shock,” a panel discussion on Sept. 19th in Davis 130 from 5:30-7 p.m. and “The Real Impact of Fake News” on Sept. 24th in USC Ballrooms from 6-8 p.m.
Information from UW-Madison News is used in this report.
