March 13, 2018
Diversity Programs Office Spring Update
It is almost spring and we hope your semester has gone well!
The College of Agriculture Diversity Programs Office has had a great start to 2018! In January we hosted the 14th annual Diversity Student Leader reception with the theme “Fifty years of Living the Dream.” Our speaker was Mr. Kevin Burnett, K-State Alumni, Retired Sr. Vice President at Lucent Technologies and Current COO Richardson/Plano (TX) Guide Right Foundation, TX.
With this year being the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.’s speech on campus, our students had the special opportunity to meet Mr. Martin L. King III, who was the keynote speaker for the 2018 University wide lecture in observance of Dr. Martin L. King’s work for social justice.
Also, during the month we had Hormel Foods to lead our corporate showcase to share with our students career opportunities and how to take advantage of the career fair.
As we moved into February our MANRRS chapter hosted a Black History Month activity to recognize the first black female, Minnie Howell - Class of 1901; and the first black male graduate, George Washington Owens – Class of 1899; of Kansas State College of Agriculture.
Our KSTATE MANRRS chapter has had a productive start and will end the month with our annual MANRRS week, March 25-30, 2018. This week will involve a membership drive, chapter awareness, ADM corporate visit, Panda Express fundraiser and bowling social activity at the Union bowling center. Also in the month of March, the DPO will support the KSRE Navigating Difference Training, held at the Douglass Center in Manhattan. As usual, this training promises to be an educational time for our KSRE workforce to gain an appreciation for difference to meet the needs of the audiences we serve in Kansas.
We will start the month of April by attending the 2018 National MANRRS Career Fair and Training conference in Greensboro, NC. This year we will have a 10 student delegation and have a national student officer leading the way. Tiffany Carter, PhD candidate in Agronomy, is the Region 4 Graduate VP; and Lonnie Hobbs, Jr., Masters Student in Agriculture Economics, will serve as the chapter co-advisor. Both are graduates of 1890 institutions and products of our successful KSRE summer research fellow program.
The DPO is off to a productive start in 2018 and look forward in continuing to serve the College and KSRE. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the College of Agriculture and KSRE for your support of both programs.
For more information about upcoming events or to collaborate with the Diversity Programs Office, please stop by our office in Waters Hall, room 139, and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our Director/Assistant Dean, Dr. Zelia Wiley at 785-532-5793 or zwiley@ksu.edu.