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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Office of Multicultural Affairs Undergoes Name Change

Changes are already taking place for what was formerly referred to as the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) at Longwood University. The transition from the OMA to the new Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) was announced to the Longwood community via e-mail on Wednesday, Feb. 9. The e-mail was sent from the office of Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs.

The message sought to clarify several key aspects of the new ODI, and stated that the services of the new program will be available to all Longwood students, "but will specifically support those students [who are] under-represented."

Of the services that the ODI will offer are "training, advising, programming, and services that promote inclusion, pluralism, and multicultural competency of students in their preparation as citizen leaders".

Pierson is optimistic that this transition period will facilitate the needs of many students on campus and bring about proper change to meet the requests of those who this office will seek to benefit.

"I think this is something that we have heard from our students as well, especially from our students from under-represented groups on campus," said Pierson. "They have let us know that they have some needs that maybe we haven't been able to address as well."

Among the long list of "under-represented" factions outlined in the e-mail includes students who may have or will feel isolated due to their "ethnicity, race, sex, gendered identity, age, religion, ability status, and/or sexuality".

Pierson stated that one of the main reasons for the "restructuring" is to better prepare Longwood's international and domestic students for issues of diversity on the college campus and in the workplace as well.

Formerly, the OMA could only be involved with Longwood's many international students once they arrived on campus. Prior to their arrival, the students were overseen by the Office of International Affairs (OIA) who dealt with obtaining visas, and then organized international student orientation once they arrived on campus.

Pierson believes that while the OIA has a very important role to play in this process, the many tasks that the office was left with "took away from our aim to really serve our students on campus, from the many ethnic groups and students who really needed greater attention."

As a part of this restructuring, the OIA will now also work with international students once they arrive to campus, which will allow the new ODI to focus more on the students that are already acclimated to Longwood. As was the former policy of the OMA to remain involved with international students, the ODI will no longer be doing so.

"I think [this office] will help us all grow as a campus in terms of how we deal with those issues of cultural difference or maybe differences in value and perspective," said Pierson. "A lot of the times they are not a problem but sometimes they can really create a clash, and so how do you get through those things?"

Currently in place at Longwood is the Diversity Counsel that, according to Pierson, already wrestles with these very issues. The panel of faculty, staff and students will continue to work as a consultant organization to aid the ODI as the campus continues to grow.

"I think that Longwood will become an increasingly diverse campus," said Pierson. "Our population is shaping that way, and as the world around us shapes that way, Longwood needs to be better prepared for that."

As per the change in the office's title, Pierson believes that it "represents a period of restructuring and the launch of a national search to fill our vacant Director's position."

Since the 2010 departure of Lonnie Calhoun, former director of multicultural affairs and international student services, the position had been filled on an interim basis by Cameron Patterson, class of 2010. Patterson's contract with the university is set to expire at the end of this academic year.

According to Pierson, Associate Dean for Student Affairs Onie McKenzie will be heading the search committee that will be made up of two faculty, two staff and two students. Although he admits that this search will not be on as grand of a scale as last year's presidential search, he did state that each candidate will be allowed many of the same opportunities as the presidential candidates were.

"They will meet with students, they will meet with several offices on campus, and they will be as exposed as we can have them to the campus," said Pierson. "That way, you want somebody who the campus feels is a good fit and they feel is a good fit for them."

The search committee will be seeking candidates who have three to five years' experience in the field, on a master's level at the very minimum. Pierson stated that the most ideal candidate will be of the PhD level.

The university has already begun to advertise for the open position, taking out space in the Office of Human Resources, the American College Personnel Association Career Central, Higher Education Jobs Dot Com, and Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

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