New name, new face

By Hayley Holloway ’17, Staff Writer

Lebanon Valley College’s Office of Multicultural Affairs underwent big changes; it made changes to its name, staff and mentoring program.

Beginning this academic year, the office is now called the Office of Intercultural Affairs and Inclusive Programs, or OIA, with Renata Williams serving as the director.

The new name of the office better reflects the goals and mission of the College. Some believed that the old name, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, implied that it only served certain students.

“The name Intercultural Affairs really gets at what we’re aiming to do,” Williams said. “It’s much more inclusive, and it’s much more in line with our goals and our mission.”

This academic year will be Williams’ first with LVC. However, it is not her first time working in higher education. Before coming to the Valley, she worked at Fulton Montgomery Community College as the Director of Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Programs.

“My job was kind of to remove barriers,” Williams said. “I did things like orchestrate tutoring sessions and different supplemental instruction opportunities and taking different trips to different places.”

The mentoring program within the Office of Intercultural Affairs underwent changes as well. Discussed even before the change of the name of the office, the mentors themselves have a new name this year: Mosaic Mentors. Olajiwon McCadney, Assistant Director of Intercultural Affairs, came up with the name from mosaic tiles.

“The old name, Multicultural Mentors, didn’t really speak to the backgrounds of the mentors nor the backgrounds of the mentees,” McCadney said. “Multicultural became almost synonymous with student of color, rather than looking at the different identities that intersect with being a student of color or any other minority group, whether it’s class or sexuality.”

Mosaic Mentors work with first year students, incoming freshmen and transfer students for their entire first year. Mentors lead one-on-one meetings and group meetings, connect students with resources, help with orientation and the Bridge program and help represent the Office of Intercultural Affairs at certain events, such as LVC Live.

“They’re like our eyes and ears outside of the classroom for the incoming first-year students that we serve,” McCadney said.

James Willey is in his second year of being a mentor with the Office of Intercultural Affairs. He decided to become a mentor himself because he had an excellent mentor, Darryl Sweeper, as an incoming freshman.

“He always made me feel really welcome when I first came to campus, and he was able to help me in ways that I couldn’t think I could be helped,” Willey said.