Campus Life and i3b staff present at ACPA Conference

Campus Life and Initiatives for Identity, Including, and Belonging (i3b) staff presenting at the  March 2024  ACPA Conference in Chicago, IL. Presenters  are: Campus Life Coordinator for Leadership Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon; i3b Assistant Director Angelina R. Jenkins; and i3b Assistant Director Carlos Turcios '15, psychology and sociology, and M.A. '17, applied sociology. 

Entitled "Fostering Students' Identity and Capacity to Lead as Their Full Selves," the presentation includes highlights and outcomes of the Multicultural Leadership Experience. Additionally, they will be sharing insight and resources on how to implement a culturally relevant leadership learning program on campus as student affairs practitioners. A collaboration between Campus Life and i3b, the program provides a space for students and student leaders who identify with diverse or marginalized backgrounds to discover their own capacity to lead, while also promoting a better understanding of their experiences, issues, and outcomes in navigating their own collegiate careers.

In the post-assessment, students who have participated in the Multicultural Leadership Experience say it has helped them grow as people and as leaders:

• "I gained a lot of knowledge of my identities but also specific types of leadership that are not often covered in other leadership experiences. Emotionally intelligent leadership, self-authorship, and cultural wealth were all things I had never heard of before, and I think learning about these things in a Brave Space with my peers was a great opportunity! Definitely loved having the opportunity to be involved in this MLE cohort."

• "After being a part of the MLE experience, it has made me feel more confident about what kind of person I can be for my community. I learned about social roles, demonstrating citizenship, understanding what a leader is, and much more that I can apply to my future and future career."

• "From this experience I gained a deeper understanding of identities and the role they play in how we show up in the world. I also became more aware of how these may impact relationships with diverse groups and more importantly how it affects myself and how I show up for leadership. Now I can analyze my interactions with others and understand how my identity would impact how I am feeling in the said moment (as well as theirs) and with that understanding make a healthy and conscious decision of how to react."

• "The ideas of the crossroad and self-authorship really resonated with me. I internalized them. I'm constantly thinking about how my decisions are made based on those ideas, my goals, and my values; because of them, I'm able to gauge and analyze my actions in a way that helps me move closer towards being the person that I want to be."

• "I gained so much from this experience. Self-authorship was the biggest thing for me. It is a term I had never heard of before and now I am working toward it for myself. This cohort challenged me to examine negative ideas about myself as a returning student and help me examine leadership differently. The assignment I worked on with a partner helped me see how I could apply what I have learned with the cohort to create change on campus in my own way. It was great to hear from other members of the cohort and the facilitators about their experiences and background. Many of our experiences aligned even with our varying identities and backgrounds."

• "I gained a strong ability to critically reflect on how I show up in various spaces as a leader along with the wonderful stories that everyone else shared along the way."

• "Because of MLE I strive to be a leader that works with and brings out the best in others, understand and factors in their identities and how it may impact how they show up, and remain mindful and open to others' suggestions. I also strive to be bold, confident and unafraid of speaking up for what I believe in."