Introduction

The Office for Diversity at Texas A&M University implemented the Office for Diversity Learning Community (ODLC) in Fall of 2018. The ODLC has been modeled as a high-impact practice to engage student workers and help them to build skills that will benefit them in both their academic and professional endeavors. The ODLC encourages innovative student research and through student learning outcomes addresses communication skills, cultural literacy, and social justice. Learning outcomes are further positioned to address higher levels of learning identified by Bloom’s Taxonomy, including analyze, evaluate, and create. The ODLC encourages innovative student research and development specifically including student learning outcomes addressing communication skills, cultural literacy, and social justice. Based on their academic and professional interests, students have their own projects and assigned tasks. For instance, some broad areas of individual student expertise include social media, finances, leading meetings, facilitating discussion, creative projects, and written communication.
 

Meet the ODLC

• Nikole Arredondo (she/her) '24
• Dalvin Dunn '25
• Vanessa Garcia (she/her) '24
• Manas Gokhale (he/him) '23
• Nora Tsou '26
• Lawren Walker (she/her) '22

ODLC Former Members

• Yusra Aziz '20
• Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman, Vice President & Associate Provost of Diversity and Inclusion, Northwestern University
• Deyanira Ely
• Redeem Francis '21, '22
• ​Morgan Gimblet ‘20
• Oluwabukola 'Bukky' Makinde ‘19
• Anthony Ramirez '22
• Darby Salge, M.Ed. '19
• Winston Savoy ‘18

Literature

• Kuh, G.D., O'Donnell, K., & Schneider, C.G. (2017). HIPs at ten. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 49:5, 8-16, https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2017.1366805  

• McClellan, G.S., Creager, K., Savoca, M. (2018). A good job: Campus employment as a high impact practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

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Presentations and Publications

• Aziz, Y., Carrillo, I., Dawson, M., & Reyes, J.M. (2020). Present, network, and reflect: G-double-O-D J-O-B. Presentation to the High Impact Practices (HIPs) In the States Conference. College Station, TX.
• Aziz, Y., Francis, R., Gimblet, M., & Reyes, J.M. (2019). Integrating dialogue into seminars: Staying to talk instead of leaving angry and confused. Poster presentation at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE). Portland, OR.
• Francis, R., Ramirez, A., Salge, D., & Walker, L. (2021). Building today's leaders: Student employment as a high impact practice in the Office for Diversity Learning Community. Presentation at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE).