In 2014 Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) underwent a University-structured program review. The review included perspectives from students, staff, and faculty who were a part of the University community at that time, which allowed MSA to make some changes to better serve students. Since then, MSA has experienced a great deal of change, some of which has been in more recent years.
In 2017, Daviree Velazquez Phillip joined MSA as the director. Soon thereafter, Aaron Golding, assistant director and Native & Indigenous content Expert; Alyscia Raines, assistant director Black & African American content expert; and Linda Luk, administrative assistant operations, facilities and communications - all joined the MSA team. Recently, Matt Abtahi, assistant director LGBTQIA+ content expert joined MSA.
Along with the pre-existing staff, our graduate assistants and our undergraduate office assistants, MSA has spent a great deal of time learning about and from our past. One of the ways in which we explored our past was through our MSA Archive Project. We have also reviewed data from the University's Campus Climate Survey, the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, and the Consortium on Financing Higher Education study, to better understand the student experience at Northwestern University. Through this process we are honoring our past (where we have been), learning about the experiences of our current students (the present state) to inform our future (where we are going). Now, as a department, we seek to better understand students' experiences with our programs, staff, facilities, and with each other.
Phase 1: Conduct Student Focus Groups:
Between Fall 2019 and Winter 2020 MSA organized a series of focus groups where we sought the feedback of students. We asked for feedback from everyone and made extra attempts to engage student that have range in MSA. Learn more about our survey population in the complete report.
As a result of our calls for feedback, we heard from:
Phase 2: Analysis and Report:
Due do COVID-19 adjustments, the report was published and posted in late Spring of 2020. Find the report through this link.
Phase 3: Engage stakeholders:
Over the course of the 20-21 school year MSA reached out to and met with a number of stakeholders ranging form student group leaders, univeristy administrators, faculty, and alumni that are currently vital to our work on campus to review and provide feedback on the preliminary report.
