New directors seek to collaborate to meet diverse student needs

The University of Minnesota announced Wednesday the new heads of its Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence and its Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Ally Programs Office. Both units are within the Office for Equity and Diversity.

Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence

Frederic MacDonald-Dennis will head the MCAE, where he’ll be tasked with assessing staff and resources to find how to “efficiently leverage” the office to students of color, the office’s interim director Phillip Miner told the Minnesota Daily in November. This semester, about 18 percent of the more than 30,000 undergraduate students are of color, according to University data.

MacDonald-Dennis was the interim director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He has also worked as the associate dean of students and director of residence life at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and as the director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs at the University of Michigan.

MacDonald-Dennis was one of two finalists vying for the position and the only finalist for both OED positions. He began his new job Jan. 9.

At a December candidate forum, MacDonald-Dennis described his vision for the office as a place with ready access to academic and personal support resources so students don’t “flounder.”

He said he’d like to see the GLBTA programs office and the MCAE collaborate “so that GLBT [and multicultural] issues aren’t just positioned in the GLBTA [or MCAE] office but throughout the system.”

GLBTA Programs Office

Matthew Antonio Bosch will head the GLBTA Programs Office. Rickey Hall, the assistant vice president at the Office for Equity and Diversity, previously told the Minnesota Daily that OED was looking for both candidates to be grounded in social justice with the vision and articulation to move forward.

Bosch was the chief diversity officer at North Hennepin Community College — a position that did not exist before he started in 2006. He also served as a volunteer to coordinate state divisions for the American College Personnel Association.

Bosch will begin his new job on Jan. 23.

At his forum, Bosch said it’s important to hold more events for marginalized students, like conferences and “vogue balls” — dance competitions between African-American gay and transgender men.