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MRC and President's Office Hosts GLCA Student of Color Leadership Conference, November 13-15, 2009
Oberlin College has been selected to host the GLCA Student of Color Leadership Conference this November. Over a three day period, it will bring more than 2oo students of color to Oberlin’s campus from 11 other GLCA institutions in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. If you are interested in getting involved contact Associate Dean Eric Estes at Eric.Estes@Oberlin.edu.
September 2009 - Oberlin College named as one of the top ten schools in the country for AAPI students.
Oberlin College was ranked among the top ten schools in the country for Asian American and Pacific Islander students by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP). Among the factors mentioned were the MRC, Comparative American Studies, and more than 30 years of Asian American student activism around the Memorial Arch, Asian American Studies, and other social justice concerns.
 Asian Pacific Americans for Progress
Spring 2009 - Oberlin College Scores Big with LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index
Oberlin College recent received a ranking of five out of five stars in the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index. The LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index is a vital tool for assisting campuses in learning ways to improve their LGBT campus life and ultimately shape the educational experience to be more inclusive, welcoming and respectful of LGBT and Ally people. Check Oberlin and how it compares to other institutions at LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index.
LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index
Oberlin Alumn featured in QBG Magazine
Oberlin Alumn, Monisola Gbadebo '08 featured in Quirky Black Girls E-Zine for her poem "gestation: a sleepy virginia farm." Link to poem.
Winter Term Opportunity – November 30th Deadline!
The 1835 fund is structured to primarily assist African American students as they partake in career development activity during Winter Term. The support of the fund depends on the interaction between the student and an Alumni mentor as well as the ways in which the Winter Term activity reinforces their personal career development. The 1835 committee, formed of Alumni, members of the Alumni Association and staff of Career Services and the Multicultural Resource Center, agreed to organize the fund in order to promote mentoring opportunities that would not only support students, but encourage Alumni to give back to their alma mater.
Two grants for Winter Term 2006 and four grants for Winter Term 2007 of approximately $500.00 each were awarded. If you are interested in applying for an 1835 Grant please contact either Career Services or the MRC for more information.
For an application please check out the 1835 Fund page on the MRC website. Applications due on November 30, 2008 and preference is given to junior and senior applicants.
OAPAAA Reunion - October 10-12, 2008
Continuing the success of recent reunions by African American alums (fall 2006) and LGBT alums (fall 2007), the Oberlin Asian Pacific American Alumni Association held a major reunion in October of 2008. With significant participation from the 1970s and 2000s, a great time was had by all. There were important conversations about the current state of the Asian American community at Oberlin and the interesting work alumni are currently doing in the world. For a full schedule of events please check out the Alumni Affairs website.
Associate Dean/Director of MRC gives talks at Shanxi Agricultural University and Beijing Foreign Studies University – Summer 2008
Sponsored by an Oberlin Shansi Visiting Faculty Grant, Eric Estes spent two weeks in residence at Shanxi Agricultural University. During his stay, he gave two university-wide lectures titled “U.S. Presidential Politics as Identity Politics” and “Diversity and Inclusion in U.S. Higher Education” as well as visited the classes of Oberlin Shansi Fellows at Shanxi Agricultural University in Taigu, China. Later he reunited with Professor Jinzhao Li who is now a faculty member at Beijing Foreign Studies University. He participated on a panel discussion for the 2008 Summer Institute for the Study of the United States for China University Faculty on the current U.S. presidential election giving a talk titled “Negotiating Identity Politics and Dominant Cultural Narratives.”
Oberlin College's Creativity & Leadership Project – Creativity Fund
Oberlin College's Creativity & Leadership Project is a multi-disciplinary effort designed to provide students with opportunities to put their innovative ideas into practice. Open to students of any major or career aspiration, the project helps to prepare students for the challenges of implementing their own ideas through new semester and module courses, concept-development funding, mentored experiential opportunities, workshops, internships, and lectures by alumni and practitioners in northeast Ohio and beyond.
The Creativity Fund offers awards of $500 to $1,500 to support a range of student ventures. Open to students of any year and major (including graduating seniors), these awards are ideal for students who have developed entrepreneurial ideas and are poised to take the next step toward realizing their projects. Strong candidates will have completed an internship, coursework, or other related activity that adequately prepares them to pursue their project independently.
For more information on this fund and other opportunities and resources connected with this exciting new initiative please check out the Oberlin College's Creativity & Leadership Project website.
January 2008 - Black student graduation rates at Oberlin College increase 23% since 1998 - Highest increase among liberal arts colleges
“In 2007, 15 of the 22 high-ranked liberal arts colleges for which JBHE [Journal of Blacks in Higher Education] has long-range data showed an improvement in black student graduation rates from their 1998 rates. At Oberlin College in Ohio, there was a huge 23 percentage point improvement in the decade from 56 percent to 79 percent.”Link to article.
Pablo Mitchell Named Emerging Scholar of the Year
Oberlin History and Comparative American Studies Associate Professor Pablo Mitchell's groundbreaking work on Latino history has put him in a class of intellectuals named "Emerging Scholars of the Year" by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine. Link to Oberlin Online story.
MRC Continues to Examine Environmental Racism and Classism – Fall 2007
Over the past two years, the MRC has helped to bring speakers that connected social justice concerns and work around race and class with environmental justice. Last spring both MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship recipient Majora Carter talked about her organization Geen the Ghetto: Sustainable Environmental Justice for the South Bronx and Professor Sylvia Hood Washington gave a lecture titled “Ball of Confusion: African Americans and Modern/Postmodern Environmental Activism” as part of Black History Celebration.
This October the MRC brought Iris Morales of the Mission Coalition to speak on campus. As part of both the Indigenous Women’s Series and the My Name is My Own Series, Ms. Morales gave a talk on the Mission Coalition’s efforts toward an environmental justice campaign in the U.S./Mexico border town of Mission.
Highly Successful Latino/Latina Heritage Celebration – Final Event November 3, 2007
Each year the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) is pleased to co-sponsor and provide the administrative support for Latino/a Heritage Month. This year’s program stretched throughout the fall semester bringing a series of speakers, performances, and gatherings organized by the community of Latino/a students, in collaboration with the MRC as well as other faculty and staff at Oberlin College, around this year’s theme of “Art and Resistance: Latinas in the Performing and Visual Arts.”
The final event in the series is a performance by hip hop theater artist and poet activist Aya de Leon on November 3 rd at 8 p.m. in the Cat in the Cream.
Oberlin Lambda Alumni Return for Reunion - October 5-7, 2007
The MRC collaborated extensively with Alumni Affairs and the Oberlin Lambda Alumni Association (OLA) in order to make the recent OLA Reunion a smashing success. Approximately 60 alums from the 1960s to the early 2000s returned to campus for the festivities. In addition to sponsoring two alumni workshops, the MRC also facilitated a session focused on making connections between current students and alums, co-sponsored a faculty and staff reception with alums, and facilitated presentations from students who received alumni funded LGBT grants and prizes at a lunch sponsored by the Athletics Department.
Complete overview of the reunion program
MRC Launches New Community Interaction Initiative – September 2007
The MRC “Beyond the Bubble” Program is a new initiative this year that helps connect students with the incredible resources available outside of Oberlin. To that end, the MRC will be taking groups of students to events and programs in the area, especially in Cleveland. The first trip was to an exhibit of Haitian artist Fritz Millevoix at Galeria Quetzal in Cleveland ’s Little Italy, September 22, 2007. For more information please check out MRC Beyond the Bubble.
MRC Announces New Advisory Board - September 2007
Please see the MRC Advisory Board webpage for more information.
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