Kent State’s College of Communication and Information is in the process of creating the new Office of Academic Diversity Outreach.

Amanda Leu, the coordinator of academic diversity outreach in the CCI office, came to the campus in July 2016. Out of 130 applicants, Leu was offered the position. Leu said her position is fairly new and changing daily.

“There’s lots of things around campus for diversity stuff, but everything that has existed in the past were at the university level,” Leu said. “They existed to serve all students, all faculty and staff across the entire university.”

Leu said there has been a push from the president and provost office for colleges to create diversity positions within them that serve the needs of the college and its students.

CCI is not the first college within Kent State to have a diversity office. The College of Education, Health and Human Services has had one implemented for several years.

In order for the work to be successful, Leu said there needed to be not just a single person, but rather an entire office.

“We provide education, resources and support for all of our underrepresented, underserved student populations,” Leu said. “That is what makes us very different from what a lot of other diversity units on campus do.”

Leu said diversity is important to CCI. To make sure that the students have the support, structures and resources they need, Lee said, the office was a decision that needed to be jumped on.

Currently, the office is in a temporary space in the dean’s office, located in room 314 of the University Library, but Leu said she hopes to expand it within the next year.

Emily Fulmer is a religion reporter, contact her at [email protected].