The staff at KSC’s Office of Student Diversity, Belonging, and Equity is preparing for a school year of new programming and new faces following the departure of former Coordinator for Student Diversity, Belonging, and Equity Darrien Waugh.
Waugh left KSC in June, moving to a position as program manager for Black student initiatives at Berklee College of Music in Boston, according to his LinkedIn profile. Waugh had been at KSC since May 2023.
A search to fill the coordinator position for the fall semester is in progress, according to a KSC President email sent to faculty and staff on behalf of Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Dottie Morris. Over the summer, two new staff members were hired to help with office operations.
The two new hires, 2024 alumnae Daisy Gaikwad and Nina Zienkiewicz, started July 8, joining Coordinator of LGBTQ+ Student Support Ian Kaplan, according to the email. Kaplan started part-time in the spring 2024 semester and joined full-time in July.
Gaikwad explained in an interview with The Equinox she and Zienkiewicz are program assistants under Waugh’s former position.
“I focused more on the communication side of things across departments,” Gaikwad said. “I also help internally with our social media management and marketing and assistance for [Kaplan] and [Zienkiewicz] as they plan their programs along with my own.”
Zienkiewicz added, “I work a lot more with identity-based student groups doing programming … teaching them how to table and run their own meetings and trying to support them.”
In addition to his coordinator role, Waugh served as an advisor to the Black Student Union (BSU). Kaplan said BSU will meet weekly in the Cultural Center where the office is located, with Morris now in the advisor role.
Kaplan said the office staff tabled in the student center on August 26, the first day of classes. He estimated they spoke with between 200 and 300 students that day.
“The first day happened to be Women’s Equality Day,” Kaplan said. “We partnered up with some campus partners and ran a women’s equality trivia game and prize wheel and a timeline activity in the student center, and that just got us out into student activity in the student world.”
Kaplan said he hopes to establish first-day tabling as a tradition, as well as looking into other tabling opportunities.
Other programming will take place at the cultural center. Kaplan listed programs including “Movement Monday” led by Gaikwad, “Talk To Us Tuesday” led by Zienkiewicz, “Watercolor Wednesday” led by Kaplan and “Crafternoon” on Thursdays led by all three staff members.
“The only program that has precedent from previous years is Crafternoon,” Kaplan said. “[It] has been a tradition for the Cultural Center, but all of the other programs we just talked about are all new programs that we are running because those are the experiences that we’re bringing to the office.”
Zienkiewicz added the staff looked for input when developing these programs.
“We are all alumni and we’ve talked to students and asked them, ‘What do you want to see through the Cultural Center?’ And they’ve advocated for programs like these,” Zienkiewicz said. “[We are] definitely prioritizing self-care, especially with the political season. We just want to be a resource for students literally whenever they need it.”
Zienkiewicz and Gaikwad also spoke on their experiences returning to Keene State after graduating.
“We were both super involved in orientation … The students keep me coming back,” Zienkiewicz said. “Having the opportunity to work in a space for students and follow the higher education path that I imagined for myself, it’s nice to do it in a space I’m already comfortable with.”
“It feels a little different and weird because it’s the same Keene State, but not from this perspective that we know it as and it’s really rewarding to be on the other side of things,” Gaikwad added.
Morris was not available for an interview by deadline.
Charlotte King can be contacted at
cking@kscequinox.com
