In It to Win It

Briana Randall

Staff Writer

With a new Director of Diversity, Lynn is about to see some big changes.

This year Lynn added a new member to the team, Don Lawrence. Lawrence has been very welcoming to the student body and is quickly finding his connection with students.

Before joining the Lynn community, Lawrence worked with higher education for roughly 15 years, in colleges in upstate New York, Southern California and Indiana. He has fulfilled positions like Director of Admissions for Diversity and Recruitment, and Director of Intercultural Affairs and Student Services prior to becoming Director of Diversity here.

According to Lawrence, he wanted to be on a campus that was more diverse and in a warm climate. How much more diverse can it get than Lynn? And Florida is as warm as you can get. Since joining the team Lawrence has been planning plenty of cool events.

“I have lots of plans, mainly trying to teach students how to develop their level of intercultural competence, trying to teach our students and campus how to demonstrate our appreciation for diversity that we have around us, learning how to maximize that diversity, putting on programs and events that connect us in a more authentic way,” said Lawrence.

It seems as if Lawrence is in it to win it here at Lynn, but the students can win big as well. Lawrence and his office are currently offering two free tickets to see popular music artist The Weeknd in Miami Dec. 19 through a raffle contest. Sounds awesome, but it’s a little more complicated that just buying a ticket.

Students who participate in Lawrence’s events over the next couple of weeks will get an additional entry to the raffle as well. Whoever’s raffle ticket Lawrence picks at the end of the contest will win the two concert tickets. In this way, he can promote the concert and his office by asking students to follow the Diversity team on Instagram @lynn_diversity. With new followers he hopes to further communicate what the office is doing through social media.

Sophomore Hadyn Daugs is a student worker in the diversity office and shared, “I think Don will bring a new light to the office and make it much more accessible for students. I think this is a great idea because this is students that many students and young adult our age enjoy, so this will bring involvement while also promoting the office of diversity.”

Moving forward, in about a week Lawrence will be hosting a Native American culture and sports event, discussing the mass use of Native Americans as mascots in sports. He’s hoping to help get students thinking about why this is common, and if it is right or wrong. During J-Term there will be a Martin Luther King Day event, as well as events planned for Black History month and Women’s History month in March. Of course there will be the Celebration of Nations event with International Student Services coming up also.

Students should make sure they stay up to date with the Diversity Office and their events, they have some great ideas and the next couple weeks those tickets are still up for grabs! Make sure you’re in it to win it!

 

 

Brianna Randall

A cum laude graduate of the 2017 class, Briana Randall is continuing her education with a master’s in communication and media with a digital media specialization. Working as the administrative graduate assistant, Randall is the first to welcome students and visitors to the College of Communication and Design. Through her studies, she hopes to expand her skillsets as a correspondent and for future work in the television and media industry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.