Multicultural Programs and Retention
The Office of Multicultural Programs and Retention facilitates the engagement of differences in a comprehensive manner that allows students, faculty and staff to learn from one another and to recognize the diversity of perspectives, experiences and cultures that exist within the University community, the surrounding community and the nation.
We aim to enhance multicultural competencies across campus by providing the University community with broad opportunities for cross-cultural engagement and dialogue. This is crucial to the success of the entire student body in our increasingly global environment.
We offer a broad range of curricular and co-curricular programming that provides intentional opportunities to engage with differences that fuel intellectual growth, thus deriving the educational benefits of diversity by creating avenues for intense dialogue and rigorous analysis and by fostering mutually beneficial interactions among the University community.
Multicultural Education Week
Held each semester, Multicultural Education Week is designed to celebrate diverse backgrounds and spark conversations around important topics. Highlights include featured speakers, panel discussions, a pop-up coffeehouse and a closing festival.
About Us
Our Mission
The Office of Multicultural Programs and Retention strives to create an educational enterprise that values multiculturalism, where the value of diversity is not only acknowledged but also actively pursued and celebrated through every fiber of the University community. We foster a campus climate that moves beyond the basic concept of being civil toward those who are different to being engaged with those differences.
We aim to create a campus culture that recognizes, appreciates and values the cultural and ethnic backgrounds, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, economic statuses, abilities (both physical and mental), political beliefs and ideologies of those who comprise our campus and surrounding communities.
Diversity Statement
The Office of Multicultural Programs and Retention recognizes that diversity is more than a demographic measurement – it is also an essential source of experiences that enrich learning through a series of engaging and in-depth interactions. All members of the University community have something to teach and something to learn from one another. We aim to emphasize Salve Regina’s commitment to integrate the learning potential of a diverse campus with the core mission of the institution.
This commitment compels us to foster an environment that encourages all members of the University community to develop and practice intercultural skills in their personal, professional and academic pursuits. Beyond creating a welcoming environment, it is our responsibility to provide students, faculty and staff with opportunities to explore and contribute to our diverse community, built on the principles of respecting and valuing differences.
We will be successful when the Salve Regina community views diversity not as a way to differentiate between us, but as the way in which we collaborate and interact to pursue the highest ideals of the human experience in the spirit of the mercy tradition – creating a world that is harmonious, just and merciful.
Goals
Enhance individual growth and community integration.
This will be accomplished by enhancing student learning through curricular and co-curricular experiences that enhance self-awareness, and by teaching cross-cultural competencies skills.
Objective: Provide intentional and in-depth opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and dialogue among students.
Assist in the University-wide effort to create a more welcoming and inclusive campus climate.
Objective: Serve as an advocate and a support for Salve Regina's minority student population.
Objective: Provide majority students with avenues to enhance their cross-cultural competencies and encourage their active participation and engagement with diverse populations.
Provide ongoing support to our minority student population.
Objective: Develop comprehensive strategies to assist with under-represented student population transitions and to facilitate their engagement with the University community.