December 11, 2002
Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/e-mail loweryr@cwu.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - “I’m not THE expert on diversity – I’m
here to build a program.” So says Leslie Webb, the new director of
Central Washington University’s diversity education center.
Webb, 32, received her bachelor’s degree from CWU in theatre
arts in 1994. While at Central, she also served as the Barto Hall
manager and was a member of the Associated Students of CWU (ASCWU)
board of directors.
“The entire time I was here I was really involved in student
life,” she recalls. “So, when it came time to graduate I didn’t know
whether to pursue a master’s in theatre or this ‘new thing’ – that I
really didn’t realize was a career option – which was student affairs
administration.”
Webb opted for the latter, earning a master’s degree in
college student personnel administration from Western Illinois
University (WIU).
“I developed a passion for it (student affairs),” she adds,
“because I was given so much by the administrators here on campus, who
spent time mentoring and encouraging me to become a para-professional
to my peers when I was an undergraduate and to get into the field.”
During her two years at WIU, Webb’s studies and work
concentrated on the school’s underrepresented populations, specifically
African-American students from inner-city Chicago and gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender students.
“As a Caucasian woman, I came to the conclusion that, in
order to assist change, members of the majority population need to be
part of the solution,” she says, “rather than assuming that all the
underrepresented groups in America are going to make change and fight
oppression. I see it as part of my responsibility, too.”
Webb looks now to transfer her passion into building CWU’s
diversity education center into one of the premiere programs in the
state of Washington.
“I want to create opportunities for the campus community to
collaborate and coalition-build,” Webb says, “so that we can appreciate
the human difference that is in all of our populations.”
Her work will extend to the areas of education, leadership,
program and events, social and co-curricular activities, peer
mentorship and beyond. She is presently meeting with faculty, staff,
students and administrators to gauge the campus climate.
“I’m sensing the need to further infuse multiculturalism and
diversity into the university curriculum and out-of-class experiences,
too,” Webb notes. We need to assist students ‘whole’ development in
order to help them be successful in the workplace.”
Continued efforts are needed to actively recruit and retain students,
faculty and staff from underrepresented populations so that this is “a
more globalized campus,” she adds.
“In order to recruit and retain underrepresented students we
need to have programs in place that will appeal to those students,”
Webb says. “That means we need to be visible and grow a program that
tells incoming students of color, for example, ‘There is something here
for you.’”
