Uniting for Inclusive Student Success
Indiana University of Pennsylvania students Erika Jackson and Monserrat Lopez Villagomez, president of the IUP Latino Student Organization, presented “Uniting Through Culture: How Student-Led Programming Led to 200+ Attendees” at the 2024 PASSHE Summit: Uniting for Inclusive Student Success.
The Summit, held at Millersville University of Pennsylvania on October 28 and 29, drew hundreds of students, faculty, and staff from Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s universities.
During their presentation, Jackson and Lopez Villagomez talked about the success of IUP’s DEI Alliance’s 2023 Unity Ball Global Met Gala. The event, organized to celebrate and embrace cultural identities and intersectionality, was held at IUP on April 11.
Fabulous food representing a number of cultures was served, and music was provided for joyous dancing. Remarks were offered by IUP Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Title IX Coordinator Elise Glenn. The event had more than 210 persons in attendance in formal dress and featured a red carpet entrance and a backdrop for photo opportunities to capture the evening.
The DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Alliance is a unified cohort of student organizations that each have a mission to support minority students by developing community, collaborating with other organizations, and creating cultural visibility programs.
The DEI Alliance was created in fall 2022 by the Office of Social Equity and Title IX.
DEI Alliance members who were part of the 2023 Unity Ball included Collegiate Women in Progress, Colors in Unity, IUP Hillel (previously known as the Jewish Student Union), India Students Association, Latino Student Organization, Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity Inc., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People IUP Chapter, and South Asian Student Association,
Jackson, of Monroeville, who completed her undergraduate degree in psychology from IUP in May and who is a student in the psychology graduate program, coordinated the Unity Ball Met Gala with the support and planning of student leaders within the DEI Alliance, including Lopez Villagomez, a senior political science major in the Cook Honors College from Kennett Square.
In addition to the presentation by Jackson and Lopez Villagomez, Roger Briscoe II, IUP executive director of Student Inclusion, presented “Empowering Student Success: Engaging Multicultural, Underrepresented, and Nonresidential Students Through Data-Driven Initiatives in PASSHE.”
IUP Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Kevin W. Bailey, vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC Charlotte, was honored during the Summit with the Keepers of the Flame Award for his longstanding contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Bailey earned a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and a master’s degree in student affairs in higher education from IUP in 1986 and 1990, respectively.