Kalamazoo College is a community of students, faculty, staff and alumni who are committed to making an exceptional place to learn, live, and work. Kalamazoo College is committed to a sense of belonging and strives to support inclusivity. Individuals who share similar commitments are invited to apply for employment.

Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo College is a highly selective nationally known liberal arts college offering an integrated undergraduate experience that weaves a traditional liberal arts curriculum into educational experiences in both domestic and international settings. The campus is located midway between Chicago and Detroit in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a metropolitan community of 225,000 that supports four college and university campuses along with numerous civic arts and cultural associations. Thirty-five miles from Lake Michigan, the area offers many opportunities for outdoor activities.

Office of Intercultural Student Life

Driven by core values of care, community, and advocacy, the Office of Intercultural Student Life (ISL) supports Students of Color (SOC) and students with identities that have been historically marginalized on campus and in society.

While recognizing and working to end systemic discrimination and structural inequities both on campus and beyond, ISL is firmly and purposely centered on students. Programs, initiatives, partnerships, and resources focus on student success and support, and the Intercultural Center (IC) provides a place for marginalized voices and identities to be centered, safe, and celebrated.

The Office of Intercultural Student Life provides additional opportunities for both BIPOC and non-BIPOC community members including our winter clothing resource closet, our IC Library, and our Hungry Hornets food service program.

Assistant Director of Intercultural Student Life

The Assistant Director of Intercultural Student Life assists with the implementation of all ISL and IC programming, support, and resources for Students of Color (SOC) and students who have been historically marginalized. This newly created full-time position reflects the College’s ongoing support of the student needs for ISL and the IC. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work with the new Director of Intercultural Student Life (DISL) to continue to shape the work and role of this position within the office to meet current and evolving needs of students and campus.

Student Support:

• Provide vocal, visible, proactive, and sustained outreach to, and support for, Students of Color and students with identities that have been historically marginalized on campus.
• Develop strong connections to individual students and identity-based student groups.
• Provide student support and appropriate referrals to campus and community resources.
• Encourage student participation in campus leadership and personal enrichment opportunities.
• Assist with the development of peer and other mentoring programs and training.

Collaboration and Partnerships:

• In coordination with the Director of ISL, students, and campus partners, identify and address institutional structures, practices, and policies that inhibit a sense of belonging, academic and social success, retention, and overall satisfaction for Students of Color and other marginalized students.
• Work specifically with the Center for Career and Professional Development to pilot the K Connect training programming catered to the career success of students of color.
• Value, maintain, and grow essential campus partnerships with the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the Student Counseling Center, the Office of Academic Affairs, and other campus offices.
• Assist in ISL work to strengthen various student support initiatives, committees, and offices.
• Assist with strategies for communication to engage parents and families representing a wide array of backgrounds and languages.
• Develop strong collegial relationships with peers doing similar work at other colleges and universities to develop partnerships and stay abreast of trends and issues nationally.
• Collaborate with appropriate community, state, regional, national, and international partners.

Programming:

• In coordination with the Director of ISL, convene student advisory group(s) to ensure ISL and IC programming efforts continue to center the voices, needs, and experiences of Students of Color.
• Employ a developmental approach to programming to ensure multiple educational entry points for students with different perspectives, needs, and experiences.
• Engage and promote strengths-based and culturally responsive programming.
• Assist with ISL programming both directly and through collaboration with campus partners.
• Implement programs that help students who have been marginalized understand, successfully navigate, and effectively dismantle inequities and systemic barriers to success and happiness.
• Address student needs in the context of evolving local, national, and international issues.

Intercultural Center:

• Be an advocate for, and ambassador to, the IC so students are aware of its student-centered history and purpose, as well as its resources for student success and support.
• Assist with efforts and resources to ensure the upkeep, access, and success of the Intercultural Center as a gathering and meeting place, as well as a refuge for those marginalized identities to be centered and celebrated, and at times to simply “be.”

Assessment:

• Assist with the regular needs assessment for Students of Color and other marginalized student voices, and using results to inform office, division, and institutional priorities and action.
• Assist with assessment projects designed to understand and improve student learning, as well as office programs, goals, and operations.

Administrative:

• Assist in the implementation of programs, services, and initiatives of the office.
• Assist with the daily operations of the Intercultural Center (IC).
• Participate in committees, projects, and other work assignments within and beyond the division.
• Other duties as assigned.

Position Qualifications:

• Experience and demonstrated success working within or in collaboration with multicultural or intercultural student life/affairs in a college campus setting
• Master’s degree in Higher Education, Student Affairs, or related discipline

The successful candidate will also have many of the following:

• A genuine fondness and respect for students, including the ability to respond compassionately
• An appreciation and understanding of, and the ability to successfully apply, student development, identity development, and strengths-based theories in work with college students
• Strong programming and facilitation skills with a record of collaboration
• Demonstrated leadership, supervisory, assessment, and budgetary experience
• Strong written, verbal, and digital communication skills
• A sense of humor
• Appreciation for the context of a residential liberal arts campus and its impact on students
• Bi-lingual or multi-lingual fluency is a plus

Additional Resources:

• For more information about Kalamazoo College, Intercultural Student Life and the IC, and Student Development, please visit: Kalamazoo College – Kalamazoo College (kzoo.edu), Intercultural Student Life – | Kalamazoo College (kzoo.edu), and Student Development – | Kalamazoo College (kzoo.edu).

• For historical information on the development of ISL and the IC, please visit: https://cache.kzoo.edu/handle/10920/43042 or https://cache.kzoo.edu/handle/10920/38684

• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until position is filled.

Questions and nominations can be directed to:
Justine Shelton, M.Ed.
Director of Intercultural Student Life
p: 269.337.7212
e: justine.shelton@kzoo.edu

An equal opportunity employer, Kalamazoo College is committed to equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal protection under the law. The College administers its programs without regard to race, creed, religion, age, sex, national origin, height, weight, marital status, physical disability as protected by law, or sexual orientation. The College’s definition of sexual orientation proscribes discrimination based on a person’s sexuality, or gender identity, actual or presumed.