May 22, 2013
Our snapshot for the 2012-2013 is complete. It was a very busy year for us at Spectrum, and we're happy to report some of the work we've accomplished as a team! You can read or download the snapshot here.
The academic year was an eventful year for the Spectrum Center. Our office underwent structural changes in our volunteer program, resulting in four main areas of work: Community Engagement, Collaborative Learning, Educational Outreach, and Alumni Relations. We hired 10 undergraduate students to serve as Team Leads, and held a volunteer retreat in January to build community. Students are at the core of the work we do, and now they more fully involved with our programming.
Our Educational Outreach underwent some major changes over the year, including a new Ally Training curriculum which integrates more social justice content and a new structure for our speakers’ bureau program, My Voice. In addition to changes in Educational Outreach, we added a new area of focus to our work: Alumni Relations. This led to a new event series featuring alumni via Skype called “AlumniConnect,” and a monthly alumni newsletter.
Over the course of the year, we had successful events such as National Coming Out Week in October, Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), and Spring Pride Week. For TDOR, we hosted Carrie Davis as the keynote speaker, and during Spring Pride Week, we hosted a concert with folk singer Dalice Malice.
Thanks to our partnerships with student organizations, we were involved in co-sponsoring some amazing events that took place on campus this year. The Coalition for Queer People of Color held the first ever Color of Change Community Summit, and with over 100 conference attendees, it was a huge success. The Diversity Peer Educators put on an event this Spring in which we were able to help bring renowned author and poet Staceyann Chin to campus. FOKUS hosted their annual Herstory event, and Alice N’Kom came to campus for the Sex and Justice Conference.
Overall, it was a year full of changes, growth, and student involvement. We are looking forward to a summer of critical reflection and planning for the 2013-2014 school year!