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K-State Today

Division of Communications and Marketing
Kansas State University
128 Dole Hall
1525 Mid-Campus Drive North
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-2535
vpcm@k-state.edu

May 4, 2021

Diversity Programs Office May update

Submitted by Zelia Wiley

DPO congratulations to 2020-2021 graduates

In celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, this May the Diversity Programs Office will have the opportunity to be involved in various diversity programs and accomplishments. The K-State Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, or MANRRS, chapter also welcomed a new executive board into office this last month. The Diversity Programs Office and K-State MANRRS express our gratitude to the 2020-2021 MANRRS Executive Board members for their leadership over the past year. Thank you to the previous officer team:

Maria Kimzey, president; Jenika Hazelbaker, undergraduate vice president; Raymond Thomas, graduate vice president; Sanders Barbee, secretary; Selena Gilyot, treasurer; Mayra Damian, public relations; Brandon Green, parliamentarian; and Lonnie Hobbs Jr., co-advisor.

The Diversity Programs Office and K-State MANRRS also congratulate the 2021-2022 K-State MANRRS Executive Board officers:

Brandon Green, president; Zenzelle Asante, undergraduate vice president; Raymond Thomas, graduate vice president; Sanders Barbee, secretary; Selena Gilyot, treasurer; Shen Nagar, public relations; and Leah Hudson, parliamentarian.

Congratulations to our new officer team. We are excited to watch your leadership throughout this next year.

Last month in celebration of Arab American Heritage Month and Diversity in the Workplace Month, the Diversity Programs Office collaborated with K-State MANRRS, the College of Agriculture Ambassadors, and the Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs Office in presenting three College for a Day events. These events included two in-person presentations given to 25 Dodge City High School students and more than 50 JAG-K — Jobs for American graduates — students from Topeka and Manhattan. Also, one virtual event was given to 300 Junction City Middle School seventh-grade science students throughout four sessions. K-State MANRRS also participated in the first virtual National MANRRS Conference in April and excelled as they brought home three first through third place titles from the competitions.

In May, we are celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, Jewish American Heritage and Mental Health Month. We hope all can participate in activities sponsored by the student group, Asian American Student Union.

We would also like to highlight our upcoming spring 2021 graduates:

  • Cheyenne Lozano, 2018-2019 Project IMPACT MAPS Scholar.
  • Halle Tophoj, 2017-2018 Project IMPACT MAPS Scholar.
  • Jaden Castinado, 2017-2018 Project IMPACT KOMPASS Scholar.
  • Antonia Santos, 2017-2018 Project IMPACT MAPS Scholar.
  • Aaron Davis, 2017-2018 Project IMPACT MAPS Scholar.

We look forward to seeing their continued success. Congratulations to our 2021 graduates.

Our final note of congratulations for the spring 2021 semester goes to the MANRRS Student of the Month recipients. Thank you to Grace Huynh, February recipient, and Ana Lorett, April recipient, for honorably representing K-State MANRRS. Congratulations on being named Student of the Month by the K-State MANRRS chapter throughout the spring 2021 semester. 

Thank you to the Diversity Programs Office for its hard work in ensuring the office had a successful semester. Please continue to watch for more diversity news and events as we get ready to end the 2021 spring semester. We appreciate your support. For more information about upcoming events please contact Zelia Z. Wiley, assistant dean and director of diversity programs, at 785-523-5793 or zwiley@k-state.edu