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K-State Today

May 6, 2019

K-State students selected as National Conference on Race and Ethnicity student scholars

Submitted by Bryan Samuel

Kansas State University is taking every effort to fully engage in the national dialogue on diversity and inclusion, and students are at the heart of these initiatives.

Desiring to take their engagement to the national stage, four K-Staters applied for designation as a 2019 National Conference for Race and Ethnicity, or NCORE, student scholar: Citlally Orozco, sophomore in political science and American ethnic studies, Overland Park; Darrell Reese, senior in human resource management, Dallas, Texas; Del'Sha Roberts, senior in biology and pre-med, Kansas City; and Bradley Richards, sophomore in economics, Wichita. Reese and Orozco were selected as 2019 NCORE student scholars and Roberts was selected as an alternate scholar.  

Orozco's research seeks to explain how changing asylum policies in the United States impact asylum seekers and immigrants, and how previous historical immigration policies have paved the way for current policies. The NCORE student scholar program supports a paid registration for Orozco to attend NCORE in Portland, Oregon. Additional funding is made possible by the Developing Scholars Program, the College of Arts and Sciences and the chief diversity and inclusion officer. 

Both Reese's and Roberts' research focuses on the importance of a Black Student Union on a predominantly white campus, and how it contributes to the holistic success and enhancement of black students. Due to competing leadership obligations, Reese is unable to attend 2019 NCORE.

Richards' research centers on the experience of African American students in Kansas higher education especially within predominantly white institutions. 

K-State students are no strangers to this engagement and research as they capitalize on learning opportunities that differences can create in a myriad of ways. Notable examples include K-State's Developing Scholars Program, Cats for Inclusion, Wildcat Dialogues/Intercultural Emersion Experience and KSUnite, just to name a few. 

The National Conference on Race and Ethnicity is the leading and most comprehensive national forum on diversity and inclusion in American higher education. Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply for NCORE student student scholars program. All NCORE student scholars are required to complete the Student Scholar On-Site Educational Program, which has academic and networking components that require each student scholar to participate in and complete a sufficient number of sessions. Additionally, NCORE student scholars are required to choose and present in one of the following three formats: poster session, pecha kucha conversation starters or concurrent session.

Last year, approximately 12 faculty and staff attended the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity.