The Popel Shaw Center for Race and Ethnicity (PSC) has moved locations to an official center at 233 W Louther Street, where they will host events over the semester and act as a space to promote inclusivity on the Dickinson College campus. The new space will be open to clubs and discussion groups and will also invite speakers, primarily in the areas of history, social justice and racial equity. The Center was born out of discussions between President John E. Jones and Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Tony Boston.
The PSC, which was originally named the Multicultural Center, was renamed in 2014, after the first African American woman to graduate from Dickinson, Esther Popel Shaw ’19. The Director of the PSC, Reverend Yvette B. Davis, said the mission of the PSC “is to advance education, community, pluralistic thinking and decision making, and increasing the sense of belonging among primarily people of color, but all people.”
Over the nearly three years Rev. Davis has worked at Dickinson, the PSC has grown exponentially, starting out of Rev. Davis’s office in Landis House, to now having an official Center on campus. Isaiah Banuelos ’25, who is the Supervisor, Community Engagement and Outreach & Communications Coordinator for the PSC, started working with the PSC as a sophomore. He said that in his first year working with PSC, they put on the Latinx homecoming reception for the first time and have now expanded to doing projects in Carlisle and the greater Carlisle area, as well as alumni projects.
One of the PSC’s programs is the ACE (Academic and Co-Curricular Excellence) Peer Mentor Program, which pairs students from underrepresented populations on campus with an upperclassman mentor. These mentors can provide them with necessary support that is often lacking for these students at predominantly white institutions. Banuelos highlighted the boom in popularity of this program since he started working with the PSC, saying that it has grown “from where I think in past years it was in the tens, if that, of mentors and they would have to take on three or four mentees, now we’re upwards of forty.”
Before move-in day, the PSC held a welcome reception for parents and students of color, where they had a wall of foam boards advertising affinity clubs of color, Special Interest Housing and the programs of the PSC.
The PSC also held a week of firsts, which included the first ACE Peer Mentor Speed Matching Event on Sept. 10 and Rotary Means Business on Sept. 12, which was co-hosted by ACE Peer Mentors and was an opportunity for Dickinsonians to network with the Rotary Clubs of Carlisle and Carlisle Sunrise. There are several more events planned for the semester, including an official grand opening for the PSC on Nov. 2.
The PSC is currently decorated with artwork put together by Professors Lynn Johnson and Naaja Rogers, but they are looking for original student artwork to display. The artwork can be any medium, but should be meaningful to the artist, promoting a sense of belonging and inclusivity and reflect the mission of the PSC. Art can be submitted to Rev. Davis through her Dickinson email address ([email protected]).
