The Multicultural and International Service staff has increased over the past year. New staff members include Hilary Charles, Danny Kim, and Michael Rogers.
Charles serves as the Area Coordinator for Andreen, Seminary, and Swanson Commons residence halls and also works as an advisor to student groups from the Multicultural Student Life Office. Kim is the Assistant Director of International Student Life and Rogers is the Assistant Director of Multicultural Student Life.
Charles is proud to call her positions at Augustana the first of her career.
“It’s considered a collateral position, but I was actually hired specifically to fill both positions,” said Charles. “I am the first person to ever have this specific position, though, so it’s definitely been a learning process for everyone.”
Charles normally resides in her Andreen Hall office for her position with residential life. However, she also has office hours at the three multicultural houses on campus on both Wed. and Thurs. from 6:30-8:30 p.m., during which time she is available to meet with students.
“I hope to see students grow and begin to think about their identities in complex ways,” said Charles. “Watching student growth and development are things I’m very passionate about.”
Across campus, Kim works with approximately 115 international students. His job is to aid them through a process familiar to him. Kim moved to the United States when he was 17.
“My position, at its most basic level, is to help the international students develop in a holistic way,” Kim said. “I help them transition into both the culture here at Augustana and in the United States.”
Kim previously worked at Ohio State University, but was missing the small college atmosphere he experienced as an undergraduate student. His experience with students at Augustana has been one which has reassured his confidence in the decision to take the position.
“The students here are some of the sweetest people I know,” Kim said. “They revitalize me and give me energy.”
Kim’s office resides on the fourth floor of The Gerber Center, in what will soon be the new Multicultural Student Life Center.
The office directly next to Kim’s is the new professional home of Rogers.
Rogers was excited about the position opening at Augustana, because he wanted to be able to give back to the school and program which had helped him have a successful college career.
“This position interested me as an alum of Augustana who was heavily involved in this office and benefited from many of the opportunities provided through Multicultural Student Life,” Rogers said.
Rogers’ focus will be on multicultural students’ academic success, multicultural student organizations on campus, and on creating initiatives to engage more mae students at Augustana.
“Overall, I work to ensure that underrepresented students are successful both inside and outside of the classroom,” Rogers said.
Rogers’ and Kim’s offices are nearby the Office of Student Life (OSL), where the Multicultural Programming Board (MPB) is housed.
Director of the MPB, Wendy Guadarrama, said the faculty in the Multicultural and International Service offices will be working with MPB to put on events throughout the year.
“They’re planning on programing more events this year, like we do, but plan to put a different spin on things,” Guadarrama said. “We are separate offices, but we will definitely be working together.”
The many offices which dedicate their time to assisting and planning events for multicultural and international students plan on having a very successful year with the help of their new staff members: Hilary Charles, Danny Kim, and Michael Rogers.
Charles has an Undergraduate Degree from Northern Arizona University and a Master’s Degree from Arizona State, both of which are in social work. Her Master’s emphasis was policy, administration, and community, all of which will aid her in her new positions at Augustana.
After moving to the United States, Kim attended Cedarville University to obtain his Undergraduate Degree in psychology and broadcasting and digital media. He then received his masters in Higher Education and Student Affairs at Ohio State, where he then held a professional position, until being hired at Augustana.
Following Rogers’ college career at Augustana, he then went on to earn his master’s degree from Western Illinois University, specializing in higher education and student affairs.
