In recognition of its 20th anniversary, the Office of Multicultural Services and Programs will hold a weekend celebration for alumni, current students, faculty and staff.
The celebration runs fromSept. 25-27, with events like a moonlight mixer at the State Botanical Garden, a tour of campus and a football tailgate. Tickets to events can be bought separately or package deals are available online at www.celebratemsp.uga.edu.
While some events are free (like the “Pioneers of the Past” lecture at 4 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Chapel), prices for others range from $5 for student tickets
($7 for couples) to the Botanical Gardens mixer to $150 for a complete package for two that includes tickets to all events and a souvenir booklet.
The event Web site also includes pages for alumni to blog about their experiences, a photo gallery of past events and a timeline of the organization’s history.
Started in 1989 as the Office of Minority Services and Programs, the organization had an initial goal of uniting African-American student groups and guiding them in the right direction, said Leslie Bates, the program’s first full-time director.
“Twenty years ago, my goal was to get the program established,” said Bates, who will be on campus for the celebration. “There was nothing out there set up to provide services to African-American students or students of color, or any program trying to make those students part of the mainstream at UGA. The program was all about finding ways to get students of color involved at the university instead of just keeping them off to the side.”
Since then MSP has expanded its reach and changed its name. Now it serves to coordinate efforts to include more students. Groups like Latinos Investing in Students of Tomorrow, a peer-mentoring group; and the Asian American Student Association now fall under its jurisdiction.
The program’s mission, however, has remained the same: to promote student leadership and academic achievement, celebrate the contribution and heritage of UGA’s diverse population and to encourage the full participation of all students in campus life.
“I never thought that there would not be a need for an office like it,” Bates said. “I think that some people thought we should be about trying to work ourselves out of a job, but I thought right from the beginning that I should establish a program and services that would last well beyond me as director. The proof of success is that the program continues well after the people who started it are gone.”
The strength of the organization has shown through in planning the celebration, according to Cynthia Polk-Johnson, the current MSP director.
“We pulled together a committee from across campus-some alumni, some ‘Double Dawgs’ who have earned two degrees from UGA, people working in MSP-and started brainstorming about what we wanted the celebration to look like,” she said. “We came up with a list of events we thought people would be interested in, things that definitely are a tribute for those who paved the way for the office to be in existence.”