First senior diversity officer takes role

At the turn of the new year, CSB+ SJU’s first-ever senior diversity officer officially took office.

Sandra Mitchell, who previously served as the director of equity and inclusion at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, has spent the past couple of weeks settling into her role.

“Each college campus is unique. Finding out what makes each campus tick is important to me and the work that I will be doing, especially as society is constantly changing and progressing,” Mitchell said.

Besides getting set up in both of her offices on each campus, Mitchell has spent the majority of her time attending meetings with administrators and campus leaders. Although she has hit the ground running, Mitchell is approaching her work with a long-term focus. One of her goals is that when current students come back as alumni and alumnae, they will notice that substantial progress that has been made.

“I think it is important for everybody to know that changes do not happen overnight. Changes like these take time, just as it took time for the campuses to become this way,” Mitchell said.

While she was at St. Catherine, Mitchell led efforts to develop and implement an institution-wide inclusive excellence plan. She also promoted inclusive excellence as a primary campus value, and through plans, programs and activities, fostered a climate of respect for diversity and equity. Additionally, Mitchell facilitated professional development opportunities for St. Catherine faculty and staff across areas of systemic racism, inclusive excellence, diversity, equity and inclusivity, while supporting the president and senior vice president for human resources, equity and inclusion.

CSB+SJU President Brian Bruess, who worked with Mitchell during his time at St. Catherine University, released a statement via an email to the campus community.

“Sandra is a seasoned and influential leader in higher education and will be a strategic thought-partner to me, serving as a member of the CSB and SJU leadership team,” he wrote. “The position of senior diversity officer will help us put in place the structures and systems that will allow this community to live up to our Benedictine ideals: that of creating communities in which all know they belong, and in which each member expands toward becoming a more empathic member of a just and beloved world.”

The email listed a number of Mitchell’s responsibilities, including unifying stakeholders across the two campuses and beyond toward a foundational vision for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) initiatives; integrating DEIJ content throughout the student experience (curricular and co-curricular) toward improved student engagement belonging and success; and building bold and contemporary strategies to recruit, retain and develop a more diverse community of faculty, staff and students, among other duties. One of the people she will be working with directly is Malik Stewart, director of Multicultural Student Services.

“I hope that the good work that had started with the Becoming Community and the Coordinating Council is able to continue because we have Sandra’s leadership,” Stewart said.

As CSB and SJU undergo the process of further integration, Mitchell is hoping to make a mark on the campuses by doing some integrating of her own. She noted that within her new position, there needs to be a strategy around integrating DEIJ into the student experience, and plans to collaborate with the community to bring about such changes.

“Integration is a different way of thinking for many folks. I like to think of this work as the red thread that has to go through everything in order to have that integration,” Mitchell said.