Week of September 30-October 4

Volume 11, Issue 4

“Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.” —Roberto Clemente, Latin American baseball legend and human rights activist (Learn more)

Student Spotlight: Marisol Gonzalez Flores

Marisol is pursing undergraduate degrees in both criminology and geosciences and will graduate in December 2025. She is a Promising Scholar, Sutton Scholar, Crimson Guide, and member of the Cook Honors College. She serves as the recruitment chair for the IUP Ambassadors and the social media cochair for the Geological Society of IUP. As a member of the Latino Student Organization (LaSO), she was involved in the highly successful Global Met Gala (Unity Ball) last spring and has volunteered at numerous Student Life events. Recently, she served on a candidate review committee for the Division of Student Affairs. Marisol was in the 2023 Theater-by-the-Grove production of Nine Days in the Sun, which explored a shift in the racial balance and social order. She is part of a research team (Team Tecto) studying tectonic exhumation in Taiwan, for which she focuses on geochemistry and using a new program, xMap Tools, to help organize data. She is in the process of getting abstracts approved to share her sea-floor mapping experience from this past summer, as she sailed from Honolulu to Sydney aboard Exploration Vessel Nautilus. Marisol said she is committed to bringing further awareness to Women in STEM initiatives and to first-generation college students. Born and raised in Mexico, she has encountered obstacles in her work as a scientist and student leader. These experiences have strengthened her resolve to break barriers, to advocate for greater inclusivity, and to find success in all of her opportunities. Marisol’s goals are to continue doing research, to help her community, and eventually to pursue a career in environmental law and justice. We thank you, Marisol!

Staff Spotlight: Mimi Benjamin

Mimi is a faculty member in the Department of Student Affairs, Student Success, and Disability Access. As a teacher of graduate students in the Student Affairs in Higher Education (SAHE) program, she guides students who wish to be college administrators and advises Exploratory undergraduate students in the University College. As a first-generation college student herself, Mimi is attentive to the needs of various student populations and is intentional about focusing on the experiences of all student populations in her teaching and research. Her research is primarily in the area of learning communities and student cocurricular learning experiences, and, in her writing, she is cognizant that those experiences can be different for underrepresented students. She recently collaborated with scholars from Singapore and the United Kingdom on a project studying peer support programs for underrepresented students. It is slated to be published in Teaching and Learning Inquiry. For the SAHE program, Mimi created an elective course titled Student Success in Higher Education, which focused on the experiences of different student populations and ways to help them thrive on college campuses. She is also a representative to the University Senate, chair of the Senate Committee on Student Affairs, and a member of the Promotion Committee, the Experiential Learning Committee, a Middle States Accreditation subcommittee on Support of the Student Experience, and a University Planning Committee subcommittee on barriers to student success. This year, she is coordinating the Engaged Learning Workshop Series and working with colleagues on programming for supervisors of student employees to maximize students’ learning experiences through on-campus employment. Last spring, she was recognized for her service to IUP with the University Senate’s 2023-24 Distinguished Faculty Award for Service. She is actively engaged in professional organizations, such as ACPA College Student Educators International and NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, for which she is a member of the 2026 national conference leadership committee. We thank you, Mimi!

A note about IUP Values Me: Each week, we highlight one student and one staff member to “shine a spotlight” on their leadership and involvement in campus programs and their great work assisting our campus community with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and/or civil rights awareness.

Digest issues are emailed every Monday morning. Send all information concerning your event to social-equity@iup.edu, and we will include it in the appropriate weekly issue. Please be sure to enter your event in the online DIVERSITY, STUDENT, and CENTRAL CALENDARS so that it will receive wider marketing and achieve greater attendance.

Elise Glenn

Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer/Title IX Coordinator

B-17 Delaney Hall

social-equity@iup.edu

title-ix@iup.edu