Thorns promotes diversity on campus

February 13, 2006 —

For Mamie Thorns, the best salad is one with several ingredients. She thinks a university should be the same way.

"I think of it as a salad," she says. "In my salad, I like variety. I don't like just the spinach. I want to mix different kinds of lettuce together, I want to add some crutons ... it will make a good salad."

Thorns uses the salad analogy to discuss her philosophy about diversity as it relates to SVSU. The special assistant to the president for Diversity Programs says she wants more than just lettuce on her plate when she sits down at the table; she wants vegetables from all over the garden. Thorns has high hopes for the salad that is SVSU and believes that diversifying the ingredients will not only create a better tasting product but one that is better for those who sample it.

"I want that salad to grow," she explains. "I want us to come up with new ingredients, new ideas, and new programs that will foster and help our students when they graduate here."

"A challenging job"

Thorns was more than prepared three years ago when she came to SVSU, in part because she held a similar position at Central Michigan University. While CMU has almost three times as many students as SVSU, Thorns believes the job is still a difficult one.

"Regardless of the numbers," she says, "diversity is a very challenging job for anyone that's in a role like I am or in a similar role."

In fact, in many ways, Thorns job at SVSU is more multi-faceted than the one she left at CMU.

"This role is much broader because I do quite a few things as it relates to Diversity Programs," she says.

One of the main things Thorns does is simply act as a resource. She invites students, faculty, and staff to stop by her office to speak with her or borrow some of the resources she has in regards to diversity. Thorns also receives requests to speak to classrooms both on and off campus.

In addition, Thorns and her office are involved with a variety of diversity programming. Diversity Programs recently presented the Barstow Seminar for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities featuring Dr. Sundiata Keita-Cha-Jua, put on several events as part of Black History Month, and also played a large role in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. Also, Thorns coordinates the Saginaw County Youth Leadership Institute, a new program this year that brings together student leaders from SVSU and Saginaw area high schools to make a difference in the community.

"I think we have a lot of wonderful programs here," she says. "My goal each year is to continue to grow in the types of programs that we are providing for our faculty, staff and students, and even the community. Each year I'm going to try to out do myself from what I did the last year."

Though Thorns is happy with the programs, she is far from complacent. She continues to work to develop new ways to promote diversity.

"I'm very pleased with the progress that we have made," she says. "I thoroughly enjoy what I do here. I enjoy working with faculty, staff, and students and brainstorming and coming up with different ideas and programs."

"It's a journey"

Innovations in technology and communications have helped shorten the distances between places and people. Thorns recognizes this and realizes its implications and how students should prepare for a diverse world.

"We are an institution that wants to prepare our students to go out and work in a global society," she says. "When our students graduate here, they will not only have the knowledge but they will also know how to work with people and get along with people from all different races and backgrounds."

One way Thorns believes students can broaden their horizons is by getting to know other students from different backgrounds.

"Get to know students who you don't know," she says. "Get to know students from different cultures, backgrounds, and cities. Reach out and get to know others."

Thorns is pleased with the number of international students enrolled at SVSU, in particular with the new Saudi Arabian students that began attending this semester. She believes that anyone with a different background and different experiences has a great deal to teach everyone involved with the University and that everyone must make a conscious effort to learn from each other.

"I think that we can do a much better job making sure all of our students have the opportunity to get to know our international students," she says.

Taking advantage of the resources available is one suggestion Thorns has for making that effort. She encourages students to use the Zahnow Library and Internet as to educate themselves about others. In addition, she cites local programs as a way others outside of the University can learn.

"In the tri-city area we have so many culture programs," she says. "Let's encourage our young people and community to participate in them."

Thorns herself goes through a great deal to continue her education. She reads continously and attends a number of trainings and seminars to develop and enhance her own diversity skills, including what could possibly offend people of a different culture.

"If we want to embrace diversity in the workforce and on campus, we do have to get to know the different cultures," Thorns says. "We have to know what offends them so we'll be able to say the right things."

Regardless of how hard one tries, Thorns realizes that understanding diversity is a process.

"We're all going to make mistakes because diversity is a journey," she says. "As soon as I learn about one culture there is more to learn. It's a journey."

Thorns says that once that learning is done, one can easily see how similar everyone really is.

"It's all about understanding each other," she says. "Once we do that, we find out we have a lot more in common than we think we do."

"It's about all of us"

To Thorns, diversity is more than just black and white. She wants people to understand that it encompasses all differences.

"People do think that diversity is about blacks," she says. "It is about blacks, but it's more than that. It's international students, it's gays and lesbians, males and females ... it's being able to understand and embrace those differences."

Thorns mentions that diversity could be growing up in different areas of the state or different countries in the world. Regardless of its definition and how hard it can be at times, she recognizes just how vital diversity is to SVSU as well as the rest of the world.

"Diversity to me is inclusive. It involves all of us," she says. "It's about differences, it's about similarities, it's about understanding the differences, understanding the similarities, understanding how to use our diversity as a strength for our organization here at SVSU."

Please read the first part of our series on Mamie Thorns.