Editor’s note: This is the third in a five-part series profiling leaders of diverse communities on and off campus in Athens.
Donning green and white was not foreign to Cecil Walters when he moved to Athens. Walters, a first-generation student at Binghamton University in New York — which shares its colors with Ohio University — had the hues hanging in his closet from his college years.
But for the past two years, he has donned an Ohio pin to meetings as director for the Office of Multicultural Student Access and Retention, which oversees programs such as the Templeton Scholars Program, LINKS and the Appalachian Scholars program.
The office serves the function of helping the university with its diversity policies along with providing academic and personal assistance for students in the programs the office oversees.
“(We want students under the Office of Multicultural Student Access and Retention) to have a home base on campus,” Walters said.
Walters makes $61,964 as director.
Whitney Washington, a first-year LINKS peer mentor and a senior studying integrated language arts, said even though her interactions with Walters are limited, she views him as welcoming and professional.
“Having a support system is really important (as well as) having someone who understands,” she said. “The whole office provides that support.”
Thomas Raimondi, coordinator for leadership and scholar development, has known Walters since Raimondi interviewed for his current position in January 2012. He said he loves having Walters as a supervisor because he welcomes everyone in the office and helps build relationships.
“He makes sure we all mesh very well,” Raimondi said. “Coming to work feels like an extended part of my family.”
He added that Cecil always thinks big and sets high goals for everyone to work toward.
“He’s great when it comes to setting high expectations and helps us accomplish those,” Raimondi said. “We can float and subsist, but he is always challenging us to make things better.”
And he looks pretty sharp to boot, Raimondi added.
“One of my first impressions was that he was very put together,” he said. “When I think about getting ready in the morning, I know I’m never going to look as well put together as Cecil does, but I aspire to.”
Priorities for the office also include encouraging academic achievement, leadership and service. The office also provides resources to groups such as first-generation college students, along with developing new programs including a new initiative to encourage retention of male students in the office and to provide a network through which to communicate. The program is launching this semester.
“This is really my attitude — I don’t necessarily view challenges as a lot of people do,” Walters said. “(I don’t see them) as problems, I see them as opportunities.”
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