Since July 16, Dr. Jamel Hodges has been serving as the new director of Diversity Initiatives at USC Aiken.
In regards to the small size of USCA’s campus, Hodges sees a lot of opportunities to connect with the students.
“You get to know students by name fairly quickly,” he said. “Being at a smaller school definitely offers me the opportunity to get to know students a little bit more on a personal level. To learn what they’re good at, what their aspirations are.”
When Hodges began USCA as a student in 2006, diversity programs on campus were not as intersectional as today.
“I would say it was a little bit different then, because of the type of work and the time we were living in: Pre–Black Lives Matter, Pre–Stop Asian Hate, Pre–a lot of things,” he said. “A lot of issues that were at the forefront were different. So, now we're in 2021 and the diversity, equity and inclusion looks different - it has more of a spotlight on it than it has in the past, specifically because of the times we're living in now.”
Diversity Initiatives is currently collaborating with student organization Diversity Advocates to create a student programming board which will allow students to have more of a voice in regards to diversity and inclusion.
“The students are boots on the ground. They live it every day on campus and so we want to make sure that the students have the opportunity to kind of take what we can offer them, and then also create something of their own that they feel happy with, that they feel proud of,” said Hodges.
Hodges also talked about plans to improve USCA’s Pacers Engaged and Attaining Knowledge (PEAK) mentoring program.
“Over the next year or so we're going to be ramping up our PEAK mentoring program — that's something that is huge for many different reasons,” he said.
The Peak mentoring program serves to help get students engaged and involved on campus through upperclassmen who will mentor them as they figure out themselves and their community.
“When students develop within themselves, learn who they are, become the best version of themselves, that's when they tend to really connect more to the university,” he said. “Those mentors are going to be critical to that mission.”
Hodges’ advice to students who want to create diversity on campus is to listen to the stories of those who are different from you.
“Get outside of your immediate community. Have conversations with people who don't look like you, who don't believe like you, who don't live like you,” he said. “There's so much to be learned.”
Hodges is looking forward to doing the work to make USCA more inclusive.
“[There’s] definitely a lot of opportunity,” he said about this school year, “and things that I'm excited for, and definitely ready to get to work on.”
