The Saint Rose Chronicle

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo: Meredith Epstein Karlyne Osepa is the current director of Multicultural Affairs.

At the end of the 2008 spring semester Karlyne Osepa will be resigning as director of The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs. She will be taking five years of experience with her. At the mere age of 23, Osepa is one of the youngest directors at The College of Saint Rose. She began employment at Saint Rose as an administrative secretary and is now the director of Multicultural Student Affairs.

At first, Osepa faced some scrutiny due to her age, but was reassured by the overall supportive view of the Saint Rose staff. Caitlin Janiszewski a student at Saint Rose and a volunteer in The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs said, "Karlyne not only embraced the scrutiny but succeeded and changed the whole atmosphere of the office in a positive way." Osepa feels as though her age is an asset to the students because it allows her to better relate to them.

Osepa not only helps the students by being their mentor, but also helps run organizations on campus such as the ALANA Student Union/Multicultural Club (Spectrum), LGBTQA "Identity" (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Allie) and advises the Saint Rose Capoeira Club (Brazilian form of Martial Arts) and The Martial Arts Club.

Osepa wanted to address the needs of other underrepresented groups on campus, so she created the LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Ally) Peer Mentor Program. She teamed up with the Counseling Center to create the ALANA (African, Latino, Asian, and Native American) Student Support group and offers weekly undergraduate and graduate sessions. Since she became director the Professional and student participation in the ALANA Peer Mentor Program has quadrupled.

She helps coordinate various events on campus which introduce the different cultures and ethnic groups to the students. The Chinese New Year celebration is one example. She also diversified the events and programs to include topics of sexual orientation, religion, and physical and mental impairment.

Her latest innovation was creating a specialized version of the game Jeopardy by using Microsoft Excel. It was specialized because the topics in the game reflect various religions and cultures. She decided to test this game with students. There was a good response from participating students playing the game. Since then Osepa has perfected it with the hopes that students will continue to learn interactively and become well rounded. Osepa explained, "If more people knew about the different cultures, the less they will discriminate and judge other groups of people."

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