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A Practicum Experience with the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Amber Nicole Jones
COMM 45906
Rozell Duncan
Monday, August 15th, 2016

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I completed an internship with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
this summer at Kent State University for my Practicum experience. The office of DEI is a
division located at the main branch of Kent State. This division was created to nurture of
a diverse community of individuals through inclusive excellence. (Official Kent State
University)
My first day at DEI was orientation with the team. We met at the DEI headquarter
offices located in the conference room on the second floor of the library. Once everyone
arrived, I was introduced to what I soon later found out was my team lead, Carmen
Roberts. Avery and Carmen greeted and announced their positions to the team. Then the
team did an icebreaker introduction and was informed of our positions and the hierarchy
of the team. Avery and Carmen then discussed briefly all the branches of DEI, along with
events that DEI was involved in with and opened the floor for further questions and
concerns. There was talk of a whole group weekly meeting and we compromised a
decision to meet weekly on Friday afternoons. After our hour-long orientation, we then
broke down into smaller teams at our designated meeting locations and further got to
know the people wed be working closely with.
My role as a student intern was the one of Electronic Media Editor for the
Creative Lab portion of DEI. A summary of my duties and responsibilities consisted of
and included social media campaigns, e-communications, research, and spreading the
word about the division.
The first month of interning was spent performing a lot of research. On the
syllabus that was provided at orientation, there were some supplementary readers that
peaked my interest, mainly because they targeted me directly. One of the articles

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discussed how the design community lacks people of color and how we need more of
because if there is no one to represent us properly throughout all waves of
communication, how can the public have an accurate visual of people of color. I
originally had plans of declaring graphic design as a major but put that decision on the
back burner due to not thinking I had adequate skills or knowledge to truly put my all
into that career field. So after reading the articles, I was assigned to work on the social
media presence with my team lead Erin. The division wanted a more clean and crisp
updated presence on the web. Their pictures present on all the accounts were blurry,
faded and outdated. I took the time to design some new looks to match the new branding
that the university had recently undergone. Simultaneously, I was assigned to think of
some ideas for a Snapchat filter the division wanted to buy for the upcoming Kupita
orientation event for the upcoming semester. I went to Snapchats official website and
learned that there are guidelines to creating a filter. I read through the requirements and
restrictions and started on drafts to match the theme of this years Kupita event.
During the middle of my internship, I was asked to take pictures for some of the
divisions closing ceremonies for two of the programs. The first event I photographed
was the closing ceremony for the Upward Bound program. The second event I
photographed was the closing ceremony was for the Academic S.T.A.R.S program.
The second month I spent a lot of time independently drawing up ideas and
drafting ideas to promote Kupita further more. The fact that most of the events that DEI
coordinates take place during the school year, there wasnt a lot of work to perform. And
the more time that passed, the more time was spent with less of my intern mates. We were
all working on the same event but on different levels and aspects and portions of it. After

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making this realization, I asked for a meeting with Avery and Carmen because I was
feeling pretty inadequate with my progress and contributions this far and didnt
understand the way the hierarchy was set up. I wanted answers and explanations so
arranged a meeting in DEI headquarters and discussed my concerns. They informed me
and helped me understand that this experience was less of an authoritian one and more of
a self iniatitationed one, which made me nervous to be honest because I am type of
person that needs to be inspired by others to get my creative flow going. I have a hard
time starting projects on my own from scratch. A prompt or example always helps. I left
the meeting with some answers but still wasnt satisfied with my position at the
experience. Avery and Carmen both stated they wished I would have talked to them
sooner and that their doors are always open. I made the decision to pitch assistance to the
other interns for help with their projects. I spent the remainder of my time with Aba and
Symphonie.
In relation to organization communication theory, I want to highlight the absence
of leadership. According to Modaff, Butler & DeWine a good team consists of a good
leader. It was advertised that all the interns in the creative lab would be working together
but it was the opposite. When confronted, there seemed to be a lack of and unwillingness
to take charge to cohesively work together as a unit.
To end on a positive note and I was given the opportunity that DEIs mission
statement provides just on the helping hand side. I gained access to resources, expanded
my knowledge of new design software by learning how to use Adobe Illustrator, was
informed of cultural events on campus such as Karamu, which is the graduation
ceremony that is held for students of color and open a new portal of diverse people into

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my life that I wasnt fully aware of during my time of undergraduate. I believe I am

ending my collegiate career on a high note, more woke and more acknowledgeable of my
history, background, and people surrounding me in everyday life.

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REFERENCES

Modaff, D. Butler, J. and DeWine, S. (2012). Organizational communication:

Foundation,challenges & misunderstandings. (3rd ed.)Boston, MA: Pearson
Publishing

Kent State University. Mission Statement. Web. Retrieved August 1, 2016 from
http://www.kent.edu/diversity/mission-statement