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Rebels, tune in to 'Let's Talk UNLV' with Dr. Sammie Scales. Your express pass to everything UNLV — campus highlights, programs, and the latest buzz. Join us weekly as we chat with student leaders, administrators, and faculty, diving into the core of what makes us Rebels.
The program brings guests from different areas of UNLV every week to discuss campus highlights, programs and services, research interests that are essential to being a Rebel. Let’s Talk UNLV places its emphasis on connecting with student leaders who represent the voice of students on our campus. Guests also include administrators, faculty and staff responsible for upholding the mission of the university, which is teaching, research and scholarship.
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Unknown Speaker 0:00
You're listening to local programming produced in kunv Studios. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Unknown Speaker 0:20
Hello, hello. Hello, UNLV and students, welcome back to campus. This is Kun V 91.5 Let's talk. And this is our first recording for the fall semester, 2024 and I have a super special guest today. I'm very, very excited to have her here. I work alongside her. Open her department, we have Miss Imani Patterson, she's a Senior Assistant Director of Student Diversity Department. Hello, Imani, thanks for joining us. Yes,
Unknown Speaker 0:48
thank you for having me. Hey, UNLV, what's up?
Unknown Speaker 0:51
Wow, that's excellent. You know, as we normally start the show, I the first question I like to ask that I got from Dr Krab is, tell us about your journey, how you ended up here at UNLV?
Unknown Speaker 1:01
Yeah, definitely. So I am from Las Vegas. When people say born and raised, I'm like, No, I was actually born in Reno, but I moved here at the age of five. So I tell people I'm from Las Vegas, so I am a Nevadan. Some things to know about me. I graduated from Valley High School, which is up the street from UNLV, and I was actually like, top of my class. So I did apply to a lot of universities, specifically HBCUs. So definitely, you know, I'm from here. I'm from Las Vegas, and I definitely decided to go to UNLV because it was the financially sound decision. I got the Millennium Scholarship for having a high GPA, so I actually covered my tuition here at UNLV. So definitely, that was the decision I made. I did want to go somewhere else. However, I was like, I could make the most of my decision, my experience here at UNLV by just getting involved. So that's what I decided to do. So I got involved on campus. I was part of the Black Student Organization. Actually joined a sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated the ADA chi chapter spring 16, and then I actually was the NPHC President my last year here at UNLV, where I had the opportunity to go to aflv West, actually was aflv Central in Indiana, and that's when I had the aha moment. I was like, wow, I could work as a professional at the university. Didn't think that was a thing. And it's funny because, you know, I had my interactions with advisors and different professionals on the university, at the university, but I never really thought of it as a job opportunity for me, Career Exploration working at a higher education institution wasn't didn't come to mind until I went to this conference, and that's what I was like, hey, I want to explore what that looks like. Let me actually go ask some professionals how they got into their role. And they said, Hey, go ahead and get your master's in higher education. So that's when I actually, during the pandemic, enrolled into the masters of higher ed program here at UNLV, and that's when I got my masters in 2022 so I'm a two time alum at UNLV. My first degree was actually in Kinesiology. I graduated fall 2017 I do not use that degree other than, like the best basic information like nutrition and how to take care of your body that you need to know just being a human. But for the most part, I love my master's program here. It taught me a lot, especially understanding MSIS, understanding that UNLV is duly designated as a HSI and aina, peasy, and it landed me my first role in higher ed, which is in fraternity and sorority live. However, I recently transitioned from that role into student diversity programs, like you said, as a Senior Assistant Director, and I'm loving it over here. It's very fun. Wow. What
Unknown Speaker 3:51
are some of your responsibilities over in Student Diversity Programs as a Senior Assistant Director?
Unknown Speaker 3:55
Yes, so I like to just keep it simple and tell people that I'm responsible for planning all the identity and Heritage Month Program events that you probably see on campus that engages not only our students, but our faculty and staff. So for instance, we have Hispanic Heritage Month coming up. So me and my team planned the entire month of programs just to engage students, but not only engage them, to have them learn about the different cultures within these month, identity and heritage months, but also celebrate as well. Wow,
Unknown Speaker 4:29
that sounds great. So it sounds like an excellent opportunity for anyone, even if you're not Hispanic, you know, just just to come to learn about the culture until, yes, definitely new friends, all those kind of things. Yes, one of the, one of the questions, I'm sure, probably students that are listening probably thinking, Is there food at these
Unknown Speaker 4:45
events? You know, we try to make sure that there's not only food at each of our events, but, you know, giveaways as well. We definitely want it to be fun and exciting throughout the entire program, to keep students engaged. So definitely, you know, for Hispanic Heritage Month, you. Definitely expect to indulge in some Latin food. We definitely have a great menu lined up for the entire month. So you know you're gonna be tasting a few things. I mean, if you attended our Latinx student experience, you had tasted some great pupusas from our local restaurant called Las pupusas here in Vegas. So definitely, if you want to try tamales, come to our kickoff, if you want to try Latin food, actually designed from Aramark, come to thriving authentically. And so more other you know, opportunities to taste great food throughout the month,
Unknown Speaker 5:34
excellent, excellent. And it sounds like this is an opportunity to do some really good networking. So I know that there's a thing called thriving authentically. So can you talk about that a little bit so students can understand better what that means?
Unknown Speaker 5:45
Yeah, so thriving authentically is actually a program that we partner with career services. Our inaugural thriving authentically happened during Black History Month, and we make sure that we have a thriving authentically program for all of our identity and heritage months. So pretty much for this, I thought, for this, thriving authentically, coming up on September 19, five to seven in the SDP lounge. The SDP Lounge is actually located on the first Florida Student Union. If you have not been come by. We're opened every day from nine to five, Monday through Friday. But going back to thriving authentically as an opportunity for our Latinx professionals who thrive in these different industries that students are actually, you know, interested in joining after they graduate from you, you know, from the university, to come speak to students and tell students how they thrived through their identity. For this month will be Latin just because it's Hispanic Heritage Month. But again, everyone's welcome to, you know, come to these events and learn how these different groups of professionals become successful in their industry, and they share that information with the students. And not only do we have a panel of great, inspiring professionals from each of these identity groups, but also it's an opportunity for you to engage with employers. We will have employers there tabling so if you're looking for an internship, or if you're at the end of the road and looking for a career, and one of these potential employers can actually provide for you at this event, and not only that, connect with our sponsors. This event's actually being sponsored through south southwest guys, Freeman, Boyd gaming and enterprise mobility. So if you add, so if you are interested in working for some of our sponsors, definitely come to our event and engage with them. They're there and they're looking to hire diverse, you know, people in their, you know, work environments. Wow,
Unknown Speaker 7:39
that's excellent. So you're getting a whole lot more than food, yes, getting an opportunity to get a job that you know, that can shape your career, and you know, last forever. Excellent, excellent. So let me move to some of the questions that I had for you, like number four here, how do you foster collaboration with other organizations here on campus? And what are some of the organizations here on campus, like maybe ODI, or how does that work, with getting buy in from other departments here on campus to support the events that you're doing?
Unknown Speaker 8:07
So definitely, you know, it was great. So for instance, for ODI, for those who do not know who the Division of Diversity and initiatives is, so pretty much your overall, the diversity diverse needs at the university. So there's an overarching Office of Diversity here at UNLV. So we're very fortunate to have a liaison at all of our staff meetings. So our liaison, you know, is definitely there to not only take back the information that we're doing here at Student Diversity Programs to their office, but to also see how ODI can help, you know, contribute to our programs. So that's specific to them. But as far as like our other student life offices, when we're planning our months, we actually like to think of ways to pull in other offices to not only have a greater reach, but to also tap into their talents. So for Hispanic Heritage Month, we're having this event called salsa and Pita on october 3 in the afternoon in pita Plaza. And that's actually gonna be a collaboration with rebel Rec. So that's the rec center on campus, and they're gonna be the ones responsible for actually teaching our students how to salsa. So that's one way we like to incorporate different departments on campus with our events is just thinking of ways to include the experts. Because I'm not a salsa instructor, but who on campus is a salsa instructor? We have some people in the rec that can help our students to learn how to salsa, but it goes for all the other events. Like I said, thriving authentically is a partnership with career services. We're actually partnering with UNLV CSUN, which is our student government with all of our kickoffs this semester. So whether it be our Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff, or our pride kickoff, or our Native American Heritage Month kickoff, CS. Will be present. And you know, that's essentially what we do when we're planning our programs. We're like, who else can we collaborate with this program to not only, you know, tap into different talents, but to also have a right of reach with different student populations, and, you know, faculty and staff and etc, excellent,
Unknown Speaker 10:16
excellent. So with doing all of this, you know, partnering with other departments here on campus, getting buy in, getting people to volunteer their time and talents. How do you measure the effectiveness of the particular program that you're putting on? How do you keep track of, let's say, how many people attended, what happened at that event that can be improved for the next time? What were some of the takeaways? What were some of the things that was excellent and you would definitely do the next the next time. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 10:42
definitely. So one thing that we do want to make sure that we're doing is scanning event pass and all of our events. So that's how we actually track who attends our events. And we have a lovely GA who actually builds out survey questions within our events through Involvement Center that we use to scan students who or faculty and staff that actually come to our events. So at the end of our events, a survey is automatically administered to all of our students or whoever attended to get that feedback. But in real time, you know, we will walk around the room and get people's, you know, feedback in real in real time. So I will, like me, and I have other people, part of my team, who actually walk around and gather feedback, like, how are you feeling? Like, you know, just to see the engagement. So definitely be observant so we can get that immediate feedback to talk about at our debriefs and the staff meetings that we have the next week or the upcoming weeks while we're waiting for that feedback to actually be collected through our surveys after the event ends and it's been administered.
Unknown Speaker 11:51
Wow, so it sounds like there's a lot that go into these events. Yeah, they're definitely so with that being said, how do you balance strategic leadership responsibilities, such as staff supervision, budget management, you know, making sure that everyone is able to work together. And you know, everyone is contributing to the project that at hand. How do you do that?
Unknown Speaker 12:10
Well, definitely, we like to plan in advance, you know what I mean. So with planning in advance, I'm able to get quotes. You know, definitely each program I have love. I have three lovely program coordinators, and they all lead a program for the month, so they're able to come back through our one on ones, giving quotes and other needs that they may need for that program, or even like other ideas that they want to implement during that program, where we can actually discuss in our one on ones and work out the logistics to actually bring back to the bigger group and see what the bigger group has to say and how they want to contribute to that program, because they might have ideas that we are not hitting in our 101, so we like to propose ideas in our bigger groups And then get that feedback from our bigger groups, you know, our staff meetings to see how we can better plan our events and execute them. So definitely, you know, planning in advance is the big thing. We've planned all of our months, as far as our calendar dates and times and locations during the summer. So our events for each month is pretty planned out. So anything that has been added to we're doing that now before we actually go into Hispanic Heritage Month, full fledge. So planning in advance.
Unknown Speaker 13:37
So it seemed like one of the strategies is to stay a step ahead of what's actually going to be happening, definitely. So your events is there in stpl lounge. So when other partners, people that you've partnered with, if they want to have events in that stpl lounge, also, what's the procedure? How do they go about booking that? What are they Is there a cost associated with it?
Unknown Speaker 14:02
So there is no cost associated to reserving the SDP lounge. It's very simple. They just reserved through our link, and that link can be actually found on our Involvement Center. However, if you email us at sdp@unlv.edu, we can definitely forward that link via email as well, and our GA actually manages all reservations, and you will receive a confirmation 48 hours to 72 hours after you submit, our GA is constantly looking at our reservation, so you might receive it sooner. And if our lounge is not available for the date that you as we definitely work with you to find another date in time that can work for you. So there will be back and forth communication via email through the sdp@unlv.edu email, where you could get that information and make sure you have space reserved for the SDP lounge and. We like to have you reserve all of your dates in advance, just because space is filling up. You know, the calendar is filling up. People are catching on. They think they reserved SDP lounge. So definitely, if you already have dates in mind, go ahead and submit all the dates at once. That way we can coordinate, you know, dates and times accordingly with our calendar. Okay, okay. So again, the link is found on Involvement Center through our SDP page. However, you can also email us.
Unknown Speaker 15:29
So when it comes to, like, some of the initiatives or some of the programs that you put on, how is it determined who's gonna work with what program? Because me, for instance, I do, you know, work alongside you guys in SDP, like, I know I would have challenges if I was trying to plan Hispanic Heritage Month, I just know I would have issues. I would need someone to actually know the culture and can respect the culture so that I can actually learn from that. So how is that question? How is that those assignments doled out? So
Unknown Speaker 15:58
definitely just to Okay, so a few things. So we definitely have a committee for each of our identity months. So we had a Hispanic Heritage Month committee where we did a call out to our different faculty groups and student groups who can actually sit on a committee. And then we have one committee meeting where we're presenting our calendar and gathering feedback from different people of that community. For instance, Hispanic Heritage Month committee was all comprised of faculty and staff and student leaders who are part of the Latinx community here at UNLV. And we're presenting our calendar and they provide those ideas, and they were not available for that meeting because we did have a virtual meeting. They were able to submit their ideas via the Google Form that we did our call out, and we're able to look at their suggestions and see how, Oh, we're hitting that mark. Oh, we need to add this. For instance, we're trying to get low riders at our Loteria Fiesta and switching the name to lotta Lotteria and low riders. Because that was a suggestion that one of our faculty said, Hey, I think we should have a low rider event during Hispanic Heritage Month. And we're like, let's go ahead and make that happen. Which event can we add low riders to? So make sure you're at the loteater fies on October 15, from seven to nine in the SU courtyard, because there's going to be low riders there, and we're inviting family and friends to that event, because we understand Community and Family is important to our Hispanic community, not only to our Spanish community, but to all every community on campus. So we're identifying which events that we can open up to family and friends so their family and friends can experience UNLV as well, being that it's a commuter school, so that event will be opened up to our family and friends. So if you want to see some cool low riders and participate in Lotteria, we definitely tell you to come through, and that's the same thing. But as far as like me, assigning different tasks and roles to my program coordinators, I have a program coordinator that likes to, you know, party as a social butterfly. So all of our fun events, like, you know, go to, pretty much go to her. I have a program coordinator that loves education, so all of our education events go to go to them. And then, same thing, I have a program coordinator that loves wellness and those type of events, like well being and mental health. So all our wellness events go to that program coordinator. So fortunately, it worked out that way. So that's how we separate the events, regardless of their identity. We know that they can program for wellness. We know that they can program doing an education event. We know they could, they could throw a party, so as long as they get that, and then they communicate with our committees on how to make those parties pop, or that education event, informative. Or same thing with the wellness. Who can we pull in for the wellness? You know, they can do anything. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 18:59
excellent. Okay, so seem like all of the bases are covered when it comes to that. Hey, months. So let me ask you this question. So what role do you believe student feedback plays in um, building programs here at UNLV, and how do you get that feedback, sometime, from these particular students? And is there's anything that comes up where they say, Well, I don't think this was successful. How do you work through that.
Unknown Speaker 19:21
You know, we definitely, we're the Student Diversity Programs Office, so student feedback is big with us. So we make sure to get that student feedback, like you said, through, you know, the surveys, like I said earlier, or even our committees, making sure that our, you know, their students sitting on our committees. So, you know, it's very big that we get student feedback, because that's what we're actually using to assess these events. And hey, I would immediately change an event if a student's like, Hey, I don't like this. And you should add that, you know, UNLV is a very young institution, so we're here to take risk. You know, we're in we have that advantage where we're. Able to still build out our programs. And I'm like, I'm the type of person like, hey, we could always improve next year we got this, and we'll, you know, we can assess and use the feedback, and next year is going to be even better.
Unknown Speaker 20:10
Wow, it sounds like you're the perfect person, person for this role. Because, you know, this is my second full disclosure, my second semester here, and judging from last semester, when all the graduates and just people that I met here on campus, that when your name came up, I could see the opening like a budding flower from these particular students. So and I've seen students approach you, also down in stpl lounge, or even just walking on campus. So it seemed like you're the perfect person for this particular role, and students appreciate that they're able to approach you, talk to you about different things, how they felt about this, how they felt about that. So I definitely, definitely know that you have that going for yourself. Now let me ask you this here. So if money was no issue here at UNLV, what would you like to see for student diversity program?
Unknown Speaker 20:59
You know, I would like us to see what I would like to see if money was no issue, more summits, conferences and trainings for our students. Because I know right now, we're actually programming multicultural experiences where students are able to engage and get a taste of but I definitely want to make sure our students are not only culturally competent, but equity minded for the workforce. You know, I definitely want our students leaving here having all the tools to work with people from different backgrounds. So if we were able to build that out a little bit more, that would be great. So definitely, we would love to see our multicultural center, and we'll definitely love to see spaces, but if we can also build out our trainings and have speakers come and speak to our students, and have many summits, engaging our students in different topics around dei that'll be great. Wow,
Unknown Speaker 21:52
excellent, excellent. I know there's a thing here called and from working in the department as well, called the Big Eight identities. Are you able to speak a little bit about just maybe two or three of those big eight identities? So
Unknown Speaker 22:04
yes, yes, because we definitely like to plan our programming through, like, the intersectional lens of the different identities that people identify with. So for instance, you know, we have sexual orientation, we have race, ethnicity, we have, you know, ability. There's so I'm trying to, I know all the eight, so ability. But then we also have some others that are not necessarily the Big Eight, like citizenship, veteran status, like military status. So we like to program through the intersectional lens of those events. We have this event for Hispanic Heritage Month coming up, called unpacking the no sable narrative, bridging the gap between identity, between the Latinx identity, you know, having that conversation of what it means to be Latino, because we understand that there's Afro Latino. We understand that some Filipinos may speak Spanish because of the history of the Spanish and the Philippines. So and we understand that not all Latinos, Latinx students speak Spanish. Let's be let's be honest. So we understand that there's a conversation that needs to be had there. But even for Pride Month, we have some, you know, intersection when it comes to the Black and Brown culture in the LGBT community that we want to program around. So definitely, when it comes to identities, we want to have some intersecting programs throughout each month, because we understand, not only do I, not only does a student probably identify with one identity, they might want to see how, how we tackle or address intersecting the identities through our months? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 23:48
absolutely. Because, you know, intersectionality is a big thing also. And you know, students are beginning to realize that, because, you know, there's several things that make a person up. Yes, at one point, I was a father, a black male a college student. I'm a cousin. I'm an uncle. There's so many things that make up who a person is. So intersectionality is huge here. One of the things that I want to speak with you about also because you were an undergrad here, you've completed your master's here, so you've been here for quite some time here at UNLV. So how do you suggest those freshmen students that just started and those transfer students that just transferred in. How do you suggest that they get connected and get involved here on campus?
Unknown Speaker 24:29
You know, the first step I would tell an incoming student is to do, to do is visit the Involvement Center. The Involvement Center is a whole database of all the student organizations that we have here at UNLV, my student involvement activities hat is coming on right here. So we have over 450 student organizations here at UNLV. And if you don't like an organization, or you don't see one that fits your affinities, or, you know, interests, you can go ahead and create. One, you only need four other people and an advisor, and our sia office will definitely help you get started with that. So definitely the first step, I will tell people, is to browse the Involvement Center and you can get the profiles of all the student organizations that we have here at UNLV, their emails, who, their officers are, their Instagram, all that information and do your investigative work, but not only do your investigative work, the next step I would tell students to do is to show up to a meeting or show up to an event or even go to a vomit fair or, you know, attend events, show up. You know, you never know what that may lead you. I remember showing up to event during my undergraduate career, and they're like, hey, everyone who attended this event is qualified to apply to a study abroad scholarship. And I applied to the study abroad scholarship, got the study abroad scholarship, and went to Ghana for a summer. Wow. You know, you know unexpected. Talk about unexpected. You never know. I just went to the event because I was type I was that type of student who just liked to show up and see what's happening. I have free time in between classes. Let me see what this event is all about. So I will go to the second Florida Student Union and walk around, walk into the room, and they're like, hey, everyone who attended this event can apply to the study abroad scholarship. Why not? Right? Why not apply? I got the scholarship and went to Ghana.
Unknown Speaker 26:18
Excellent, excellent. And you mentioned also that you was, you're a member of Delta, sigma, Theta Sorority. Now, I know, you know, you join national undergrad, but that doesn't stop just because you graduate or move on. So tell for those young ladies that may be interested in, you know, and even for some of the guys that's interested in joining a fraternity, maybe, or the young ladies that want to join a sorority, what's that like Vietnam, part of sorority life? Well,
Unknown Speaker 26:42
definitely, you know, we all have definitely, I like to say delta sigma theta gives me a platform to serve right. All the different sororities and fraternities have their different values and missions and visions, and you definitely join one that aligns with your personal values, mission and vision. So, yeah, you can have a personal mission, you can have a personal vision, and you have personal values. So which fraternity or sorority lines up with that, right? That personally aligns with you, and then get to know what that sorority or fraternity is doing in the community. You know, I'm, very fortunate to be a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. You know, we're all about social action. And you know, if that's something of interest, Delta Sigma Theta is the one for you. But we understand that different fraternities and sororities, you know, gives different experiences. So they all have their own thing going on. And you know, if you want to explore what that may look like, I definitely would like to plug the NPHC. Week is next week from the 16th to the 20th, and divine 9101, is on that Tuesday, the 17th, five to seven and Su 208 so if you want to meet and greet all the divine nine, which is a historically black fraternity sorority, is definitely come to that event and learn more about what each organization is all about, and get to know the people in that organization. And you know, if that's a decision that you want to make, you could always visit me in my office. I'm on the third floor, and I'm here to talk to you about that and help you decide which one to go with. You know, absolutely, yeah, I have those conversations all the time with students absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 28:25
And you know, full disclosure, I'm a part of the d9 as well. I'm an Alpha fraternity Incorporated, and I will be at that event on next Tuesday in su 208 as well. Any just to final words of closing for those students that are listening right now,
Unknown Speaker 28:41
yeah, definitely, you know, make the most of your experience here at UNLV. And like I said, show up. Definitely. Do not wait for something to come at your door. Come knocking on the door. Even though we will be sending those text messages, we will be sending those emails and posting on social media, but we really want you to show up and make the most of your experience. You know. You never know what it will lead you. You never know what opportunities you may find. So show up, you know. And if you need somewhere to go, find where events are, visit the volt center. Absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 29:13
Thank you so very much. Imani Patterson, we really, really appreciate you being a guest here today, and for those students that are listening, third floor Student Union definitely come by and say hello to my Miss Patterson. She's excellent in her role, and she will make you feel right at home. So thank you for coming back this fall, and we look forward to a great fall semester.
Unknown Speaker 29:36
Good luck y'all have a good one, and that's a proud you.
Dr. Renee Watson 29:43
For more, let's talk UNLV. Be sure to follow us on social media, where you can get the latest updates on the show, plus great behind the scenes content. We're on Facebook at, let's talk UNLV podcast. Twitter at, let's talk UNLV and Instagram. At, let's talk UNLV pod. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai