Sociology Archives | Campus Life

Meet Anna Johnson, Student Trustee

Web Content — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0000

The Student Trustee of Worcester State is an elected position that represents all WSU students on various committees and initiatives across campus. This year, Anna Johnson is serving her second term as Student Trustee.

Anna Johnson, Student Trustee

Class of 2022, Sociology with Pre-Law minor
Hometown | Worcester, MA
Campus Involvement | Third World Alliance, Presidential Student Ambassador, Academic Policy Governance Committee, Bias Incident Response Team, Open Educational Resources Student Ambassador
Community Involvement | MA Board of Higher Education New Undergraduate Education steering committee, Worcester World Cup steering committee

Can you describe the role of the Student Trustee? What do they do for the student body?
My role as Student Trustee is to bring student’s ideas, concerns, and perspectives [to the full Board of Trustees]. My duty is to help make important decisions that will affect the student body and the campus as a whole. [I also] protect the voices of the student body,��their interests, and their rights, and make sure that every decision or vote I take is in the best interest of [all] students.

Last year I wrote a proposal to the board requesting a Student Trustee speaking spot on every meeting agenda, something the board never had before.�� The proposal was presented to the full board [and approved]; what this does is give me and future Student Trustees the space to bring everyday student’s thoughts, ideas, and concerns to [each meeting].

I also sat on a committee with two other board members and a few Worcester State administrators to help improve diversity within the [Board of Trustees membership]. What this committee did first was diversify the board sub-committees bylaws and provide space each board meeting where different offices and committees can present on [the work they are doing to support] diversity and inclusion on campus.�� I also voted to approve the fee freeze which allows the fees to remain the same through the 2021-2022 school year with no additional increase.

What are some of the goals you hope to accomplish while in this position?
I hope to see student interest and benefit in every decision the board makes.��

Anna at the 2021 Commencement Experience

What do you foresee as some of the challenges you could face in this position?
Like most things in life, it is hard to meet everyone expectations, so a challenge�� I foresee is that sometimes I might have to make decisions that might not be in the best interest of every student. But I am going to always make sure that I seek student’s opinions from all over campus before voting or being a part of a�� [board decision].

At the end of the year, looking back, what do you hope your fellow students remember about you?
I believe that not every student views or sees me in the same way; some may find my advocacy annoying while others may find it brave or inspiring. Asking people to remember me from my perspective will not be fair to student’s and their opinions, but all I can do is to keep striving to be better and allow my actions to help students to remember me from their point of view. Overall I hope students remember me for my passion to speak up for others and against injustices.

What advice would you give to students who want to make an impact on Worcester State?
I would tell them to never be afraid to speak up, or to take a stand, and to go for what they want without holding back. They�� should be resilient, willing, and committed�� to whatever it is [that helps them to] make an impact.

What are your current plans for after graduation?
My goal is to go to law school to help find justice for the underrepresented populations in my country and community.

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Professor Alex Briesacher is Making Space for Everyone

Web Content — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Alex Briesacher loves teaching his students. Asking around campus, those students who have taken his sociology classes mention his approachability, caring nature, honesty, and innate ability to teach through stories and humor as reasons they return to his classes as often as they can.

“The students here are a lot of fun once you get past certain barriers they put up,” says Briesacher. “One of my favorite classes to teach is capstone. All these students have built capstone up in their heads, and my syllabus is essentially ‘so what do you want to do?’ These students have all these ideas and I’m like ‘sweet, go do it.’ And then they go do it, and you get this amazing research and amazing projects.”

And it’s not just in the classroom that Alex is helping to make a difference within student’s lives. His passion for creating inclusion and belonging on campus extends past the Tiffany Gates to the greater Worcester community as well.��

The Intersection of Identity & Debate

Alex grew up in Belleville, Illinois, a predominantly whilte working class community located a short way from St. Louis, Missouri. In the early 90s, Belleville was voted the most racist town in all of America on 60 Minutes.��

Professor Alex Briesacher

“Living in it, I couldn’t see it. I ended up going to a functionally segregated high school…they segregated based on level, so I was in honors classes, which just happened to have one student of color. And then as you go from honors classes down, you go from having one student of color to the remedial classes that are all students of color. It’s de facto segregation, and I recognized that I have this privilege, because I’m white.”

As Alex continued to learn about who he was, he was thrown a curveball.

“College is a weird moment in everybody’s life,” Alex says. “At least in terms of my identity, my shit’s weird. I was 21 at the time, and my grandmother on my mom’s side [who was adopted] didn’t know her ethnic heritage. She did one of those genetic tests, and learned when she was 72 that she was black and didn’t know it. She sent for the genetic test and they sent her a refund saying ‘we can’t do it because your background is from Africa and we can’t map Africa genetically.’ So I have this weird identify stuff bouncing around.”��

While in high school and throughout college at Illinois State University, Alex participated in academic debate. It was through debate that he began to question some of what he had been seeing all his life. Debate topics included Iran, Africa, Native Americans, and Title VII (employment descrimination).

“I had this period of time where people were yelling at me, because of debate, because that’s how it’s structured. You grow a thick skin to it, but you start deconstructing what all of this [topic information and research] means.”

The activity of debate on college campuses was diverse, and becoming more so while Alex was active in the national college debate community.��

“It was transitioning from a white, heteronormative space into a queer space. My junior/senior year, we started doing work with urban debate communities, so we could start diversifying in terms of race. We were judging at urban debate communities at inner city schools that were trying to do this activity that was sort of white, and then after that we went back and started coaching teams. There was an opportunity to create space, to use that privilege to create space and help it diversity.”

His work with underrepresented communities continued in his life past the debate scene. Previously, Alex worked with Black and Latino math students while working on his dissertation, which focused on how the experiences and perceptions of discrimination in the classroom affects student’s performance and mental health. And the work continued here on campus, where he was an active member of the Campus Climate Committee.

Overcoming the Second Body Problem

When asked how he’s changed as a leader while at Worcester State, Alex is quick to identify patience as the skill that he has refined the most over the past few years.��

“I think part of the reason for that was because I came as an adjunct. People sort of looked at me…there’s this perception amongst some faculty members that the only reason I had a job was because of Erika [Briesacher, Associate Professor of History & Political Science]. It’s described as the second body problem, and there’s this implied threat for new adjuncts in particular, that if you step out of line you’re going to lose your job. So it was sort of this forced patience that has sort of evolved, and it’s given me a better understanding of how here works, from the bottom up. Most faculty don’t come here as adjuncts and see how the process works.”

Even more important than patience? An understanding of when something is no longer right for him. As a member of multiple campus and greater-Worcester area committees, Alex has had to recognize when it’s time for him to bow out.

“I’ve been on committees where…[committee organizers] didn’t like the direction it was going. I’ll ride out that committee for as long as I can, and then when it hits the point where we are not going in a direction that I think is good, I’m going to step back. I’m going to step out.”

The best part of working as a faculty at Worcester State, besides forming connections with his students, is the freedom to complete research he’s interested in and participate with initiatives that he is passionate about.

“I was hired to teach stats, among other things, [but I also] have the freedom to do that campus climate work, and then when I’m done with the campus climate work, go to the Worcester Public [Schools] work.”

Making Space

Alex defines a great leader as someone who can make space for others and is able to learn from those around them. As mentioned above, he is a former member of the Campus Climate Committee, which was started a few years ago to assess the current status of the campus climate for underrepresented students and make suggestions for improvements to create a more inclusive campus. Alex also works with a team of teachers in the Worcester Public schools researching student discipline policies.

When asked about his biggest accomplishment since beginning at WSU, Alex is quick to answer with his campus climate work.

“The results of the work from the Campus Climate Committee, that’s what my research is. Finding out what other people think and telling people ‘hey, they said this.’ There’s all this stuff that we got done. The LGBTQ Center, they used our work to support [that].”

It’s also important for a leader to learn from others; one of the biggest misconceptions of leadership is that a leader has to know what they are doing all of the time.

“I think it’s important if you’re dealing with a [group], making it clear to the team of the class or whoever you’re working with that everybody’s winging it. We’re all just guessing. Some of us guess with style. There’s plenty of times where I’m doing work in the Worcester CityLab and we’re covering the boards with ideas and asking each other ‘what do you want to do?’ And we just see what happens. It’s the advantage of doing statistics – I can run hundreds of models in a day, and I’m guessing every time.”

Alex’s final words for students who are just beginning to explore the type of leader they hope to become? They are inspired by Vaclav Havel, a leader of the Velvet Revolution.

“One of the things that he writes about is fear of death. Those things that we’re supposed to be afraid of, once we stop being afraid of them things open up. When you’re facing something you start questioning. Once you overcome what you’re supposed to be afraid of, there’s nothing left to stop you.”

Alex Briesacher is a recipient of the Alden Award and Campus Collaboration Award.

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SGA President Maribel Mateo | Advocating for All Students

Web Content — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:59:43 +0000

Student Government Association (SGA) President Maribel Mateo has persisted through many road bumps in her life and, as SGA President, she hopes to help others do the same.��

Written by Jess Evora, Assistant Director, OSILD
Photos provided by M. Mateo & Worcester State

SGA President Maribel Mateo, who is a rising junior studying sociology and criminal justice, hails from Lawrence, MA.��She grew up in low-income neighborhood and was raised by her mother in a single-parent household.�� Things didn’t come so easy for her and her family.�� Despite the challenges, things were looking up for Maribel after she earned a scholarship to attend a private Catholic high school.�� The transition, however, was not an easy one.

“I went to Central Catholic which was an amazing school in my city, but when I arrived, it was a struggle being a Latin minority because their population [which was majority White] didn’t know how to work with us as minorities,” Maribel said. “Ultimately, I decided to transfer to Lawrence High School, which was known as being [a low performing] high school in the area.”

91��ý was Maribel’s first choice for college.

Despite its reputation, Maribel felt at home at Lawrence High School.�� She no longer felt like an “other”, and she actually thrived from the sense of community.�� Maribel immediately got involved, joining the varsity basketball team as a sophomore. ��“I’m so glad I joined the varsity basketball team because it helped me decide who I wanted to be, and what I wanted to do,” Maribel said. “That’s where I started my personal growth.”

And what was it that Maribel decided she wanted to do? Well, she wanted to attend 91��ý, of course!

Choosing Worcester State

“Worcester State was my first choice.�� I knew I wanted to go there,” Maribel said. “Coming from an inner city, sometimes you lose the opportunity to work on your leadership skills because you’re just trying to survive.�� I knew I had to build my leadership skills to help advocate for others.”

Maribel felt strongly that Worcester State would help her build the skills she needed, and time would ultimately prove that she made the right choice.

However, like many first-year students, Maribel’s first year in college was not an easy one.�� Despite the many coaches and mentors who supported her, everything about the college experience was new to her, so the road bumps were inevitable.

“I am a first-generation college student,” Maribel said. “It was beyond what I could even believe to actually go to college.”

“I lost myself because I felt excluded because of where I come from, because of who I am, and also because of how I speak,” Maribel said. “Towards the end of my first year, I felt I was completely falling off.”

Finding Her Way at WSU��

Maribel decided she would take steps to get more involved. ��One of her first steps was applying to become an Orientation Leader.�� Serving as an Orientation Leader increased her sense of community here on campus.

“When I joined Orientation, it helped me better identify who I was,” Maribel said. “I was given an opportunity to be embraced for where I came from.”

Maribel was also actively involved with the CLEWS program (Community and Leadership Experience at Worcester State), led by Mark Wagner, Director for the Benienda Center for Civic Engagement.�� Maribel acknowledges the CLEWS program for having a large impact on her WSU experience.

From that point on, Maribel was determined to get more involved in order help other students embrace who they are.�� She went on to serve a second year with the Orientation program.�� She was also hired as a Resident Assistant for Residence Life, a Student Manager in the Student Center, and a student employee in the Wellness Center.

In addition, Maribel wanted to do as much as she could to advocate for the student voice on campus.�� She ran for Student Government Association (SGA) President and was successfully elected in the Spring of 2018. ��She assumed her duties as SGA President beginning fall 2018.

All of these responsibilities were not enough for Maribel.�� She also joined the 2020 Class Committee to ensure that everyone in her class would have a voice in helping to shape their senior year experience.�� One of the main goals of this committee is to increase class pride.

Reflections on Her Journey

As Maribel wraps up her first semester as SGA President, we sat down with her to discuss how she thinks she is doing.

Maribel believes there is always room for improvement on campus.

How do you think you’ve changed as a leader throughout your time at WSU, and what aspects of your experience most influenced this change?

Maribel:��“I believe that I’ve been able to grow as a leader by understanding different points of views. I can now use my abilities to advocate, not just for myself, but for others too.”

“I’m also learning to listen more, and I try to understand what others are trying to say before I speak. I try to make sure I confirm and I understand what people are saying instead of just going with my own opinion and my own beliefs.”

What are some of your goals for SGA this year?

Maribel: “I want to change the culture so we actually change the idea of what we believe is good enough. We can do so much more as a campus. We should always focus on what can we do better. There is always room to improve.”

“Diversity, equality, and understanding are so important. I want to do what I can to help contribute to a more inclusive community.”

“Campus safety, ethical safety, and unity through understanding are also areas in which I hope to focus. ��Lastly, I want students to feel like they can call the community our home.”

What advice do you have for students who are still trying to figure out what role they want to play in the campus community?

Maribel: “One thing I would say is try anything and everything. Don’t be discouraged by who’s doing what. Seek out the things you never thought you would do. It’s okay to ask for advice and make sure you are comfortable with what you are doing. Make sure you love what you’re doing. Don’t stick with something just because of your friends. There are so many opportunities on campus – big or small. Keep trying. Never stop trying.”

Maribel is excited to continue her efforts to bring people together. She believes in the power of the Worcester State community to get things done.��

“It’s on us to pay attention. It’s on us to make WSU a home,” Maribel said. “It’s not just on me as SGA President, but it’s on us. It’s on everyone to make that change.”

Thank you Maribel for your passion and the amazing advocacy work you’ve already done at WSU thus far. We can’t wait to see the lasting impact of your efforts.

Cheers to Leadership. Cheers to Passion!

Sincerely,

The Office of Student Involvement & Leadership Development

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