First-ever Tufts Diversity Networking Night a success

Jemadari Kamara, A72, associate professor, Africana Studies, UMass Boston (UMB), talks with students.

April 15, 2008--Tufts' first-ever Diversity Networking Night on March 11 featured an outstanding panel presentation on making the most of life and work after Tufts.

Carlos Castillo, A04, assistant project manager, Commodore Builders, Susan Chinsen, J98, account manager, Station Relations, WGBH, and Jemadari Kamara, A72, associate professor, Africana Studies, UMass Boston , where he is also co-director of the Center for African, Caribbean and Community Development, talked at length about taking a Tufts degree out into the world as a person of color. Each panelist spoke candidly about facing and overcoming racism in the work environment, and also about the skills and exposure that four years at Tufts provided to them.

"While I came to the Diversity Networking Night as a presenter, I found both the range of perspectives and participants to be very interesting and personally rewarding," Kamara said, "I'm sure others who will participate in the future will find it to be an evening well spent."

Diversity Networking Night marked the first collaboration at Tufts between black, Latino, and Asian-American alumni organizations and the Tufts University Alumni Association and Tufts Career Services. Financial support was provided by an application to the Arts, Sciences & Engineering Diversity Fund.

"With the success of this year's event and demand from students and alumni of color for this type of programming, there are already plans for a second networking night in 2009," said Jonathan Kaplan, A96, associate director of Campus Constituency Programs in the Office of Alumni Relations.