The Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity is located at 233 W. Louther Street.
Popel Shaw Center
Popel Shaw Center (PSC) operates out of 233 West Louther Street. In addition to office space, PSC has beautiful meeting rooms and a full kitchen. Students, staff, and faculty can reserve space for meetings, holding classes, movie nights, studying, or just to relax. Once we have card access, Dickinsonians may access the building from 7:00am - 12:00am, 7 days a week.
To reserve space, please contact Rev. Yvette Davis at davisy@dickinson.edu or complete this. We ask for at least 24 hours advance notice for reservations.
The work of the Popel Shaw Center for Race and Ethnicity (PSC) is guided by a vision of interactive pluralism, a framework that affirms the diversity of our student, faculty, and staff body, stands for mutual recognition and respect of difference, pursues community interaction along difference for personal and educational growth, and commits ourselves to the building of a multicultural and just community. Effective diversity and social justice work requires a frame of mind that views difference as our greatest asset, not our greatest weakness.
Scope & Mission
The office operates from an inclusive definition of diversity that includes race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual identity/orientation, gender identity & expression, and the intersections of each of these social identity markers. In many of these areas the office works in collaboration with academic departments (e.g. Africana Studies, Women & Gender Studies, Sociology) and other administrative offices (e.g. Women's & Gender Resource Center, Center for Spirituality & Social Justice, LGBTQ Services, and Institutional Effectiveness & Inclusivity).
- Identity Development: Part of creating a community that is reflective and responsive to our campus diversity includes students exploring and developing a sense of who they are racially, as gendered beings, in regards to their sexual identity, and with respect to other dimensions of their social and personal identity.
- Intercultural Competence/Maturity: Developing multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill among our student, faculty and staff body is essential in effectively and responsibly engaging in diverse environments.
- Leadership & Engagement: Effective and skilled leadership and engagement are necessary in meeting the challenges of a living and working in 21st-century multicultural communities.
Inclusive Excellence: Championed by the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AACU), the action of inclusive excellence requires us to uncover inequities in student success an identity practices that lead to change in the context of diversity, inclusion, equity/equity mindedness.
Advising & Support Services
Student Walk-In Hours:
The PSC is a student-centered office focused on supporting the needs of students from historically underrepresented cultural groups (African-American, Asian-American, Biracial/Multiracial, Latino, and Native American). The PSC also aims to foster strong cross-cultural awareness and connections through multiple forms of engagement including programs, collaborations, trainings, and other learning opportunities.
The PSC has an “open door” atmosphere that encourages students to drop-in to meet individually with the Director to discuss academic, personal, and social concerns.
Student Organization support:
The PSC regularly collaborates with student organizations in an advisory and sponsorship capacity. Groups seeking PSC support can meet with the Director to discuss potential ideas. Groups seeking co-sponsorship can make their requests by contacting the Director, Rev, Yvette Davis, at davisy@dickinson.edu.
PSC Program & Services Overview
Student Development Opportunities:
- A.C.E Peer Mentor Program: The A.C.E Peer Mentor Program is an engagement, development, and support program for select first-year students that pairs them with a trained rising sophomore, junior, or senior.
- MANdatory: The PSC coordinates MANdatory, an academic enrichment and leadership development program for male-identified students of color. The group meets on a weekly basis to discuss topics like social identity, campus engagement opportunities, and leadership skills, among others.
- Sisters of Color United
- Black Girl Chronicles
- Barbershop Talks