During New Student Orientation (NSO) and Welcome Week in August 2022, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education (ODIME) welcomed new students and community members to campus through identity-based Welcome Receptions.
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Religion and Spiritual Life Welcome Reception | Monday, August 22, 2022
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Unity Reception | Tuesday, August 23, 2022
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BIPOC/ALANA Student Welcome Reception | Thursday, August 25, 2022
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LGBTQIAP+ Student Welcome Reception | Wednesday, August 31, 2022
These receptions provided a unique opportunity for our newly welcomed graduate and undergraduate students to form genuine connections with WPI community members. Having a community that understands your lived experiences is crucial in ensuring personal and academic success for our students during their time at WPI, which is why having members of our affinity student organizations there to share their experiences was important to the overall success of this reception.
This was the first year we were able to host the BIPOC/ALANA and LGBTQIAP+ Student Welcome Receptions in-person since 2019 and were grateful to have the President’s Residence as the backdrop of these community gathering opportunities. This is also the first year we hosted two new receptions for the campus community: Religion and Spiritual Life Welcome Reception and Unity Reception.
The Religion and Spiritual Life Welcome Reception brought together campus partners, faculty, staff, and other members of the Greater Worcester Area to increase the support of meaning-making practices at WPI by considering students' spiritual well-being. It was designed to support new students who are interested in the expression of religious, spiritual, and any other form of meaning making practice by introducing and connecting students to faculty, staff, community faith members, and our Campus Chaplains who are excited to serve and advise students as they need it.
The Unity Reception brought together multicultural, intercultural, cross-cultural, spiritual, and affinity (identity-based) student organizations and new students to create an experience where our students were able to have focused, laid back, and personal conversations with student representatives. Not only were students able to find a community within an organization before the other campus activities fairs, but they were also able to walk away with connections to upper-level students who can positively impact their success at WPI.
The ODIME team would like to thank everyone who was able to join us during these receptions! We look forward to seeing you again.
The ODIME team is grateful to all of our campus partners, faculty and staff, and new community relations and close collaborators who made these receptions possible:
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Daniel DiMassa (Humanities and Arts)
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Christopher Benoit (Talent and Inclusion)
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Amy Beth Laythe (the Housing & Residential Experience Center)
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Rebecca Moody (Humanities and Arts)
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Adrian Stoloff (Humanities and Arts)
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Nathan Pipho (Trinity Lutheran Church)
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Dean Debora Jackson (Business School)
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Marcel Laflamme (Quaker Community)
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Christon Carney (Parish of All Saints)
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Pastor Esau Vance (Mount Olive United Pentecostal Church)
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Mayase Sikazwe (Talent and Inclusion)
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Nick Bertozzi (Robotics Engineering)
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Reverend Cheryl Leshay (WPI Campus Chaplain)
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Rabbi Ahuvah Loewenthal (WPI Campus Chaplain)
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Fr. Alfredo Porras (WPI Campus Chaplain)
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Katie Bilotta (Advancement)
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Sandhya Balasubramanian (Business School)
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Jenn Parissi- Forti (Office of the President)
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Mike Horan (Finance and Operations)
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Chris Carpenter (WPI Campus Police)
The Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education (ODIME) promotes and oversees all student facing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) learning experiences, programs, services, trainings, and initiatives for WPI.