Let's Talk UNLV

Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. 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, UNLV, and welcome to another episode of Let's Talk here at K, U N, V 91.5, I have a very special guest today. Dr Harriet Barlow, the executive director of the intersection academic multicultural Resource Center, which is located in the Student Union on the first floor welcome. Dr Barlow, oh, thank

Unknown Speaker 0:42
you, Dr scales for having me.

Unknown Speaker 0:44
You two are very welcome. I'm excited to have you here as I start out all of the shows I asked guests to, you know, give us a synopsis, or, of all, full story on how you arrived here at UNLV. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 0:57
I've been at UNLV, believe it or not, for 27 years. Wow. Many years ago, when I first got here, the provost at the time told me that he hoped that I made myself at home. And I guess I have made myself at home here at UNLV. I came from Illinois. I have three degrees from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, home of the Salukis. And am a second generation Saluki. My dad went to SIU, and I felt like for many years that there was no other institution in the entire world other than Southern and now I've come to learn that there is also UNLV.

Unknown Speaker 1:39
Yeah, UNLV is an excellent place to be. How is your sister belonging here at UNLV? After 27

Unknown Speaker 1:44
years, I have been extremely lucky. I think that having had an opportunity to meet so many well rounded people, people who were progressive and thought immediately, I think obviously, of Dr Juanita Fain, who was very instrumental in my growth here at UNLV. And I certainly could not talk about that growth without talking about the late Bill Sullivan. In fact, I often attribute it me being here at UNLV to him, because of his wealth of individuals across the country. He knew some of the same people that I knew, and one of his mentors, in fact, his mentor. I saw him one day when I was at SIU, and I was like, Well, who do you know at UNLV? Because I had eyes on coming to UNLV, and he took me up to my office and made a telephone call, and it was Dr Sullivan.

Unknown Speaker 2:42
Wow, that's amazing. You know, I remember them honoring Dr Sullivan at Black grad this past year. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet him, but I've heard nothing but great things about him every time his name comes up. So could you, before we really get started, could you tell us about your role over in the intersection.

Unknown Speaker 3:01
I serve as the executive director of the intersection, and I think in many ways that this is the part of my degree, or part of my professional trajectory that I was made for, if you will. The intersection opened in April of 2017 and that followed a group of conversations and discussions and focus groups with not only students, but also faculty and staff, what they thought that this new space, that's what we were calling it, at the time, this new space should, should entail, and from there, Talking with these students, faculty, staff, and even some community members, they indicated to us overwhelmingly that what they wanted was a space, a center that was going to be grounded in the development, the progress, the success of our first generation students at UNLV, in addition to our students of color, from there, it was very important to me that we established that foundation based upon what they were saying, and then obviously giving the students and faculty and staff an opportunity to actually name the Space and from there in focus group, it came up by a faculty member to name it the intersection, and it was as if there was a spark that went off with all of the students. It was like, Yes, that's what we want you to name it, because that's what this space would be about, and making sure that we were working with students where they are not having any preconceived notions or stereotypic notions about any student or any faculty member or any person who actually walked through the doors of the intersection that we were going to be that space that would be a. Up the place that would become known as, hey, this is where you can get help. These are the people who are interested in making sure that you succeed and helping you navigate that progress.

Unknown Speaker 5:11
Oh, wow, that's excellent, excellent. I noticed you did mention first gen students several times in that so any student could walk through

Unknown Speaker 5:18
the door Absolutely, absolutely, anybody. You know. We welcome any and everybody.

Unknown Speaker 5:24
Okay, then how does the intersection, what role do they play in fostering community among first gen students and students of color here at UNLV?

Unknown Speaker 5:33
Well, I think that we've been fortunate over the last few years to actually hone in on, you know, first generation here at UNLV, and so by actually developing programs and services that keep that in mind, has been very instrumental. We've been very fortunate to one be recognized by NASA as a first gen institution. We also, even before we were recognized by NASA, what we started doing was coordinating a first generation week celebration, week during first the first generation national day of recognition, which is November, November 8. In addition to that, what we've done is to actually hone in on first generation faculty and staff, and we've been extremely, I'm going to say lucky, because that's basically the only thing I can say, is that we've been extremely lucky with how interested our first generation faculty and staff are in looking at trying To assist first generation students. Right? We have a first generation faculty and staff mentoring program where first generation faculty and staff mentor first generation students. In addition to even we don't make sure that all of our mentors or our partners, we call them the intersection partners. They don't have to be first generation, however, they do have to be very cognizant of some of the concerns and issues and challenges that our first generation students do go through.

Unknown Speaker 7:11
Wow, I imagine that would be that's an excellent program, especially with the first gen faculty and staff mentors being able to see themselves within those particular students, that's excellent, excellent. So what type of academic support and financial counseling services do you offer students in need? Okay?

Unknown Speaker 7:27
Well, you know what we try to do with the intersection, as I said, is, you know, we meet the student where they are, okay? And in doing that, we also recognize that there are some things may not be within our path, right? You know, there we have academic advisors who certainly work with students on their academics, the new program that that's coming on board here at the university to assist with the financial literacy. I think this is a great program, and certainly we are referring students to that, but what we do try to do in that is to make sure that all of the students that we work with are aware of the various programs and services that the university at large offer, and then, if there are things that we see as the intersection, you know, when we're meeting with students and we're meeting with faculty, if there are trends that we keep seeing that are coming up, then we will bring people around the table that we think can help us to address those things, right? You know? But certainly, you know, just on the baseline, when we talk about academics, we talk about, you know, being realistic in what your their major choices are in terms of the number of courses or credits that they may be taking during the course of a semester. You know, when we're when students start getting those refunds, it's kind of like, you know, you may not want to spend all of that money right now. You know you need to to make sure that you are trying to plan for the future. Because, you know, on any given day something can and most likely happen where you're going to need those,

Unknown Speaker 9:14
yeah, excellent. I think that's great. You know, you also said there, and I think I picked up on you saying there are certain things that your office can do, but the things that you know you think you need to reach out and use your partners for, that's available for students as well. Excellent, excellent. So what specific initiative or resources do you have in place for students? Let's say that's dealing with something such as food insecurity. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 9:37
well, we have what we call a snack pantry. You know, suddenly we would love for it to be, you know, something that's huge, right? But it's not. But early on, we recognized that we were dealing with students and and not only students, but faculty and staff too, you know, where there's a little bit more month, you know, left than money, okay? And you know, just needing something. To tie themselves over. So we decided that we would have this snag pantry, so to speak. And so that is one of the things that, certainly that we are able to provide. And I will say, giving a shout out to CSUN, we were able to establish that snag pantry based upon funding that we have received from CSUN to administer emergency funding. And so they allowed us to kind of split that money up a little bit to, you know, to help furnish our snack pantry. In addition one year, we did receive monies from the msisc to help further that the snack pantry. The other thing is, is that, you know, we we've tried, as I said before, trying to make sure that we are aware of the various program services that are around campus, and so we will when we are able to obviously collaborate, as well as to refer. And I thinking specifically of the like, take what you need. I mean, that is such a great program and recognition that students need things right, and being able to help them provide that. And so, you know, if we have in terms of the intersection, if we have a couple of, you know, additional dimes, if you will, we are able to help support that, you know, not in a huge, huge way, because, like so many places on campus, you know, we are scrapped for money. But we do look at the take what you need as as one of the things that we can certainly help with. Yeah, take

Unknown Speaker 11:40
what you need is an excellent program. You know, they're up on the third floor in Student Union, yeah? And I think ashes, yes, person does a wonderful job. Yes, excellent. I volunteered for them. And, yeah, it is an excellent program, and it's helped tons of students also, so and you spoke about this pantry that you have, and gave that gave a shout out to CSUN for contributing money to that. So let's say, if money was not a factor at all, what would your vision be for the intersection, and not just a pantry, but overall, what would your vision be for

Unknown Speaker 12:13
sure, sure. I mean, certainly, pantry would definitely be be there. But I think that another thing that we would where that I would like to have, if money was not a factor, was to actually have a scholarship that was established for first generation students specifically, and that was not necessarily tied to it being an emergency, You know. And and, and I was gonna say, not necessarily based upon merit. And by merit, I mean, you know, GPA, right, you know. But certainly you want students to be making satisfactory academic progress, and and that, but all but for, you know, to be able to look at other factors to be of assistance to students. Because, as I said, what we find out, what we find out so often, is that there's a lot more month, or in this case, a lot more semester left than there is money. Okay? So certainly that would that would be one of the things that I would I would like to do. I would also like to provide additional incentives, if you will, for not only students, but faculty members who who engage in our networking program. That's the program that we have, that we mentor, that faculty mentors mentor first gen students. So I would like to be able to see that, I would love to be able to make sure that the fellowship program that we've established with the Office of Undergraduate Research for first generation students, that that is something that continues. We are lucky that we've been able to make sure that that funding is there for three years. But, you know, don't know how else that that would go. Obviously, please give me more staff. You know, our ability to be to work with students. You know, even though I have an amazing staff and amazing staff, and they go well beyond the call of duty. But it is just three of us, you know, it is my assistant director, Dr Anna Marrero, and then our coordinator for undocumented student program, Nayeli Rico Lopez. And, I mean, they're just an amazing staff, but you know, yeah, three people. And then you know, additionally, when I talk about, as I said, Naomi Rico, who is our undocumented student program coordinator, you know, to be able to have additional resources in play for that student population. That population obviously comes to. UNLV with some challenges that oftentimes we don't think about, and just being able to make sure that those students have the resources and the pathways, whether it is financial or even academic, you know, to be able to assist them. So yeah, you know. And I'm sure I could come up with a whole lot more that I'd like me, right? You know, but yes, certainly more staff and more money to be able to do some of the additional things. That's excellent, excellent.

Unknown Speaker 15:30
So do you see more students as just casually walk in, or those students come in that already have an emergency going on

Unknown Speaker 15:37
both, both? You know, if you've been in a union, which I know you have, you know that we have the butterfly on the the door, which, you know, was not planned. One of our students put that former students put that out. So we get this thing of like, oh, what's space? What is this place? You know? What do you all do? So we get that, and then, by virtue of the fact that we've been on campus for seven years, word of mouth has has really helped. So we are pretty much known as a space, as a place that can help students get things done. So I would say this is twofold. We get students who are just wandering in, as well as students who are coming in with an with an issue. And the issues that we get, you know, run the gamut, you know, everything that you could possibly think of. Wow,

Unknown Speaker 16:28
excellent, excellent. Okay, so what are some of the key challenges students face that the intersection helped them with one of

Unknown Speaker 16:40
the primary challenges that I think students face, and that we see certainly, is just this place of not knowing right, not being aware of what's available to them, and so as a result of that, feeling like there's no step forward or there no there's no way forward, right? So we've been able to have a very open and candid conversations. That's one of the things you learn about the intersection, is that there are very open and very candid conversations that go on in in the area with students to help them try to navigate things. And so that's one of the things, certainly, you know, and I hate to start keep harping on that, but resources, and primarily money, you know, students living here in Las Vegas is extremely difficult, and you know, so many of our students are not what I would say are traditional students. They are. They are students who have real lives in addition to being a student, you know, and so find finances oftentimes come into play. The other things that that happen is, is maybe in many ways, not being quite as realistic as you need to be in making decisions about a major or how long it's going to take you to be to get through that major and graduate, right? You know, then you see those things about not not knowing how to approach a professor. You know, you you feel like that. You're having an issue with a professor, and you don't know how to approach him or her, you know, and sometimes even advocacy, where you know, you're trying to get a student to the place where they feel comfortable with being able to advocate for themselves with any any particular situation. But I mean just about anything and everything we see on almost a daily basis in the intersection is never a dull moment. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 18:45
I can imagine, you know, how students would feel. You know, going to a professor. Because a lot of us, you know, of course, you know the students that just transferred here from high school, they were used to going to their high school teachers. Now, all of a sudden, you're on a college campus. This is totally different than high school, and so now you're approaching a professor. It's not a teacher, it's a professor that you got to approach. So it could be a little intimidating. So yeah, that teaching them how to be an advocate for themselves, giving them that confidence that they need. You know, all of that plays a role. You mentioned also about, you know, having more month than money. I it definitely dawned on me, you know, I can recall a time also, while I was a single father, raising my son myself. So I've had those times where I've been short on cash. You know, I specifically, and I still have this note from my son when he was about, I guess, about eight years old, he left a note saying, Hey, Dad, can you make me pancakes? Because I would go to work before he get up for school. And I left my note back, saying, Hey, we ran out of pancake mix, but I'll make you something else. And so I made the dish and left it for him for for breakfast that morning. But I still kept that note because it reminded me something as simple as pancake I didn't I didn't have the money to get the mix for that. So. So there are so many challenges that students face, and so many times, you know, when I was a professor at San Diego State, I made sure that a student brought 100% of themselves into my classroom. I didn't want them leaving any parts of themselves out, because anything that you know happened to students that a student could be facing, I want to make sure that they knew that I was there for that support. Because there was a few times when I had had to take my son to class with me because I had no babysitter. I had no money for babysitter, so a few times I had to take him. So I definitely understand that. So in the intersection and we speaking about students. And you know, usually when we talk about students, always I tend to think about traditional students at times. But for unhoused students, how does this program? Does it work? The same for unhoused students as well?

Unknown Speaker 20:48
Well? I mean, certainly for students who are unhoused we, you know, we would love to be able to have a lot more resources out there and even probably a lot more connection to off campus collaborations, and that, I would think that, if that would be, that that could be an area that that we work with on a daily basis, if you will, that would would be a space for improvement, because We do see, you know, students who are unhoused, in addition to, certainly, and, I mean, you know that working in the in the universe, in the union, there's a large unhoused population of folk who are, you know, in and out of the intersection, I mean, in and out of the Student Union and and sometimes will come into to the intersection and exactly what we can and cannot do sometimes, for that population, is a little bit, you know, amiss, but we have been able to, in the past, been able to help our our hope scholar students, so you know, by giving them additional monies and that kind of a thing. But,

Unknown Speaker 22:02
okay, I'm sure you know being being here for seven years on campus, and with you being here 27 years at UNLV that you've seen students from the start all the way up to graduation, yes, so can you tell us about some of those success stories, success stories that you've encountered since you

Unknown Speaker 22:23
well, you know, in the last seven years, is during the time where I've had most of my contact with students as came to UNLV, working in the Graduate College for a number of years, and then in Office of Diversity Initiatives, and so I was not really on the front line with students as much as I have been with the intersection and I the success stories. Gosh, you know, I we saw one of the students who came in the other day. You know, student is now in her third, third year of law school. Oh, wow. And when she first came to UNLV, she was a freshman, and it was like, We were, like, six months in to having opened up, right? And I just remember this young woman being somewhat unsure of herself initially, when she she was trying to get an internship, right, and she didn't know what it was, how she was going to approach this internship. Well, long story short, I mean, the young woman is brilliant, right? And everybody knew she was brilliant, and except her, right, you know. And but, and she, you know, has gone on, like I said. She, she graduated, you know, probably with honors from UNLV, went on to do law school in Arizona, you know, and is about to graduate, and so, and always comes in back to see us, right? And, and she's a first generation student, and, you know, just, she was just delightful to work with. We've had other students that you know had struggled. One student I'm thinking about right, right off the bat is was having some real issues with taking those steps to graduate. And it was very clear that the student was, she was doing almost everything that she could to not graduate, right? And it was kind of like, No, you got to graduate, you know, you got to take these next steps. Well, now the students on the west, on the east coast, she just finished her master's degree, and doing, you know? Well, you know, there's so many stories like that, of students who will come in and say, hey, if it wasn't for you, you know, meaning the US at the intersection, they don't know that where they would be.

Unknown Speaker 24:41
Wow. You know, I'm so grateful for programs like the intersection. I can see how soon, as you know, would not want to take that next step, because being here on this campus, since I've been here, there's a huge sense of belonging here on campus, and everyone is just so welcoming. Every department that I've been in, every person, pretty much, that I've encountered. Honored have been nothing but welcoming here at UNLV, and I can definitely remember at San Diego State, EOP was that program for me, the support that I got from EOP was absolutely amazing, and I always contribute the man that I am today because of them. So those programs, the program like the intersection, plays a huge part in a student's life, and speaking about student lives, one thing I've noticed here at on the campus of UNLV, there's a huge population of different cultural students. So how do you deal with the different cultures and cultural norms of this campus? Sure,

Unknown Speaker 25:38
I mean, we, we just as I said, you know, we try to take everybody as they as they are and as they come. And so looking at the various cultures that are represented and the cultures of the students who come in to the intersection on a daily basis, we use those as learning experiences, right, to learn more about one's culture, to learn more about what's important, what's not important to an individual based upon his or her culture, right? And so that's been very enlightening. It's been extremely enlightening to the students, as well as to myself and the staff, because you know, you think that you know, but you really don't know. You don't necessarily have an understanding. And as I said, you know, before we we are extremely open and candid in the intersection. And so we'll tell folks when they come in, hey, you know, this is a learning environment. So you may not necessarily agree, but you at least have to listen, yes, you know. And you at least have to get to a place of understanding and and, and certainly a place of respect is, is, is one of the things that's extremely important, is making sure that when students are in our little four walls right, that they're respectful, and from that, I think that they learn.

Unknown Speaker 26:58
And that goes a long way. Respect goes a lot, definitely goes a long way. And being willing to learn, if you're coming into this space, just go in with an open absolutely being willing to learn, so important. What advice would you offer students about the intersection or about just being here on campus because you've been here 27 years? So just in general, what advice would you offer students? I

Unknown Speaker 27:18
mean, I know that oftentimes is hard to, you know, hard to do, but it is, don't be afraid to ask, right? You know, do not be afraid to ask. There's always someone who is going to be able to help you and willing to help you and and to trust yourself, right office. So oftentimes, you know we're not trusting of of ourselves, or you know how we feel about a particular situation, or our knowledge base, but you know, just being as I said, don't be afraid to ask and to trust yourself, and to understand that you ain't in this thing by yourself, that there are a whole lot of other people who have either gone through what you're going through, or certainly can help you get through it, and it'll be fine. It'll be fine,

Unknown Speaker 28:10
excellent. So if a student wanted to contact your office, or just to come by to just find out information, how would they do that? Okay,

Unknown Speaker 28:16
so we're located in the Student Union on the first floor. We're the office that has the butterfly on the door, and it's the intersection, and we're low the room number is 121,

Unknown Speaker 28:29
excellent, excellent. Well, Dr Barlow, thank you so very much for coming on as our guest. You've given us so much great information, and I'm hoping that you know, students reach out to you, those that need you, or even those that just want to come by just to see what the office is about. I must say here on air, anytime that I've come to your office looking for you or needing help, or had a student with me that needed help, you've always been able to take care of the issue that they had. And the student realizes, you know, man, I thought I was by myself with an issue like this, and the one student that I brought to you recently, he was like, I did not know she was going to be that willing to help. And I was like, that's what the office is about, and that's just Dr Barlow in general. If she can help you, she's definitely going to do that. So

Unknown Speaker 29:15
I thank you.

Unknown Speaker 29:16
Thank you so much. You are very welcome, and thank you so much. And anytime you want to come over to talk about anything on air, just let me know will do K, U, N, V, 91.5, and that's a wrap.

Dr. Renee Watson 29:30
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai