Each college at Iowa State has a Multicultural Liaison Officer who focuses on diversity issues in the college. Left to right is: Monica Howard, Jordan Brooks, Carmen Flagge,Elizabeth Martinez-Podolsky,Christy Oxendine, LeQuetia Ancar and Brenda Thorbs-Weber. Courtesy of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs ”Martinez-Podolsky said the majority of the work that is done by an MLO is a little bit of everything. From recruitment, all the way through graduation MLOs help students where they can, however they can. “The majority of our work is on the retention level,” Martinez-Podolsky said. “This is where we are interacting with students one-on-one, helping them create professional plans whether it be graduate school, joining the service or going into a career. We also help with adds and drops or finding resources for them on campus outside of academics. ”Multicultural liaison officers also work heavily to get students into professional workplaces, whether through helping students apply to graduate schools, helping students to attend conferences or helping students with resumes and preparing for career fairs. Martinez-Podolsky said she has greatly enjoyed her position due to being able to work closely with students and help them realize they are just as successful as their peers.“Getting the opportunity to hear students’ stories and help them create connections has been great,” MartinezPodolsky said. “Sometimes they have this clean-cut expectation of what success looks like but then they will say that they don’t have any of those things, so they aren’t a good student. I’m thinking ‘What do you mean you don’t have experience? You told me you worked on your dad’s farm in Mexico over the summer, that’s a relevant experience. You just told me you are bilingual, talk about a skill!’”
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