Brittany Frederick became WPI’s new director of multicultural education and community engagement last winter, just as many colleges and universities were eliminating their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Her appointment reflects WPI’s ongoing commitment to fostering a kind and caring community.
Frederick holds a PhD in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she focused on the intersection of race and gender in higher education through U.S. history. That context and perspective help Frederick take the long view when approaching her work with WPI’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education (ODIME). As a self-described nerd who loves gaming and watching Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, she says she feels right at home at WPI. Keep reading to learn more about the Bronx, N.Y., native.
Q: What drew you to this ODIME director position at WPI?
A: It started while I was working on my PhD. I was always looking for educational opportunities outside of the classroom, which led me to take a graduate assistantship in the Office of Inclusion and Engagement at UMass Amherst. And I realized I really liked this type of work. It’s student affairs work, but outside of residential life, which is where I’d worked all through my undergraduate and graduate career.
When I went to Penn State to complete my postdoctoral fellowship, there was an opening in the Fox Graduate School doing similar diversity-related work with students. I took that job but knew I could make more of an impact at a mid-size institution like WPI than I could at a huge school like Penn State. I wanted to be a person with a face. I wanted to lead and to make change. And once I understood more about WPI, I realized it would be a really good fit for me because you can be your own quirky person here.
Q: Now that you’ve been here for a while, what are you most excited about in your role?
A: ODIME is in an interesting place. It’s a difficult place, but it’s also a big, big area of opportunity because we have to re-envision what inclusion and belonging look like moving forward. We need to continue to make sure that our students know that this office is here for them.
Q: Why is having an office like ODIME important for students?
A: At the turn of the 19th century, and with the establishment of land grant institutions, you may have gone to your math class, your agriculture class, your Latin class, and then home. But then students felt as if they needed something else, some sort of enrichment adjacent to the academic experience but still educational. This is where we see the beginning of fraternal societies—and then social clubs more generally. What we now know as “student affairs” began because students and universities saw a benefit in programs that foster the growth of the whole student as a person, not just as an academic pupil.
Without the work that student affairs does outside of the classroom, students do not thrive in the classroom. If students don’t have ways to express themselves, to process the things that they’re going through, to make friends and build community, they cannot succeed in the classroom.
At first I thought I would not fit in at a STEM school like WPI. But I am not here to help anyone solve a math equation. Students come to me to talk about their study habits. They come to me about fitting in and making friends, about identity issues and who they are. These are all things that I can help with. And once students can address those concerns that they have outside of the classroom, they can thrive in the classroom.
