Festus Addo-Yobo

If chosen as Kansas University’s next Office of Multicultural Affairs director, Festus Addo-Yobo said he’d like to add “spice” to the university.

Addo-Yobo said students need a sense of belonging, and that can be enhanced by seeing others like them on campus. But he added that, in his opinion, more multiculturalism on campus makes it a more attractive place for others, too.

Addo-Yobo was the first of three finalists for the OMA director position scheduled to visit campus this week. About 40 people attended his talk Monday at the Kansas Union.

Addo-Yobo, who is black, is currently director of Black Programs in the division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at New Mexico State University.

“We need to enhance the cultural competency of campus,” he said.

To do that and to bring people in to the OMA who might not otherwise come he suggested activities such as a lecture series, brown-bag lunches and fun events, citing a step-show competition that’s been popular at New Mexico State as an example. He said getting the word out about the OMA through effective public relations is important.

Festus Addo-Yobo

Addo-Yobo said he supports teaching multiculturalism in curriculum.

“Curriculum infusion is important, it’s really important,” he said.

He shared an anecdote about talking with a group of students in New Mexico where a number of the Latino students did not know who Cesar Chavez was, and a number of the black students did not know who Martin Luther King was.

Addo-Yobo said learning about marginalized cultures wasn’t just important for white people, but students of color, too, saying, “If you don’t know yourself, why should we learn about you?”

He said he supports “a culture of evidence” in which data is used to show results.

“I truly don’t want an office that is going to be window-dressed, so I’m really intentional,” he said.

He also said he supports the OMA getting involved with student recruitment efforts, something he’s done in previous positions, even recruiting gang members from rough high schools and ghettos and making them into “scholars.”

As director of Black Programs at New Mexico State, Addo-Yobo provides leadership for the strategic planning process to accelerate African-American student achievement, according to a KU news release announcing his visit. Previously Addo-Yobo was director of the African-American Studies Program in the Division of Student Affairs at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn., and director of the African-American Learning Resource Center of Student Support Services at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Addo-Yobo also has served as a counselor for former gang members, a prevention specialist at a mental health center and an academic counselor at Western Kentucky University, according to KU.

Addo-Yobo has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the College of St. Francis, a master’s in education from Western Kentucky University and a doctorate in education management and development from New Mexico State, according to KU.

The second candidate for OMA director, Andre Brown, program director of TRiO Student Support Services at Arizona State University will present at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The third candidate, whose name has not yet been announced, will present at 11 a.m. Dec. 4. Both presentations are at the Kansas Room.

The suggested topic for finalists to address in their presentations is “Strategic Leadership at KU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs.”

The next OMA director will replace Blane Harding, who left KU in May and took a job at the University of Nevada, Reno. Precious Porras has been interim director.

Associate professor of journalism Jerry Crawford is chairman of the OMA director search committee, which he said was formed and began work in August.