The Culture and Identity Centers | Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University appointed two new assistant directors in the Bolinga Black Cultural and Asian and Native American resource centers to provide vision, leadership and direction of the daily operations of respective centers.
Nicolyn Woodcock with the Asian and Native American Center
Originally from Ohio, Dr. Nicolyn Woodcock taught twentieth century American, multiethnic and Asian American literature courses at Colorado College and Clark University, served as the director of the English program at Medaille University and obtained a Ph.D. in English literature from Miami University, according to a university-wide announcement.
Woodcock started at Wright State in January after traveling across the nation pursuing and working multiple jobs, in the words of Woodcock.
“My first job was in Colorado, and I bounced around from upstate New York to Massachusetts, and I’ve been trying to get home,” Woodcock said.
Woodcock heard about the position through Handshake, WSU’s hiring portal, in August 2022 and felt that the opportunity was fate. Furthermore, previous experience working in the humanities center at Miami University made Woodcock a perfect match in the role.
Due to additional changes to the centers, Woodcock plans to hold off on making any changes to the organization until the centers finalize all plans; moreover, Woodcock has future plans of teaching Asian American courses at Wright State.
“I am still learning about the center and want to make my decision on changes after learning more about the center. Also, hopefully in the future, I’ll be able to teach some Asian American courses here,” Woodcock said.
Kimberly Collins with the Bolinga Black Cultural Center
Kimberly Collins is the former program director of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program at both Sinclair Community College and Miami University and joined WSU as the assistant director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resource Center on Dec. 5.
“Coming to Wright State has been a big blessing for me. I have a passion for helping students figure out what they want to do and how they want to do it. When I saw the ad for the Bolinga Center, it felt like a good fit,” Collins said.
The process of coming to the position took multiple months and included a telephone interview, an in-person interview, a presentation and an extended eight-hour interview, in accordance with Collins. Furthermore, Collins met Wright State’s vice president as well as a group of minority students.
In the presentation to share programming ideas, Collins voiced new ideas for the position, including different levels of mentoring for minority students, such as mentoring one another or mentoring community college students transferring to Wright State.
Positive student response
Abhi Lekhi, a psychology major, provided insight about the new leaders and expressed excitement in the center’s changes.
“The new directors that have been chosen make me proud to be a part of the community, and I look forward to the change that will be implemented,” Lekhi said.
For more information about the Division of Inclusive Excellence, visit the division’s webpage or the Culture and Identity Centers webpage.
