Tennessee Technological University establishes Office of Access, Belonging and Community Outreach

Tennessee Technological University has established a new Office of Access, Belonging and Community Outreach that aims to foster a campus community wherein everyone is treated with kindness and respect and everyone feels a sense of connectedness with their fellow students.

According to an article on Tennessee Tech’s website, Robert Owens, who is the new senior executive for access and community outreach has been on campus at Tennessee Tech for more than two decades, serving in various staff and administrator roles. His perspectives and knowledge of the campus will serve him in his new role, which seeks to promote a sense of community. He is quoted as saying, “We want to make sure that anyone who is hired or chooses to enroll at Tennessee Tech feels a sense of welcome and authentic belonging at the university. We’re going to promote kindness and we’re going to endeavor to see the unseen student, staff member and faculty. To do that, we’ve got to engage with the entire campus.” Owens continued, “We’re designed very much to work across the university, with offices within the Division of Student Affairs – Intercultural Affairs, the Accessible Education Center, the Counseling Center – with Academic Affairs and places like the Women’s Center, with Human Resources, and so forth, to integrate a message of kindness across all areas of campus.”

The Office of Access, Belonging and Community Outreach is staffed by Owens, Margo Dirkson, who is a department coordinator, and Maria Baltazar, who is a recruitment specialist. There will also be several graduate assistants lending a hand. Earlier in the year, before the office was officially launched, Owens and his team held an accessibility awareness day on campus, which gave members of the campus community who are differently-abled the opportunity to speak to other community members about challenges they face.

To officially launch the new office, an open house was held to introduce the staff and the goals of the office. One of the first tasks the Office of Access, Belonging and Community Outreach will be taking on is creating a climate survey that will be circulated to the community for their optional participation. The survey will seek to gauge perceptions among students, staff, and faculty members about belonging within the campus community. 

Of what Owens hopes this survey will accomplish, he said, “I’m excited about this because it will give us baseline information that we can use to better inform our work. We need to understand how people are feeling and what their personal experiences are. This is a great way to measure that.”

For more information about Tennessee Technological University, visit the school’s website.