Alumni Named Director of Multicultural Student Engagement at Wayne State

Sept. 4, 2015

Wayne State University announces the appointment of Leonard Savala as director of the newly established Office of Multicultural Student Engagement (OMSE), effective Aug. 31.

He will lead the long-term strategic planning and positioning of OMSE, an integral part of WSU’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Savala joins Wayne State from Michigan State University, where he was director of undergraduate diversity in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

At MSU, Savala served in a variety of roles, including community outreach liaison in the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives and academic services coordinator for the Vetward Bound Program within the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Additionally, he has served two terms as a member of the State of Michigan Commission on Spanish-Speaking Affairs.
Savala earned a Ph.D. in higher education from Western Michigan University. He received his master’s in agricultural and extension education and bachelor’s in dietics from Michigan State University.

“An Office of Multicultural Student Engagement is long overdue at Wayne State,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Margaret E. Winters. “I am excited that, with the naming of a director, we are very close to offering this significant service to our students, both those who are traditional minorities and those who are not. We will all benefit from this office, and I look forward to partnering with our chief diversity officer and the new director in bringing it to fruition.”

OMSE serves as a point of connection for students from diverse backgrounds. The goal is to provide an inclusive climate and awareness initiatives that promote academic success for underrepresented and historically marginalized students.

“I’m really excited to launch this new office,” said Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Marquita Chamblee. “I saw it as an immediate need, a priority area for us to begin to make Wayne State a welcoming and supportive environment for students from diverse backgrounds who have been historically marginalized. Leonard and I will work closely together in the months ahead to begin to create this inclusive space."

In addition to providing a home base for students of color at Wayne State, this will also be an inclusive place for students from the LGBTQ community.

“Even as we’re getting OMSE up and running, we’ll be expanding the staff to include an LGBTQ liaison and other staff,” Chamblee said. “In the months ahead, I expect we’ll be planning and implementing a variety of initiatives as we begin to identify and address students’ needs."

Diversity is one of Wayne State's primary values and is seen as essential to its urban mission of preparing students from varied backgrounds and experiences to excel in an increasingly complex and global society. With students from 60 nations and nearly every culture, Wayne State is Michigan's most diverse public university.