Champlain Welcomes New Director of Diversity and Inclusion

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Ame Lambert - Senior Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion

BURLINGTON, VT (01/17/2011)(readMedia)-- Ame Lambert of South Burlington has been named Champlain College's new Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion. She began work at the College in November.

Champlain College's Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) works with all campus stakeholders to create a diverse and inclusive community. Lambert and the ODI staff work directly with students to prepare them to thrive in a global, multicultural, interdependent world. The office serves as a resource to campus departments on diversity issues and provides training, programming and support services to underrepresented populations.

One of the first events Lambert is planning will coincide with the observance of Martin Luther King Day. In partnership with Champlain Theater, a dramatic presentation of "Martin Luther King's Letter" will be held Monday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Auditorium. The free event, open to the public, will feature Edgar Davis, a professional actor from the community, as Martin Luther King.

"We hope events like this will bring in a large amount of support from faculty and students and the community. Champlain's MLK Day event is being held a week after the official observance so our students can participate in other community events in Burlington," Lambert said.

Lambert says her work ethics derive from a quote by noted management author Peter Senge, "Superior performance comes from superior learning."and this is her first goal campus wide goal at Champlain There is a great foundation at Champlain College on which to build our future diversity and inclusion programs, especially in working with staff and faculty, she noted.

"It is about equipping champions to do what they are passionate about and what they want to do. People have been asking how to address bias incidents, how to create inclusive communities, how to weave diversity discussions into the curriculum and co-curricular activities. People want knowledge to make diversity real and relevant and it is our responsibility as the office of diversity and inclusion to provide that information and be a resource," Lambert explained. We will be launching an in house training/certification program called Intercultural U for members of the Champlain community. Interested parties should visit the ODI website for more information

Prior to Champlain, Lambert was Director of Intercultural Affairs at Northwest Missouri State University. She is a graduate of Baylor University and earned her Master's degree in Human Resources and Labor Relations from Michigan State University. She is originally from Nigeria.

Lambert, whose office is located in the IDX Student Life Center, adjacent to the Fireside Lounge, hopes students, faculty and staff will check the website http://www.champlain.edu/Office-of-Diversity-and-Inclusion.html, send emails with any ideas and perspectives or just to stop by and chat.

ABOUT CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers study abroad programs in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. The College was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. It is also ranked in the top tier of 2011 Regional Colleges in the North by U.S. News & World Report. To learn more about Champlain College, visit www.champlain.edu.

CALENDAR LISTING:

"Martin Luther King's Letter" – Monday, Jan. 24, 7 p.m. in Alumni Auditorium, Champlain College. A dramatic reading of Martin Luther King, Jr's Letter from the Birmingham Jail featuring professional actor Edgar Davis and Champlain faculty and staff, presented by the Champlain Theater and Champlain College's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Free and open to the public. For more information, call 860-2784 or alambert@champlain.edu or Joanne Farrell at Farrellj@champlain.edu.