06/23/2009

• The WLAC UMOJA Program is a community of educators and learners committed to the academic success, personal growth and self-actualization of African American students.
• It seeks to educate the whole student-body, mind and spirit.
• Informed by an ethic of love and its vital power, the WLAC UMOJA Community will deliberately engage students as full participants in the construction of knowledge and critical thought.
• The WLAC UMOJA Community seeks to help students experience themselves as valuable and worthy of an education.
• WLAC UMOJA Program believes in developing a classroom environment that fosters the value of hands-on and interactive experiences in a classroom that are designed in a laboratory format that will give the student immediate feedback and positive reinforcement.

What are our intentions for the UMOJA Program?

The WLAC UMOJA Community

• We are identifying and sharing a name with a core set of pedagogies and promising practices.
• We support the academic, professional, and personal development of students.
• We support the persistence and retention of all students toward defined educational goals:
  • Transfer, Vocational Certificate, and Associate Degree.
  • It is our intention to prepare all of our students to attain their AA degree and to have the necessary requirements to support them to transfer in the future.
• Integrates both Instructional and Student Services.
• Integrates sound assessment strategies and a set of core benchmark measures.
• Includes recruitment and regular training of students, staff and faculty through seminars, conferences and other professional development.
• Facilitates the sharing of resources:
  • Financial
  • Curriculum
  • Methodologies
  • Pedagogies
  • Materials and Contacts

• Researchers have identified several factors that contribute to the lack of academic success of African American students within the United States.
• Much of the research points to specific issues within the academic institution that remain largely unexamined and unaddressed by college administrators and faculty.
• Low teacher expectation, negative teacher perceptions, and minority stereotyping lead directly to feelings of alienation and abandonment in the classroom for African American students (Lee, 2004; Steele, 1999)

• The UMOJA Program is a component of the UMOJA Community, a dedicated space welcoming all students, a space designed by students and staff, a space that nurtures academic success.
• The UMOJA Program will provide opportunities to increase exposure to historical and cultural experiences for the African Diaspora.
• The UMOJA Program is a place for expression and celebration of our students’ voices.
• The UMOJA Program will intentionally cultivate relationships within the broader institution to help support students.  This project will be called “ Links to Student Success”.
• The UMOJA Black Student Movement Student Organization is an entity that exists within the UMOJA Village.
• It is an opportunity to support students in their effort to academically, personally, professionally and spiritually become grounded and successful.
• It is an opportunity to collaborate with and participate in the Umoja-Black Student Movement organization as a vehicle of assessing students for the Umoja Program and Village.
• It is an opportunity for the college community and the residential community to collaborate in supporting the success of African American students.
• It is an opportunity for the college community and the residential community to reap the benefits of the gifts and talents that the students have to offer. ( service learning)
• It is an opportunity to apply Afro-centric curriculum to the Basic Skills courses to incorporate an African-American cultural course as a part of the student’s educational experience.
• It is an opportunity to ensure that students are exposed to an eclectic choice of colleges for transfer possibilities.
• It is an opportunity to network the students with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
• It is an opportunity to offer networking, tutoring, and mentoring to the students in the UMOJA Program.
• Umoja Village and Umoja Program is a community that is inclusive and extends an invitation to all students and individuals that have a desire to participate in the Umoja Program or as a member of the Village.

Umoja Coordinating Council

Elizabeth Evans- Chair of Child Development Dept.
Lead Coordinator Umoja

Dr. Patricia Banday

Director of Assessment and Matriculation
Co-Coordinator, Umoja Program
 
Glenn Schenk

Director of Financial Aid
Co-Coordinator of Umoja Program
 
Helen Young- Counselor
Umoja Advisor and counselor

STAFF SUPPORT

Marty Turner - Umoja Student Coordinator and Advisor
 
Ana Chang - Umoja Advisor 
 
Alan Carrabante - Umoja Advisor
 
Jaime Martinez - Umoja Advisor
 
Jack Waites - Umoja Advisor
 
Leanor Diaz - Umoja Advisor
 
Kelly Gilmore - Umoja Advisor
 
Gwen Thomas - Umoja Instructor

Tim Russell - Umoja Math Instructor

Isidra Person-Lynn - Umoja English Instructor