A job centered on perseverance

Lane named director of Multi-Ethnic programs

By SHAWNRENE KEPPEL, News Editor

Published: January 9, 2008

Susan Lane has been exposed to the racial divide of the United States since a young age. Lane is "sansei," a Japanese person whose family has been in the United States for three generations. Her parents, United States citizens but children of Japanese immigrants, were held in internment camps with their families in Idaho, California and Wyoming during World War II.

Her father joined the army and fought overseas for the United States, but when he returned was unable to find employment because he was ethnically Japanese.

"Because my parents were interned I grew up with this sense that there are things that happen in life that are unjust and they are unjust because of your race," she said.

Despite the blunt racism her parents encountered, throughout their lives, Lane said there were many people who assisted their family in various ways. When her grandparents first came to the United States people assisted them in finding housing and employment to support their new lives. While in the internment camps, there were people who would come to teach the interned children since they could not go to school.

"Growing up, there was always a sense that other people made the way for us," Lane said. "That feeling that other people have come along side, have assisted and have advocated on behalf of my family, made me realize that this is something that I can do on behalf of other people."

Lane, who has been working at SPU since the early 80s, has been chosen to fill a new position as Director of Multi-Ethnic Programs. Her mission statement, she said, is simply "helping people take the next step."

"Helping students, whether they be multiethnic or majority students, take the next step to finishing their degree, toward writing that new story of education in their family and toward understanding what it means to live in a diverse world are things that are really motivating for me," she said.

Lane has been actively promoting diversity discussions on and off of campus for many years.

"Because I've been here for a long time students, staff and faculty of color have sought me out when they've been in situations that they didn't know how to handle," she said.

She is part of a team that has facilitated sessions on reconciliation during faculty retreat and organized a reconciliation brown bag series where topics such as privilege, myths and family legacies were discussed with staff and faculty.

She has also been a mentor for Ames Scholars, ethnically diverse students who have been granted scholarships for community involvement and leadership capacity. In being an Ames mentor Lane said she has been able to assist students in adjusting to Seattle and being a source of support whenever needed.

"Most first generation college students won't have parents who can help them navigate a university," Lane said. "I was a first generation college student trying to find my way through higher education, so I have empathy for students who are trying to figure things out without having parents or older siblings to follow."

The national search for someone to be the Director of Multi-Ethnic Programs went on throughout fall quarter and found 15 applicants from across the country, Jeff Jordan, Dean of the Office of Student Life, said. In their search, the university was looking for an individual who understood how the systems and structures of a university work and someone who could understand what life is like for ethnic minority students living and attending school in a majority culture like SPU.

Born and raised in Seattle, between Harborview Medical Center and St. James Cathedral, Lane said she went to a lower socioeconomic elementary school and middle schools where most students were ethnic minorities. Due to zoning changes that were happening in Seattle at the time, she went to Lincoln High School, where she found herself to be one of the only ethnic minority students, exposing her to the many misconceptions that exist between people of different races. This, she said, enables her to understand what ethnic minority students coming to SPU experience when they get here.

Student leaders in ethnic minority clubs such as MOSAIC and Salsa were asked for input while Jordan and his team were reviewing applications and were able to interview the three candidates who came to SPU in December, Jordan said.

They found that Lane, Director of the Career Development Center, was the candidate who best suited what the university needed in their work toward reconciliation right now, Jordan said.

"Susan brings real strengths with her vision and passion for this work," he said. "She knows student development well and is able to relate to experiences students have in individual life as well as corporate life."

Lane said she has seen the process that SPU has gone through to come to this point in its work towards racial reconciliation and that she is glad to see the university in a place where people from all over campus are participating in the discussion. She said her role will partially be connecting the efforts and ideas of different groups with one another so that their work can be more effective.

"All across campus different groups are working on how we can make SPU a more hospitable place for all students," she said.

While she will work one-on-one with ethnic minority students, Lane said they will not be her only focus.

"It is essential for majority students to understand that the world is not just as they grew up, but that it is bigger, broader and more complex," she said. "If they can learn that while within the Christian context of SPU I think it will be doubly powerful."

Though many people are working together to promote ethnic diversity and racial reconciliation discussions on campus Lane said she knows there is more work to be done.

"Change doesn't happen quickly," she said. "It will take a lot of perseverance, but I'm good at that."

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