November 12, 2004
Lisa Martin heads Center for Intercultural Understanding, leads effort to aid ravished Haiti
by Schuyler Williams, A'05, Intern in the Offices of Public Affairs and Publications
The Center for Intercultural Understanding opened this semester with Lisa
Martin, instructor in the Department of Communications, as its interim director.
The Center for Intercultural Understanding will provide students an outlet to voice their concerns. Its creation should aid the university in fostering a campus environment where students, faculty, and staff will be able to recognize, respect, and celebrate their differences and commonalities. The plan is for this to occur through panel discussions, lectures, book clubs, screenings, social and musical events, residence hall seminars, and interfaith prayer and liturgical experiences coordinated with University Ministry.
A university-wide committee unanimously approved Martin as the center's interim director. She has a responsibility to promote a supportive and inclusive campus environment through programming, services, advocacy, research, and curriculum transformation, responding to the needs of students, faculty, and staff for the common good. She will interact with all campus constituencies, funding agencies, and community agencies, and advocate for the recruitment and retention of a diverse student body, faculty, and staff. Martin will be in charge of the center for this year and then return to teaching. In the meantime, the school will conduct a nationwide search for a permanent director. Martin, who believes she was chosen based on her spirit of fairness, has an impressive track record with students. She has taught for almost 10 years and has served as an academic adviser, receiving the award for Excellence in Advising award from the College of Arts and Sciences. Martin's area of research is media and stereotypes.
Martin has big plans for the Intercultural Affairs center. She hopes to bring in several speakers, including hate crimes expert Walter Bouman. She also wants to work on literacy citywide. But these ideas and others will have to take the back burner until she completes a current project. Through the Intercultural Understanding program and in conjunction with other campus organizations and CARE (Cooperative Assistance for Relief Everywhere), Martin has made an effort to collect money for hurricane victims in Haiti. (See adjacent story.)
Martin was born and raised in New Orleans. She earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in mass communication at Loyola. She has worked as a television news producer for WWL-TV in New Orleans, and as a series and special projects producer for WTVJ-TV in Miami, where she won an Emmy for producing a series entitled "The Great Florida Honesty Test." Martin produced a nationally syndicated travel show, documentaries for WLAE, and works with the New Orleans Association of Black Journalists.
The Center for Intercultural Understanding will be on the first floor of the Danna Center next to the bookstore. It will open with a formal ceremony December 8 at 12:30 p.m.
