Desiree Clark ’17
Civil Rights, Title IX, Affirmative Action and Compliance Officer; Minnesota State System Office
M.S., Social Responsibility, 2017
Through Desiree Clark's master's program at SCSU, she was also a full-time employee working in the office of Equity & Access, first as office manager beginning in 2013 and then as the Affirmative Action officer in 2015. She stayed employed at SCSU through August 2020 as the AAO, when she then transitioned to the Minnesota State System Office as the Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, Title IX and Compliance Officer. Her student experience is intertwined with also being a professional employee on campus, and she said her position on campus as an employee gave voice to students — especially graduate students — as she served on several committees during her time at SCSU and often spoke from the lens of a student in those spaces.
In January 2014 Desiree attended the Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast and Day of Service. She said the event was simply fantastic and she was encouraged to see such a collaboration between the community and the University. From that point forward, she began to volunteer on the planning team and has served on the now-called MLK Community Celebration planning team since 2015 and is currently serving her second term as co-chair for the event.
"One of my favorite courses, Women of Color in the U.S., taught by Kyoko Kishimoto in the Women’s Studies department, was one of the best courses I could have taken. It provided me with so much context to the experience of women in this country and helped shape my understanding of how laws were created to marginalize people intentionally. It was incredible to learn about how resilient women in this country are. The history that I learned through this course, I have been able to apply into different areas of my life, which I believe has given me a step ahead. I so very much appreciate the rigor, encouragement from my faculty." - Desiree Clark ’17