Talking with Randall Ojeda: A New Face in the Efroymson Diversity Center
Heidi Copple | hcopple@butler.edu
In the past few months, you may have noticed someone new in the Efroymson Diversity Center. On October 18, 2021, Randall Ojeda began his new position as the new Diversity Center Director here at Butler. He accepted the position for the job in September 2021, and has been enjoying it ever since.
Ojeda described the great passion he has for working in the Diversity Center, expressing the challenges in his own college experience from being a minority. As the new diversity center director, he wants to be an advocate for those in a similar position as himself. Ojeda stated how he understands first hand many of the struggles that students go through in this way.
“I believe that the power of diverse interactions and communities can truly change the world and I was thrilled to further share that message in this setting. From my perspective, diversity has the opportunity to positively impact each domain of an individual’s life.”
He went on to emphasize the importance of recognizing how we are all similar as human beings, but how we should love and respect what makes us all different.
“Discovering this reality that we as people are united by much sameness, creates an opportunity for individuals and groups to acknowledge, celebrate, and champion for those components in which we differ.”
Ojeda believes that when we live this out, there are many positive outcomes that affect the wellbeing of the community around us. As a whole, he wants to strive to make Butler a place where everyone feels welcome, and he believes that he can use his past experiences to help others here at Butler today.
Before coming to Butler, Ojeda held several different leadership positions at Children’s Bureau Incorporated, a private non-profit organization. This organization’s mission is to preserve families and protect the future of Indiana's children. They achieve their mission through serving 40,000 children and 20,000 families per year that are living through hardships including, but not limited to: abuse, drug addiction, neglect, and homelessness. Ojeda’s last role before transitioning to Butler was Vice President of Residential Services.
Ojeda mentioned that he felt very drawn to work at Butler because he has the utmost appreciation for the education and opportunities offered here. He attended graduate school at Butler, and also has family members that have done undergraduate work here . He believes that the connections he made with classmates at Butler will last a lifetime because of their dedication to the wellbeing of others.
Coming here, Ojeda hopes to give this same sense of dedication to all students and staff he works with. He mentioned that he’s already had the opportunity to meet and talk with many students that come to the Diversity Center. Ojeda is excited for all of the new ideas and concepts he will learn from students during his time here.
“Conversations about the values and challenges of diversity are occurring in many spheres and industries around our country and to welcome those conversations in this setting is quite exciting to me,” Ojeda said.
Currently, Ojeda is working with others in the Diversity Center to restore and restructure the Morton-Finney Diversity Scholars Program. This scholarship would be granted to those that are dedicated to diverse ideas and making a positive impact on the community around them.
Ojeda has also been working with Maya Sanchez to plan SGA DEI training and DEI webpage updates. He said that the university is launching a new website in the coming weeks, and once that is up they will begin working more on creating DEI resources and tools for anyone to access from the webpage.