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UO Senior Tiera Garrety (right) in community at the Many Nations Longhouse during CMAE’s P.R.I.D.E (Proudly Recognizing Indigenous Devotion to Education) Awards celebration.
The Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence (CMAE) promotes retention and persistence for students from historically underrepresented and underserved populations, including undocumented and tuition equity students. The center provides holistic and culturally responsive advising, campus wayfinding, and navigation.
The advising center’s goals are to provide wraparound support for students and to serve as a campus hub, offering a comfortable space to study, access to computers, free printing and copying, snacks, and tutoring, all within in a supportive environment that empowers students to fulfill their educational and career goals.
CMAE is jointly supported by UESS and the Division of Equity and Inclusion.
total student visits to the center
scholarship recipients served by CMAE advisors
student tutoring appointments
New Student Fall Retreat
CMAE hosted its 33rd annual New Student Fall Retreat this year, which serves to provide a transition to college experience for both new first-year and transfer students. The bridge program provided 35 participants an opportunity to build community and connect to campus faculty, staff, and resources. Of the 2023 retreat participants, 85 percent identified as students of color, 9 percent were transfer students, and 51 percent were first-generation college students.
Attending the retreat allows new students to start their college careers with a strong sense of identity and belonging and provides a foundation for them to begin building campus social and academic networks.
CMAE Student Leadership Team members, Jedi Thongthaengthai, class of 2025, and Isabela Espino-Marquez, class of 2025, prepare to present to new UO students during 2023 fall retreat.
Student Leadership Team
The team was comprised of a dynamic group of 18 students, who serve as facilitators, trainers, peer educators and mentors to incoming students during and after the New Student Fall Retreat. Team members go through a comprehensive 10-week training over spring term to collaboratively plan and implement the retreat. Being part of the team provides students with experience in working with diverse populations and increases their skills in cross-cultural communication.
Diversity Excellence Scholarships
CMAE serves as the advising hub for recipients of the UO’s longstanding Diversity Excellence Scholarship (DES). The tuition-remission scholarship was awarded to 372 undergraduate students this year in recognition of educational achievements and contribution to diversity and inclusion on campus.
Diversity Excellence Scholars, who receive wraparound advising through CMAE’s four retention specialists, consistently have better retention rates and higher 4- and 6-year graduation rates than their non-DES peers.
This year, CMAE awarded five students the Diversity Excellence Scholars Abroad scholarship, a $2,000 grant towards a study abroad opportunity. The scholarship’s goal is to increase and encourage underrepresented students participating in study abroad programs.
Student Testimonials:
“My time at the University of Oregon has been filled with learning, fun and connection. As a DES scholar, I have been connected to communities on campus that make me feel a sense of belonging while away from my home community."
Sophia Lopez Hodgdon, Neuroscience, Class of 2025
"Being a Diversity Excellence Scholar has provided me support as a student through the connections of academic advisors, other programs around UO, and student resources. I have been encouraged to engage in volunteer and community building. From these experiences, I have discovered opportunities that have helped me achieve academic and professional success. ”
Seberiana Lopez, Art and Technology, Class of 2025
Academic Residential Communities
The center’s staff works closely with the UO’s identity-based Academic Residential Communities (ARCs), providing advising and co-curricular engagement to students enrolled in a variety of ARCs and Residential Communities.
This year, the center’s advisors supported students in the Native American Indigenous Scholars (NAIS), Latinx Scholars, LGBTQIA+ Scholars ARCs, as well as for students in the Gender Expansive Residential Community.
Oregon Young Scholars Program
The Oregon Young Scholars Program (OYSP) helps high school students develop academic, college prep and leadership skills. This year, OYSP served 59 underrepresented students throughout Eugene-Springfield, Salem and Portland.
Students receive academic and precollege support throughout their four years in high school and are invited to a weeklong residential summer camp at UO, where they engage in college exploration and financial workshops, and engage with faculty in various academic disciplines.
One hundred percent of the program’s 12 high school graduates in 2023 enrolled in higher education that fall, including three students at UO.
OYSP students and their Resident Assistants gather outside the Living Learning Center on the last day of the 2024 summer camp.