The Office of Multicultural Affairs Gets New Name and Leadership

This fall, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Haverford’s longstanding hub for diversity, equity, and inclusion work, has been renamed the Office of Race and Ethnicity Education. This new name was chosen to better spotlight the current mission of the office—supporting, mentoring, and engaging Haverford’s BIPOC students—now that the College’s broader DEI work is being led by both the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) and the Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (SDEI) team in the dean’s office. 
 
“OREE is an office that will proactively work to engage and support our BIPOC students with staff-led and student-informed programming, advising for affinity groups and our identity-based community houses, as well as serve as a resource and liaison to our campus communities, community partners, families, and alumni regarding support for DEI, cultural, and race- and ethnicity-related initiatives,” said Raquel Esteves-Joyce, associate dean of the College and leader of SDEI. “OREE will also work collaboratively with students, staff, faculty, and various offices to educate all members of our Haverford College communities on issues focused on, or that intersect with, race and ethnicity.”
 
In addition to its new name and more narrowly defined mission, OREE also welcomed a new leader, following the retirement of Assistant Dean of the OMA Denise Allison after 42 years. This fall, Ahyana King joined the community as the new interim director of OREE. 
 
King is a West Philadelphia native, who earned her B.A. in human development and family science from Messiah University and an M.S. in mental health counseling from Walden University. She is a licensed professional counselor who has worked with nonprofit community-based organizations in the Greater Philadelphia area and as an administrator in higher education.
 
King previously worked at Haverford in 2020–2021, running what was then known as the Women*s Center, and helping to shepherd its transformation into the Center for Gender Resources and Sexuality Equity (GRASE). Since leaving the College, she has expanded her mental health and wellness practice for Brown and Black girls and women in West Philly, but has returned to campus several times as an invited speaker and workshop facilitator. 

“I’ve been fortunate in previous work at colleges and universities across the U.S. to give leadership to offices and centers doing similar work as OREE, and consider myself fortunate to continue such work here,” said King. “I’ve seen the continued evolution of Haverford as it lives into its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as integral to the culture of the Haverford community. … To be invited to join in this continued evolution in such an active way was an invitation I was not willing to turn down.”

King was instrumental in helping to rename OREE—it was her suggestion that its name include the word “education” to best express both a core value and commitment of the office—and will be instrumental in helping the office refine and meet its goals going forward. 

“I want people to join me in welcoming the office being new, not just in name or current leadership, but in mission and practice as well,” King said. “We value deeply the work previous iterations of this office has gifted the campus community, and we sincerely look forward to the new offerings that this office will share with the Haverford community and being able to do so in a way that reiterates the office's dedication to being wholly inclusive, graciously open-minded cultivators and co-creators of belonging.”