DEI Champion Spotlight: Raymond Wos, Jr.

Champion Spotlight
  • DEI
  • 01 May 2022

In 2020, The Student Government Association (SGA) created a new position, Assistant Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Raymond Wos, Jr. will be serving as the SGA AVP for DEI in the 2022-2023 academic year. Meet Ray and get to know his goals for the upcoming year! 

Raymond Wos, Jr.

Raymond Wos, Jr.

 sgadei@rowan.edu

Tell us about yourself:

Hello, my name is Raymond Wos, Jr. I’m a South Jersey resident and grew up in Washington Township in Gloucester County. I graduated from Washington Township High School (Go Minutemen and Mintuemaids) in June 2016. Right after high school, I went to Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) - Gloucester Campus from Fall 2016 to Fall 2019 (Go Roadrunners) to receive my Associate of Arts in Education. Since the completion of my associate's degree from RCSJ, I have been a full-time transfer and commuter student at Rowan University since Spring 2020. I’m currently a Subject Matter Education and History double major with a double minor in International Studies and Political Science.

My official start date is June 1st, but when I take on the responsibility of AVP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, it will include all the required duties of the position. Most importantly, making sure to listen to the student body on DEI issues on our campus and take action by working with the Division of DEI to make those improvements for the students. My goals for the position are the following:

  1. Intersectionality: It can be broken down into the multiple identities that we have as individuals as a whole from having the following areas: Race, Class, Language, Culture, Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Age, Ability, Disability, Sexuality, and Education. This is where every single person has a unique and complex identity about themselves throughout our campus. In the position of the AVP of DEI, it's critical to make sure that the intersectionality of identities is being highly respected and represented. If there are any kind of issues that are happening on campus, I will personally make sure that the changes get done immediately, sufficiently, and effectively! I will continue to fight for those changes until the bitter end regardless of the challenges that come with it.

  2. Accountability and Transparency: Accountability on the part of the Division of DEI, SGA Executive Board, and myself in the role of AVP of DEI. I will take immediate action to make sure that any kind of issues related to different minority communities gets addressed to make improvements with available updates on those issues. As for transparency within my responsibility of upholding many duties, I will personally make sure that each discussion that I have with is available for all students to see what is happening behind the scenes with my position.

  3. Mental Health in DEI: Mental Health has taken a huge toll on us since the Fall of 2021, but much earlier as well before I was a student at Rowan. I have heard and seen things that put us back into reality to know what is going on throughout our whole campus. Also, being highly involved in this issue, I have personally worked with the Director of Wellness Center, Dean of Students, and Provost to make improvements to Mental Health throughout our campus. Yet, on our campus, there are groups of minority identities that are highly affected due to Mental Health issues that are not being addressed due to the lack of understanding of those communities. In the position of AVP of DEI, I will personally work with the individual who gets elected as the new AVP of Health, Wellness, and Safety to make sure that all areas of different intersectionality of identities get the same amount of attention regarding Mental Health on our campus, which is critical and important to those communities.

  4. Holding the Division of DEI to make more improvements of information on the following communities: BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, People with Disabilities, and Neurodiversity: These communities that are mentioned aren't highly spoken about with resources and tools of literature to make improvements for these communities on the DEl website. Yet there are materials for some minority communities on campus, but nothing on all of the communities that are not having the same shared uplifted voice which absolutely sucks. I will personally work with the Division of DEI to make sure those changes take effect in the first several weeks of being in the position of AVP of DEl. It is time for action and accountability to make this happen for the additional minority groups on our campus that they felt represented!

When these goals get complete over the upcoming academic year. I will make sure that all existing goals from Ayala Gedeon, the first-ever SGA AVP of DEI, and the current SGA AVP of DEI, Alex Butler keep the progress going on them as well.

Why is DEI Work Important? 

This question I truly had to think about for several days about the importance of DEI work. To fully understand and answer the question, I’m going to be defining four words that truly bring the work of DEI. They are the following:

  1. Diversity is a lens with a variety of identities (i.e., Race, Class, Language, Culture, Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Age, Ability, Disability, Sexuality, Education, etc.) that represents them as human beings with an exquisite interpretation of life around them.

  2. Equity is to provide equal and fair opportunities for everyone to strive, thrive, and succeed within the world around them for each human being.

  3. Inclusion is being able to make sure that they feel included by their peers by being respected, validated, supported, and empowered as human beings.

  4. Social Justice is the issues of injustice that are marginalized that have been degraded until a group of human beings takes action to want to make change through grassroots and netroots projects around them to make an impact.

These four words stuck out to me as an individual of why DEI work is important. However, it’s very critical because it constantly evolving and changing around us within our environment.

DEI Resources you would like to share: 

Books:

  • Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner
  • Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community by Born This Way Foundation Reporters and Lady Gaga
  • Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity by Simi Linton
  • Educated by Tara Westover
  • Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Rebel Girl on Wheels who Helped spark a Revolution by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner [Youth Novel]

Documentaries:

 Government Websites:

Podcast:

Movies:

  • CODA (2021) - Best Motion Picture of the Year (2022) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Troy Kotsur, who became the first deaf actor to win an Oscar (2022).
  • My Disability Roadmap - linktr.ee/mydisabilityroadmap

Nonprofit Organizations:

Social Media Accounts: