Moving back and forth between two different cultures has been a lifelong necessity for Maria Lozano, cultural program coordinator in the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services.
A native of Puerto Rico, Lozano spoke only Spanish throughout her elementary-school years. Lozano's father, son of a Puerto Rican father and a German-American mother, was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and considers himself very much American. Her mother's family is Puerto Rican via a Spanish ancestry.
"My home environment was always bicultural and bilingual," Lozano said. "There was always this dialogue between my mother and father in English, and then between them and me and my siblings in Spanish."
The security Lozano felt in that Spanish-speaking world and its culture was shaken when her father's Methodism prevented her from entering Puerto Rico's Catholic, Spanish-speaking middle and high schools. Instead she entered an English-speaking school heavily influenced by American culture.
"For the first time, I was exposed to an American-dominated school system," Lozano said. "For better or for worse, I came into contact with what it meant to be a Puerto Rican. I was known at school as the girl who did not know English. Everything I was used to being at the Spanish-speaking elementary school, all the friends I had and the acceptance, was gone. It was 1977--sex, drugs and rock `n' roll, which I had never been exposed to in my life. The language in particular was incredibly hard at first. No one spoke Spanish at the school. It was by far the most difficult, painful period I can recall in growing up. I had never before felt excluded or different in such a blatant way."
Perhaps more than any other of her life experiences, the culture shock Lozano underwent in middle school has left her highly equipped to help Emory students of various cultural backgrounds become more aware of their own cultural heritages as well as those of others.
"I'm the main person for the student programming and student retention components of the office," said Lozano. "The main awareness programs coming out of our office are Latino Awareness Month and Asian American Awareness Month in fall semester, Black History Month in February and Native American Awareness Month in March." For all four of these programs, Lozano is responsible for coordinating the planning of events, space reservations, and representing the office by serving on advisory boards and committees that deal with cultural programming and other issues.
Lozano's student retention efforts include coordinating the matching of upper class students who volunteer to mentor incoming freshmen. "Over the summer, we read the files of all the incoming minority freshmen," Lozano said. "We do the matching based on the hometown and cultural information, as well as what the wants and needs of the students are. The volunteer reply cards are all in by August, and then I have a sense of who the upper class volunteers are."
The volunteers also receive training in listening, leadership and social skills and time management.
In addition to her official job duties, Lozano is adviser to the Latino student organization and has served as an adviser to the Asian American student group. "I think the students appreciate the information I share with them," Lozano said. "I have given them input on how to get organized, the need to put down in writing what their needs are, and who to present them to. I think having someone who has been through college but is still not too distant from that experience has its advantages. I feel that it has given them the sense that there is someone who cares, and to the extent that she can, she is giving them some direction."
A former graduate student in the Institute of the Liberal Arts, Lozano first learned of the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services as a graduate assistant, developing career, financial aid and internship information stacks. As a former student activist and a teacher of both English and Spanish as second languages, Lozano has a vested interest in curricular issues. She believes active involvement with campus groups such as the Women's Center, the Office of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Life, and the Coalition for Understand-ing and Respect at Emory (CURE) enables her to keep students well informed about national trends in multicultural curricular reform.
"In that kind of ongoing interaction, I find out a lot of information," she said. "That's the kind of useful information I share with students of any background who want to make a difference, to get involved in curriculum. I know, for instance, that there is a plan for a national outreach kind of activism that's not just going on here, but on other campuses as well, which has to do with curriculum and financial aid.
"My job, in other words, has a lot to do with information dissemination," Lozano continued. "I think that, given the lack of centrality that Emory suffers from, the more information that you're able to share with students, staff and faculty, the more likely it is that you'll be part of something good or effective."
--Dan Treadaway