During Women’s History Month, St. Thomas shed a light on the women who have contributed to the Tommie community. Through their hands-on engagement, research and efforts to diversify the campus, Candy Sauer, Kathlene Campbell and Kha Yang have demonstrated their desire to make St. Thomas a better place.

Candy Sauer

Sauer, a building service worker, has been upkeeping the buildings on campus since 2013. Primarily working in Tommie North this year, Sauer says her days at work consist of everyday duties like shoveling, working in the dining hall and engaging with students.

“One of the most valuable things that I do is greet and meet the kids, talk to the kids and wish them a good day,” Sauer said.

For Sauer, her role doesn’t stop at managing the second and third floors of Tommie North.

“I feel like I try to be the dorm mom,” Sauer said. “I’ve taken on that role pretty seriously, and I just try to make a difference.”

Sauer’s enthusiasm on campus has given her opportunities to support students in extraordinary ways. When she’s not cleaning in Tommie North, you can find her at football games, concerts and offering advice to students.

“I’ve listened to many speeches, dried many tears and offered good boyfriend advice and, maybe, not-so-welcome boyfriend advice,” Sauer said. “I’m a big cheerleader for all the athletics and the choirs.”

Through her work, Sauer hopes to leave a lasting impact on all the students she encounters.

“It’s a privilege to be at St. Thomas, and I really love the kids,” Sauer said. “You can be so full of life coming into college and wanting to be a difference-maker. I feel as though I like to be a part of that grooming.”

Kathlene Campbell

Campbell, the dean of the School of Education, uses her role to try to enhance the lives of students in the education program.

“Everything I do is based on trying to make sure that kids in our community have the brightest future that they can have,” Campbell said.

Campbell is an advocate for education and pushes students to reach their fullest potential in the classroom.

“While I am the figurehead of the School of Education– I’m the one who’s usually out in the community that you’ll see advocating for student rights and teacher’s rights– I also speak for four and five-year-olds who are in the classroom,” Campbell said.

Campbell sees great importance in preparing students to be future educators; she believes they are the individuals who create future leaders.

“We make sure that we’re preparing the best teachers while also thinking about the children in the K-12 system,” Campbell said. “If students aren’t at the center of what we do, then I think it’s problematic, so everything we do is wrapped around, ‘How are we educating and preparing them for the future?’”

Aside from focusing on grooming exceptional teachers, Campbell sees the importance in incorporating diversity training at St. Thomas and making it a core curriculum for students across the board.

“One of the first initiatives that I launched was to make sure that we had an audit of our programs, so we could see which classes actually did embed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and which ones didn’t, “ Campbell said. “I wanted to make sure that while one level was touching the students, I also recognize that I have faculty and staff and they need ongoing training, too.”

Kha Yang

Yang, the associate vice president for inclusive excellence, is an advocate for diversity on campus. She uses her voice to speak up for students of color and has launched initiatives, along with her colleagues, to promote inclusiveness.

“I’ve been on campus for nearly two years and I’ve spent a lot of that time getting to know the different individuals and groups on campus to hear about their experiences at St. Thomas,” Yang said. “We rolled out a diversity climate survey, and that is one tool to measure the experiences and the perceptions of all of our members on campus.”

Yang’s mission is to make St. Thoms a safe community for people of all races. She does that by educating individuals on campus about racism.

“We’ve been meeting about what it means to be an anti-racist institution, what’re some things that we can put into place to dismantle racism and support our community of color,” Yang said.

Yang enhances the St. Thomas community through her diverse background and her ability to bring a new perspective to how the university handles diversity, equity and inclusion.

“As a person of color, and also as a female, I not only bring the professional perspective, but I also bring the lived experiences into such an important role that can help shape the direction of our work at St. Thomas,” Yang said.

In the near future, Yang hopes to see progressive action taken at St. Thomas to make it a more welcoming environment for people of color.

“My hope for the work that I’m engaged in is to create this collective mindset of embracing diversity, equity and inclusion and a mindset that DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) is everyone’s responsibility,” Yang said.

Leila Weah can be reached at weah7721@stthomas.edu.