Guest Message from Dr. Jason Kirksey

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Life itself is simple; we complicate it. As OSU continues working toward excellence as a university and sustaining and enriching the values of diversity and inclusion within our land-grant mission, simple is better. I try to live based on three simple things: common sense, context and culture.

As vice president and chief diversity officer for OSU, I have always focused my efforts on being a fire prevention specialist rather than a firefighter to make the university a better place for everyone. Creating a significant and sustained culture of inclusion is hard, but anything worth having in life does not come easy. It is heavy lifting; however, the 10-ton barge is a whole lot lighter if everyone is down in the muck helping to lift.

As someone who has taught, researched and published on race in America for more than a quarter-century, and been Black for 53 years, I am certainly not an expert, but I am a knowledgeable diversity and inclusion professional. Rather than feeling a sense of discomfort regarding conversations about race in our communities and across America, I encourage all of us to embrace this opportunity.

Our advancement and success as a higher educational institution, and a society, is not predicated upon on our ability to “think outside of the box,” but instead to take advantage of everything that is already in it. The tools necessary to move forward and grow stronger as a society and become more comfortable with each other are readily accessible, and most importantly, free.

In Head Start, as a poor inner-city Black kid in northeast Denver, I learned the keys to be successful in life: Work hard, do your best in whatever you do and be kind, polite, respectful and treat people the way you want to be treated. Every one of those lessons are still applicable, and frankly, more so now than ever.

Go Pokes!

Jason F. Kirksey, Ph.D.

Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer

Oklahoma State University