For the end of Women’s History Month, we are featuring women throughout the University of Idaho. Meet Vivi Gonzalez:
Want to read about the rest of UI’s Hidden Gems?
Meet Natalie Wiley. Meet DeeDee Bohman.
Vivi Gonzalez is a full-time student, program coordinator and advises diversity scholars at the University of Idaho; she is a busy, well-managed leader who inspires others to achieve as much as her. She is a law student finishing her fourth semester and 1L year: a law student’s year in school broken into three L years and four LE years.
Gonzalez is also the program coordinator at the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA).
As program coordinator at the OMA, a primary part of Gonzalez’s role is to plan heritage months celebrations on campus. This includes LatinX Heritage Month, Native American History Month, Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander History Month. She also works in partnerships across campus, including student organizations, different department offices and speakers to plan films, panels and diversity programming.
Another aspect of her work is to advise diversity scholars. UI has a program called the Diversity Scholars Program which works with incoming multicultural students. Gonzalez and others in the program help students academically, culturally and financially while building a community and support system.
Gonzalez has been working at the OMA for three years, and her favorite part of her job is watching students grow from when they first come to college to when they graduate. At the OMA, there is a lot of hard work to be done.
“It can be a lot of work at times,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t have a lot of resources and stretch ourselves thin to provide support to all the students. It is very rewarding.”
Gonzalez feels empowered by female students who come into her office and say she is their role model.
“I have a few students who are really impacted by seeing a woman in a role that is juggling both school and work at the same time,” Gonzalez said. “They see that I can do it too, and I want to be able to show them that they (can) pursue a degree beyond a bachelor’s degree.”
Women should know that they can also be student leaders, do extracurriculars and be respected. Being a woman in a leadership role is important for representation and gives students hope and motivation to do it as well, Gonzalez said.
In both school and the OMA, Gonzalez feels empowered by the impact she leaves.
In law school, being empowered means to have someone believe in her and for her to believe in herself. Some professors will say it can’t be done, while others say to go for it. Those people who believe in you are empowering in some way, Gonzalez said.
At the OMA, being empowered means to be creative with programming and engaging with students, colleges and other staff. There is the freedom to build relationships. Her goal is to empower students to become more independent but lets them know when to ask for help and where to go.
Gonzalez is inspiring to others because she can manage both school and a full-time job.
“At the OMA, it isn’t like I clock in at 8 (a.m.) and clock out at 5 (p.m.). Our work goes beyond 5 p.m.,” Gonzalez said. “We are always available to meet with students outside of hours because we know that students have different needs and we wear our OMA hat every day, all day.”
Relationships with students, their needs and letting students know there are many people on campus that care about their success and mental health are important to the OMA, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez advises other women to not be afraid of failure.
“I didn’t try a lot of things when I was younger, because I was afraid to fail,” Gonzalez said. “Now I see it is more of a failure not to try. If you want something, at least try it. The worst that could happen is it doesn’t happen. You still learn something from that experience
You need to get yourself out of the way and go for what you want. We are the changemakers in our communities, and we should be taking advantage of that potential.”
Emily Pearce can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.