Member Spotlight

Char Kunkel

Facilitator & 2007 Champion of Diversity

Dr. Char Kunkel admits that her sociology classes can get students down at times.  After all, the prospect of social change often seems overwhelming in a world with no shortage of "-isms."  However, Kunkel prepares her students to tackle this obstacle by teaching her most important lesson, "Hope.  The most powerful thing to teach is that we can change [social injustice], and [students] can be social change agents." 

Skeptical students need not look far for an example of a social change agent – there are few better models than Kunkel herself.  The Luther College professor is a native Minnesotan who stumbled upon 'Ethnic Studies' while searching for a minor to complement her psychology major at St. Cloud State University. 

"I fell in love," Kunkel says, and her interest led her to Boulder, CO for graduate school in sociology.  During this time, Kunkel volunteered for the University's Diversity Center and was part of a team that provided diversity training to fellow students and other campus organizations.

After completing her graduate studies, Kunkel's family drew her back to the Midwest.  She lived in Iowa for 8 years and began her career at Luther College in Decorah.  Four years ago, Kunkel moved to Rochester with her family, seeking a more diverse community in which to raise her children. 

The decision was not made haphazardly; Kunkel had researched many communities within a 2-hour radius of Decorah.  During her research, she read an article written by City Council Member Sandra Means in the Rochester Woman magazine, which mentioned the Diversity Council. 

She was eager to learn more, and shortly after her move started volunteering with the Diversity Council as part of the Education Committee.  She became a diversity facilitator, delivering Prejudice Reduction Workshops in classrooms, training in ISD 535's Professional Growth Academy, and training for new diversity facilitators.

In 2006, Kunkel partnered with the Diversity Council to send out the Olmsted County Racial Attitudes & Actions survey.  Results will be available this spring, and Kunkel expresses her gratitude to all those who received and returned the survey. 

"It was a long survey – 120 questions – and asked in-depth, serious questions, so we are so grateful to all who returned it," she explains, "I am excited about the results and the information it will provide so we can create a better community." 

As evidenced by her profession and involvement with the Diversity Council, Kunkel loves to teach.  "The benefits are two-fold," she says, "I am a lifelong student, always learning.  I learn lots when I teach.  And maybe I don't get to see the results immediately, but I can plant the seed of social change." 

One of the most powerful activities in which her students participate takes place many miles from the classroom.  Students have the opportunity to travel with her to north Minneapolis to experience the lives of those less privileged. 

The students eat in soup kitchens, where they are encouraged to interact with others getting meals there. They may visit an alternative high school, a Latin American service provider, an AIDS crisis center or a counseling center serving refugees and immigrants. 

Upon return to Luther College, they write about their experience.  "Students are often surprised at the people they meet, because many have jobs and an education and have just experienced a bad twist of fate.  They do not fit with the image or stereotype of the poor," Kunkel points out.

Kunkel views the opportunity to learn about another's experience of utmost importance in creating an inclusive and welcoming community.  "We have so much to learn.  Most of us know little about others, and there is such a richness of experience to learn about," says Kunkel. 

The training she leads on behalf of the Diversity Council not only benefits the participant; it also provides her the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others.  "I love working with the Diversity Council!” Kunkel exclaims.  Her work embodies the mission of the Diversity Council and inspires the social change agent in all of us, encouraging us to never lose hope.  And there are few more valuable lessons to learn. 

1130 1/2 7th St NW, Suite 204 , Rochester, MN 55901 · Tel: 507.282.9951 · Fax: 507.282.9964 · info@diversitycouncil.org

Diversity...It's all about respect.