Administrator acts as student advocate

Darren Martin’s identity on campus lies somewhere between successful student and over-achieving administrator. With less than two years of work experience under his belt, he sometimes feels caught in a limbo between student life and administration.

“I was a student before, but I’m not a student anymore,” Martin says. “Now I’m administration, but I don’t see myself as administration or part of the system.”

Martin is a UW–Madison graduate who received his bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies and his master’s degree in educational leadership and policy analysis from the university. Since graduation, Martin has stayed on campus as a student services coordinator with the Pathways to Excellence program.

Perhaps it is this feeling of limbo that provides Martin with the insight he needs to do his job successfully — he always considers students’ needs first. “I hope to be an advocate for students,” Martin says. “That is the most important thing. That is all I care to do.”

Pathways to Excellence provides counseling, support and resources to underrepresented students, particularly African and African-American students. He also helps organize and run the Summer Collegiate Experience, a program close to Martin’s heart because of his own participation in the program as an undergraduate.

“There were times I thought about leaving,” he says. “I think what kept me here was the summer collegiate experience, which is run by the unit I work in now, student academic affairs. I would say that was the best experience that I had here at UW–Madison.”

The summer collegiate experience helped Martin not only make friendships and connect to campus resources; it also helped him adjust to Madison, an environment different from his hometown of New York.

“A challenge that I faced was transitioning from a metropolitan city that had a lot of resources and that was very diverse — not just ethnically, but also with things to do — to Madison, which is diverse in its own way, but is just a slower pace,” Martin says. “I definitely missed New York at times.”

However, Martin has adjusted to the slower pace of Madison, and to being an African American in a predominately white school. Martin’s experience as a student of color often contributes to his ability to relate to the students he is now helping and adds to his enthusiasm for the programs he coordinates.

One way the university has attempted to make the campus climate more welcoming to students of color is by implementing Plan 2008 and annually hosting a Plan 2008 forum. Martin was actively involved in this year’s forum, titled “Creating Community.” Martin says that his idea of creating community is “respecting everybody’s cultural identities, everybody’s desire to be part of the community and being truly inclusive.” He hopes to achieve this though his work with Pathways to Excellence and its programs.

Martin also believes community is being created through the campus student organizations and active student participation. “Direct student-to-student programming has come a long way. I’m really happy and proud of where things have come from eight years ago. Whether it is MCSC or any other student organization, students respond to students,” Martin says.

Martin stresses the importance that students have on campus, describing them as the “catalyst” that sparks the university.

“Students have always taken ownership on the ground level for what they need to do to take control and ownership of their own education,” Martin says. “Students are continuing to take ownership for their education, and that is empowerment.”