Seth Thompson aims to expand access as ESF’s new diversity chief
Newly appointed ESF Chief Diversity Officer Seth Thompson says he’s committed to maintaining the “legacy of positivity” he built over decades in the SUNY system. Thompson is also aims to improve ESF’s accessibility and inclusivity campus-wide. Zoe Xixis | Contributing Photographer
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Forty-two days into his personal 120-day learning and development plan, newly appointed SUNY ESF Chief Diversity Officer, Seth Thompson, is scoping the university before he charts his course of action.
“There needs to be tension between the vision and where we are now to move us toward where we want to go. But that vision isn’t just created by me,” Thompson said. “It’s created by the campus community. That’s inclusion, that’s transparency.”
Thompson began at ESF at the beginning of this school year. Besides improving the school’s accessibility and inclusivity, Thompson hopes to continue a “legacy of positivity” through “strategic” leadership.
His plan for the first 120-days aims to create an ESF that provides “greater richness of research,” Thompson said. He said this vision will not just be based on his perspective, but also on the students’ and faculty’s.
Being part of the broader SUNY system for the past 25 years and attending SUNY institutions himself, Thompson said he “admires” ESF’s campus, students and the “direction” the community is committed to following.
Now joining the ESF community, Thompson aims to find where ESF can be more inclusive, looking at “access to the institution” and how connected students and staff feel to the campus.
He spoke to the school’s rigorous Science Technology Engineering Mathematics academia and goal of climate betterment, saying it “tugged” at him and is why he decided to continue his work with ESF.
With the campus’s “willingness to participate and willingness to engage,” Thompson doesn’t expect implementing accessibility initiatives to be a challenge.
“From being a resident assistant to Chief Diversity Officer, I couldn’t do what I do without having that depth and breadth of understanding how an institution operates,” Thompson said. “All those pieces collectively help.”
Heather Engelman, instructional support specialist for the Department of Sustainable Resources Management at SUNY ESF, co-chairs ESF’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity committee with Thompson. The committee is comprised of faculty and students who review and recommend plans that foster an inclusive environment.
In his first month at ESF, Thompson made meeting people across campus a priority, Engelman said in a statement to The Daily Orange. This includes people across ESF offices in an effort to listen, learn and build relationships, she said.
To ensure ESF continues as an “elite research” institution, Thompson said the more perspectives offered to him, “the better the research is,” allowing him to support the community most effectively.
“People here are willing to engage in different opportunities to move them forward… it goes back to that experimentation,” Thompson said. “I think it’s built within the system of STEM to experiment to make something better.”
Thompson tracks success in diversity using metrics that reflect achieved milestones. ESF has seen increasing retention and graduation rates over the past few years, showing“equity access and support,” he said.
Engelman highlighted Thompson’s extensive experience in student success programs at prior institutions and his actions to nurture partnerships with existing programs at ESF. She said this is a gesture “appreciated” by many on the ESF campus, who haven’t “felt fully heard.”
Most recently, Thompson spent 18 years at Tompkins Cortland Community College as Vice President of Student Affairs and Senior Diversity Officer. Before that, he worked at SUNY Canton for six years.
Thompson said the work he completed at these institutions was “so important,” and is why he stayed at each school for so long. In those roles, he said he developed and implemented diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility plans which aligned with SUNY goals.
After nearly two decades at TCCC, Thompson said he wants to accomplish what he has accomplished at other institutions at ESF.
“A willingness to participate, a willingness to engage, I see no shortage of that here at ESF,” Thompson said. “Those are the key ingredients. That’s within the DNA of ESF. That people here are willing to engage in different opportunities to move them forward.”
