Mary Minson is the senior assistant dean of advising in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. She is also the 2020 recipient of the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award.

The Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award recognizes one faculty member and one staff member at Marquette who demonstrates exemplary leadership and manifests the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion into practical action. 

Day in and day out, Minson demonstrates great faith, generosity and care for others in both her personal and professional life. 

Inspired by advice from her mother to “treat everyone with kindness and respect,” Minson’s outlook naturally leads to a passion for diversity and inclusion — which comes as a great benefit to the Marquette community.

For more than 35 years, Minson has served at Marquette in various capacities, making a difference along the way.

In addition to her role in the Advising Center, Minson was co-chair of a university committee that has been instrumental in enhancing the development of the Office of Disability Services; a member of the Good Student Task Force, which recommended the addition of Marquette Central to better meet the needs of students; helped write a suicide prevention grant and led sessions as a suicide prevention instructor on campus and in the greater Milwaukee community; supported the Educational Opportunity Program through the Advising Center; directed the Freshman Frontier program; served on the Undocumented Student Task Force; assisted on the Dreamers Support Group and much, much more.

Minson said she enjoys working in the Advising Center because, while on the surface her focus is to assist students academically, she and her colleagues truly consider the “whole” person and the needs, concerns and background of each individual so that each student has the direction, support and resources they need to succeed.

Minson said she values working with a diverse group of colleagues from all different backgrounds and experiences, and that plays an important role in creating an overall authentic, caring and informed experience in the Advising Center.

“To be effective advisors, we must first live diversity and inclusion within our team. In the Advising Center, diversity and inclusion are fostered within our staff in hiring, training and creating an environment of acceptance, care and concern for each other,” Minson said. “In hiring our staff, we have successfully recruited to increase diversity and strive to retain our colleagues by building a community . . . We learn to be better people from the diversity each of us brings to the group, and we strive to be role models for our students.”

It is the hope, Minson added, that the culture of the center acts as prime example to students in promoting diversity and inclusion in collective actions, services and programs now and in the future.