Amira Oguntoyinbo

On December 15, Kyra Green will be stepping down as the interim director of the Center for Multicultural Life (CML) to take on a new role as the Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusion for the Graduate Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University. Eduardo Pazos, the assistant dean of student affairs for inclusion and diversity and the director of the Rachel Lord Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, announced the news in an email to the community on December 1.

Green, who joined the admissions office in 2017, focused on multicultural recruitment during her tenure by centering her work around the development of the Explore Bowdoin and Bowdoin Experience programs.

Green began her time at Bowdoin as an admissions counselor and was eventually promoted to the position of assistant dean of admissions. In 2020, she became the interim director of the CML.

After five years at Bowdoin, Green took some time to reflect on the pressures she faced as a member of the admissions office.

“I think in my first year, especially working in admissions, which is the front-facing institution outside of development, I think I felt a little intimidated by representing this sort of institution and being on the road as the face of Bowdoin and realizing and recognizing that I’m not the face that people expect to see from Bowdoin,” Green said. “I think I was more timid and not as confident in showing up as my full self.”

Green’s work as an admissions officer constituted the bulk of her five years at the College. Looking back, she recognizes how her work in that role intersects with her most recent role as the interim director of the CML.

“I think there’s a lot that goes into admissions work that people don’t fully grasp,” Green said. “Admissions changed how I viewed this work just because engaging with reading [applications], learning about students on the front end and then again seeing who they became when they got here was really incredible. “It was really exciting and rewarding just to see people I met at 17, 18 growing and navigating this space and using it in a way that felt meaningful to them.”

Many of the projects currently under her supervision, including her work on Black History Month programming, will now be under Pazos’ domain. Over the next few months, Pazos plans to work with student groups to plan the month’s programming, and Green has confidence that the transition between her and Pazos will be relatively seamless.

“I will work very closely [with] Black Student Union, Africa Alliance, and [Student Organization for Caribbean Awareness] to produce programming that is representative of their interests, their experiences and things that celebrate their contributions, their culture and the many amazing things they bring to campus,” Pazos said.

Through the creation and development of numerous multicultural and first generation student events, Kyra has been an integral part of both the CML and the admissions office. She will look back on her time at the College fondly.

“All in all, as bumpy and wild a ride as it has been, I can honestly say I have no regrets,” Green said.