D. Wesley Poythress, Director of Multicultural Student Services

Greetings from AU!

My name is D. Wesley Poythress and I am elated that you chose this site.  I serve as the Director of Multicultural Student Services at Anderson University.  As I reflect on my development over the years, my life has always been defined from the lens of a person, who defines himself - as a southerner, an African American, a realist, an optimist and, more importantly, a Child of God. 

I use these descriptives to define myself because they are all a part of me - and who I continue to become.  You see, I feel that our society has conditioned us to define ourselves.  Then it encourages many of us to be ashamed of that definition.  Growing up in the Deep South, many opportunities were presented to me to define myself in a negative light, however, in my opinion; I always knew that the Lord had other plans for me.  You see, I knew this was the case because I watched how segregation and integration came to play various key roles in my life.  I say this because most of my educational and spiritual development took place in a predominately African American environment.  It was in high school when I first attended an educational setting with European Americans.  The experience was a wonderful beginning for me, because it was the first time in my life that I made friends with individuals that did not live in my community or look like me.  Honestly, I fully embraced the opportunity, even though I knew my newly found friends and I would never visit each others’ home or interact outside of the halls of our school.  Sadly, we never did, and I do not know what any of them ended up doing in life and vice versa.  Many of them would come to our basketball games to cheer my teammates and me on to victory or console us during defeat.  Race and our cultural influences, positive and negative, did not allow us to remain in touch.

My personal, professional and spiritual journey has taken me from the rural heart of Klan country in Alabama, to the bluegrass Appalachian mountains of Kentucky, to the flat stoic cornfields of Iowa, to the red brick corridors of Ohio, to the snow drifting resorts of Michigan and, now, to the peace and calm of His calling in Indiana.  I continue to be humbled by my journey.

In closing, I wish to inform you that we are doing some unique things at AU, which will fully transform our campus community over time.  We do not have all of the answers; however, we are diligent in our efforts to create a campus that represents the unified Body of Christ.  As a member of the Diversity Committee, I invite you to join us in this rewarding endeavor.

E-mail: D. Wesley Poythress
Phone: 765-641-4199