The executive director for the United Negro Fund discussed the need for encouraging leadership among minority students Thursday as part of his candidacy for the associate dean of students and director of minority student affairs position.

Leonard Perry spoke with a group of faculty and staff evaluators Thursday about what issues he would address if chosen for the position.

“I challenge us to not only focus on the retention and graduation of students, but to the collaboration of leadership in students,” Perry said. “We are in need of people being able to get their education and take it back to the communities they come from.”

He said it is important to encourage involvement outside of school so students receiving degrees do not lack the skills needed to become leaders in their communities.

Many students may already be leaders, even though they may not know it, he said.

Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs, said, “I particularly liked [that Perry] discussed getting us outside our survival mode and turning [students] to leadership roles and turning them into world citizens.”

Perry also discussed the importance of visible and involved faculty in encouraging students to become active themselves.

One reason faculty and students get involved is to gain “cool points,” Perry said.

“Cool points” come with the acceptance of peers and can encourage people to get involved by making involvement seem like a popular trend, he said.

“Be a catalyst of change in the culture, so it is not just the burden of students to be active,” Perry told the faculty and staff members.

Perry is the first of three candidates for the position making appearances on campus. Other candidates have also expressed interest, Englin said.

“We are looking for … someone who is energetic, student-centered and has intentions and can implement them,” Englin said.

Englin said he liked Perry’s enthusiasm and his wide range of experience.

Perry has been a faculty member, an academic and career counselor and associate dean of students at numerous colleges and universities.

“I have been able to work in very different institutions, in different positions and with different types of students,” Perry said. “I have an almost detrimental passion to the work I do.”

The associate dean and director of minority student affairs positions were once separate, but administrators decided to combine them in January 2002.

Rafael Rodriguez, former director of minority student affairs, left the position in December 2000.

The associate dean of students position was formerly filled by Pete Englin, the current dean of students, who served as interim dean of students when former Dean of Students Kathleen MacKay left in 2000.

Englin was named dean of students in October.

Those who attend any of the candidates’ forums are invited to fill out an evaluation form for the candidate.

A search committee, made up of faculty, students and staff, will evaluate each candidate and makes a recommendation to Englin, who will make the final decision, he said.

Students on the committee had the opportunity to have pizza with Perry following the forum, Englin said.

The forums are open to students.

A forum for candidate Belinda Dalton, board member of the YMCA of Auk Valley, Sterling, Ill. and director of student support services at Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, Ill. will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday in room 0294 Carver.

A forum for candidate Carolyn Brightharp, from Siena Heights University, Adrian, Mich., will be held at 11:30 a.m. Monday in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.