Multicultural Graduation

The 2024 Multicultural Graduation Celebration will be held on Wednesday, May 1^st from 5:00 to 7 p.m. in Gorecki Center 204. Multicultural Graduation celebrates our graduating international, first-generation, racially diverse, and LGBTQ+ students at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. The Multicultural Center honors the cultural intersections in our graduates’ lives and the communities to which they belong in one celebration. This serves as an intimate gathering for family, friends, and members of our beloved community to recognize the accomplishments, leadership, and impact of the Class of 2024. All students are invited to participate in this celebration. Students will be notified via email with more information. We ask that all attendees, both student and community, register in advance. 

 Multicultural Student Services is no longer accepting nominations for the 2024 awards.

The Glocal Citizen Award Nominations: The Glocal Citizen Award recognizes a graduating international student who has been generous in sharing their home culture with CSBSJU, making CSBSJU home not just for themselves, but other international students, and has demonstrated their interest in learning about other global cultures inside and outside of the classroom. 

The Glocal Leadership Award Nominations: The Glocal Leadership Award is given to a faculty, staff, or monastic community member who regularly highlights the interconnectedness of the CSBSJU and Central Minnesota communities with the larger global community by infusing global and local perspectives in their work and presence at CSBSJU, bringing international perspectives and understandings to their work, and being actively involved in helping to bridge cultural and national divides. 

The “Doing the Work” Award Nominations: The “Doing the Work” Award is presented to a graduating CSBSJU student who has been a strong advocate for inclusion and success in our community and has demonstrated their commitment inside and outside the classroom by helping to expand access and opportunities for first-generation and underrepresented students. 

The “Making Space” Award Nominations: The “Making Space” Award recognizes a faculty, staff, or monastic community member who proactively makes sure underrepresented and first-generation voices and experiences are acknowledged and honored inside and/or outside the classroom, demonstrates their commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice with their presence and willingness to learn more about the breadth and depth of diversity present at CSBSJU and the larger Central Minnesota community, and in their advocacy efforts institutionally.

Compassionate Action Award Nominations: The Compassionate Action Award is given anonymously by a 1965 graduate of SJU. The donor and his partner have been together for more than 50 years. The award is an anonymous donation to the graduating CSBSJU student chosen as one who has done the most to support LGBTQ+ community member’s inalienable, God-given dignity, and worth. We celebrate both CSB and SJU students with this award.

John Yoakam Award Nominations: The Yoakam Award recognizes outstanding education and service by a faculty, staff, or monastic community member on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. Its first recipient and namesake, John Yoakam, was Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Work department and an advocate for and contributor to the Gender and Women’s Studies program.

Celebrating Our 2023 Graduates!

Class of 2023! It is important for you to be acknowledged for your accomplishments!  We are incredibly grateful to you for the time you’ve spent enriching our community. Although the challenges ahead are real, we believe in your ability to overcome them and thrive.  We look forward to hearing about your successes, your insights from (sometimes hard) lessons learned, and celebrating your life’s milestones. With much joy and gratitude, we wish you and those you care about and who rely on your health, well-being, and peace.

Class of 2023! It is important for you to be acknowledged for your accomplishments!  We are incredibly grateful to you for the time you’ve spent enriching our community. Although the challenges ahead are real, we believe in your ability to overcome them and thrive.  We look forward to hearing about your successes, your insights from (sometimes hard) lessons learned, and celebrating your life’s milestones. With much joy and gratitude, we wish you and those you care about and who rely on your health, well-being, and peace.