A Passion for Cultivating Inclusion and Creating a Sense of Belonging for All Chargers

When Ophelie Rowe-Allen, Ed.D., was four, her mother died, so she and her brothers and sisters went to live with her grandmother. Her favorite spot was in the kitchen, by her grandmother’s side, helping as she cooked and baked.

This was especially so at Christmas time when her grandmother baked Jamaican fruitcake and made her special drink, the air fragrant with dried sorrel, fresh ginger, allspice berries, and orange peel. “My grandmother was always helping people in the neighborhood,” Dr. Rowe-Allen says. “If anyone was sick, she’d bring food, and she’d always check in to see how they were doing.

“On holidays, we’d bring baked goods to older people in the community.” She and her brothers and sisters walked along the roads of the rural community of Jamaica, with their grandmother, delivering fruitcakes. “Sometimes we’d say ‘Do we have to walk this far?’

“But I knew it was kindness, an authentic way she had of caring for others,” she says. “She was a faithful woman who always said, 'Do good, and good will follow you.’”

These words grew deep roots inside Dr. Rowe-Allen and, she says, shaped the way she approaches the world and her work.

‘Hearing their stories in person is one of the most impactful things for me’

Checking in to see how students are doing has been at the front of her mind since Dr. Rowe-Allen arrived at the University of New Haven in July 2020 as the new dean of students and chief student affairs officer. She started the position in the midst of a pandemic and “the very essence of my job is connecting with students” and creating community – what she loves best about her work – was a challenge. “So, I was developing my own playbook,” she says.

“What stood out was the strength of the students and the resilience of the University community, really coming together during a time of COVID,” she says.

From the first weeks of her arrival, “I made a conscious effort to meet with students face to face,” she says. “I started to talk with them on Zoom meetings, and I’d ask ‘is it okay if we meet in person?’ she says. “Hearing their stories in person is one of the most impactful things for me. I want them to be able to say ‘I can go and talk to this person and not feel judged.’ I can make the space safe and brave for them.”

How to listen closely is one of the lessons Sofia Martinez ’22, president of the Undergraduate Student Government Association, says she’s learned from watching Dr. Rowe-Allen in action.

She’s worked with Dr. Rowe-Allen planning events, “creating opportunities for all types of students to thrive and working on more serious matters that had to do with the pandemic or responding to an incident of bias on campus.

“One of the many things that I have taken away during my time of working with Dr. Rowe-Allen is that one of the best ways to start handling problems is to listen,” Martinez says. “Any college campus will always have its tensions and issues. It is a group of students, staff, and faculty who are all coming from different places in life, with different intentions and different goals, trying to unify. But if we do not take a moment to understand others, we won’t be able to consistently do good work.”

As Dean of Students, Dr. Rowe-Allen works with students who have violated the code of conduct, as well as students referred by faculty members, students who are struggling academically or with a mental health challenge, or students who need to tap into the many support systems in place.

Dr. Rowe-Allen and her team are training Resident Assistants and student leaders “to be change agents on campus, facilitators who can engage in difficult conversations,” she says, and they are developing learning experiences for all students beyond the classroom.

From the start, too, she says she’s worked to build community within her staff, and she collaborates with Counseling and Psychological Services, the Accessibility Resources Center, the Center for Student Success, and the Provost’s Office, among many others. “We’re a network,” she says. “We talk about what we can to do together so the students get all the assistance and resources they need to thrive.”

‘I didn’t realize my professors were really observing what I was doing’

Dr. Rowe-Allen knows what it means to move from a sense of feeling apart to becoming a part of a community. Her sister had encouraged her to apply to universities in the U.S. and, arriving at St Thomas University in Miami from Jamaica, Dr. Rowe-Allen missed the landscape of her home, her family, and her favorite spicy foods. She was trying to figure out how to afford school. In those first months, there were times she says she felt very alone.

But she quickly discovered she liked studying psychology, and “I loved my professors. When I told them I had fear they said, ‘No, Ophelie you have confidence. You can do this.’ They helped me to develop my talents and taught me how best to maximize them.”

As she gained her footing, she looked out for those students who had not. One of her professors told her she should be a Resident Assistant. It would help with the cost of college, and she would be a perfect fit. She became an RA, a peer educator, and a research assistant. When it came time to choose her internship, her professors recommended one for her in a counseling center in a college setting. “I didn’t realize my professors were really observing what I was doing,” she says. “One of them said, ‘this is where you are meant to go.’”

She graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master’s degree in mental health counseling and later received her doctorate in counseling education and supervision from Argosy University in Washington, DC.

‘I can be that change agent’

After completing her master’s degree, she took a Resident Director position, in the Office of Residence Life at Miami International University of Art & Design. Shortly after, she married Rohan Allen. He was from Connecticut, and she loved his family and the grass, the trees, and the greenery. She took a position as area coordinator in residence life at Fairfield University and went on to become director of residence life and then associate dean of student affairs, assessment, and director of student diversity and multicultural affairs.

At Fairfield, a moment crystallized the way she thought of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. When a student came to her to discuss something that had happened to him on campus, she referred him to the diversity office. “He said, ’Stop putting me in a box.’ and I said, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘Stop sending me to the diversity office.’”

“I was trying to say, ‘That is where you will find assistance and a sense of belonging.’ But I realized I was standing right there, and I’m a person of color, and I didn’t say, ‘I can help you, too.’ That changed my life,” she says. “It doesn’t matter where I work. I can advocate for students. I can be that agent of change. I can help remove barriers and celebrate them as a person.”

‘I knew I could thrive in an environment like this’

After 14 years at Fairfield, she was ready for her next challenge. She found it at the University of New Haven. She was drawn to the University because “there are so many first-generation college students, international students, and students and faculty who are passionate” about their fields of study. All of this, she says, was immediately palpable.

“The groundwork was laid for me,” she says. “I knew I could thrive in an environment like this.”

Earlier this year, Dr. Rowe-Allen took on the additional role of Chief Diversity Officer. She says she relishes working on the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) strategic plan with Alvin Tran, Sc.D., MPH, interim director of the Master of Public Health Program and assistant provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Carrie Robinson, director of the Myatt Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

Ronald E'an Pierce II ’16, a co-founder of the University’s Black Alumni Network who has worked with Dr. Rowe-Allen on events and talked with her about diversity initiatives, says she cares deeply about “ensuring every student from every background has the best chance at success at the University of New Haven.

“From day to day, that passion may manifest itself in different ways,” Pierce says. “That may mean being a present face at the health center because that is where she is needed, to hanging out on campus late into the night to make sure students feel supported, to fostering a relationship with a group such as the Black Alumni Network because of her understanding of the importance of diverse alumni engagement and the potential impact that can have on students.”

Pierce says Dr. Rowe-Allen has “taken the time to listen to the past experiences of Black and Brown alumni, and I believe she understands our expectations regarding the areas we would like to see the University progress.” And, he says, she’s worked to encourage “buy-in from across the institution from student services, to faculty, to administration” so progress can take place.

‘Understanding who our students are helps us to know how best to serve them’

Dr. Rowe-Allen has given lots of thought to what makes students feel they belong. She recently held an all-day training in diversity and inclusion for her staff, and they talked together about how they can be “radically inclusive.”

“We can’t just say we want to be inclusive and not know who is showing up in front of us,” she explains. “Getting this deep knowledge, understanding of who we are and who our students are helps us to know how best to serve them.”

This matters so much to Dr. Rowe-Allen that it is one of the reasons she and her husband live in a house just across the street from Bergami Hall.

“I live in University housing, and I’m proud of it,” she says, noting that staff in her division work all hours and she wants to be there for them. “In order for me to understand how students are doing, what it is we need to do or change, I need to experience it with them. I want them to know I’m there to support them.”

She enjoys cooking her grandmother’s recipes in the kitchen and having her nephews and nieces drop by. She also likes walking around the campus and the neighborhood behind her house. On the Saturday afternoon of Homecoming, she invited students for an event in her big backyard, and she looks forward to more gatherings. “It feels like home,” she says.