Former student answers call to 'change the world'

"Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive, and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done." - Benjamin Mays, former President of Moorehouse College.

Citing it as her favorite quote, Dr. Tracey Ray takes Mays' words to heart. There was a calling and she answered it.  Passionate about her work and in love with her job, she has been working in Multicultural Student Affairs for ten years.

Ray has spent a major portion of her life on campus. After earning her bachelor's degree  from N.C. State in psychology, she went on to get her master's and Ph.D. in social psychology at NCSU as well. Ray was very involved during her time spent on campus, as a resident advisor for two years in Metcalf, which, during her time, was the University's first "Living and Learning" program, comparable to today's First Year College.

Ray also participated in various student organizations, and held several leadership roles. Now, almost 20 years later, she is still filling leadership roles on campus, and is now advising many of the organizations she used to lead.

"I think the passion I now have as an advisor I got from the leadership roles I played," Ray said.

Unsure of what career she wanted to apply her psychology knowledge, she worked for a non-profit organization in Raleigh while earning her Ph.D.

She was called in 1999 to volunteer with the African American Symposium held every summer as part of the New Student Orientation. At the end of the summer, the assistant director of the program resigned, leaving a spot open that desperately needed to be filled.

Ray received a call shortly after, offering her a job, which at first, did not appeal to her at all.

"I said, 'No, no, no…are you crazy? I spend way too much time there as it is.'"

But Ray was moving up in the ranks with her job at the non-profit, having been promoted several times until her succession up the corporate ladder was no longer something she wanted. Though she was not sure what she wanted to do, she knew her future was not with that organization.

So Ray went for an interview, and was offered the job.

"It's been an exciting time ever since."

Ray enjoyed the job much more than she thought she might. She will have been working for the University for ten years in September.

And in those ten years, she has helped accomplish so much.

When she first took the position of assistant director of MSA, it was merely just an office in a department. In 2001, it evolved into a department of its own, after Ray presented the idea to the University and it was accepted. Once established, Ray was named head of the department.

"The students knew we needed it, and it was a long time coming," Ray said.

According to their mission statement, the MSA "researches, designs, and implements unique programs that promote the pursuit of academic success, retention, and graduation of students, with an emphasis on African American, Native American, and Hispanic students."

Ray works intently on program assessment, evaluating the effectiveness of MSA programs. She works to make them more effective, and looking for positive and negative signs concerning the performance of the students.

MSA works hard to improve graduation rates of multicultural students, and they are becoming very successful in their venture. Since the MSA department was established, African American graduation rate has grown 14 percent. Ray says that this is not a direct result of her individual efforts, or those of the MSA office, but of the University as a whole, and the way that all facets work together to help the students achieve.

The University is ranked in the top 100 colleges and universities producing African Americans and Native America with Bachelor's degrees.

"We are not there yet with Hispanic students simply because we do not have the numbers to compete with states like Florida and Texas," Ray said. "We have, however, grown at a fast rate."

And the growth should continue, she said.

"North Carolina's Hispanic population is young. I think we will get there someday," Ray said.

Though Ray has done many things while working for the University, her work three years ago with a task force that organized a program to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of African American undergraduates is something she is most proud of. The celebration lasted all year, and with a little budget and a short amount of time to plan, the event turned out fantastically.

"I probably worked 80 hours that week, but it was so worth it in the end."

In the future, Ray sees change for MSA. Just recently, the organization created a new position to take over the Native American student affairs, which was previously conjoined with the African American affairs. MSA will be working to build on their resources, both old and new, to keep making things better.

Dr. Tracey Ray has done amazing work during her time at NCSU, helping students reach the dreams they are destined to reach. She herself has taken Dr. Mays' advice to step up and fill a role that seems to fit perfectly to help make the world a better place.
       
"I just want to change the world and leave it a little differently than I found it."