Throughout his time in higher education, Dr. Will Sheppard always envisioned leading a department where he could directly assist students with their transition to and through college.

Sheppard has spent nearly two decades in student affairs positions, doing everything from working with student athletes in Nebraska to serving as both Assistant Director of University Housing and Associate Director of Intercultural Student Affairs at Appalachian State University. During his time at Appalachian State, Sheppard co-founded the Black Male Excellence Initiative, which earned the prestigious Paul P. Fidler Award from the University of South Carolina’s National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

So, when Sheppard had the opportunity to interview for the director role in USC’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA) in the fall of 2023, he said it was a near-perfect storm.

“It aligned with my goals for what I wanted to do in higher education,” Sheppard said. “It's kind of a full circle because I had heard about USC through some other colleagues that have worked here before and they loved it, so it piqued my interest to come here.”

At USC, Sheppard has focused on finding ways to engage students and help them find themselves in the university. Rather than paste what worked at his previous stops onto the Carolina community, Sheppard made a point to integrate his experiences into programs that were already excelling under the OMSA umbrella. Sheppard says key to that process was prioritizing quality initiatives to reach students in the most meaningful ways rather than a high quantity of offerings that had limited impact.

“When I came in, I really had the opportunity to sit back and just look and listen and feel how the programs ran. I saw what they did, and when I came in, I didn't want to be like, ‘We're changing everything.’ I just hit a little segment here and said, ‘Hey, let's maybe do this differently,’” Sheppard said.

Many students are still seeing lingering impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their early academic careers, so Sheppard says outreach efforts are important to making sure students find their communities on campus. That outreach can be more formal but often looks like peer-to-peer interactions that more organically draw students to OMSA events.

Key to those efforts are MAPP mentors. The Multicultural Assistance Peer Program (MAPP) at USC dates back to 1986 and is designed to assist first-year and transfer students transitioning to the university by providing them with a trained mentor to encourage successful academic and personal development and promote student involvement. Since Sheppard joined the university, the program has improved from a 6:1 mentee to mentor ratio to a 4:1 ratio.

“If we get to know these students, and we can implement some high impact practices to help them be successful professionally and personally, it’s going to make them want to engage because not all students come with leadership already under belt or have a job or know how to talk to people,” Sheppard said. “We must, number one, get to know them and see the areas they want to grow and need growth. Then find that fine line of them wanting to push themselves to get there by meeting us in the middle with the resources and the opportunities for them to do that.”

Sheppard is one of OMSA’s three full-time staff members, joined by Associate Director Bri Newton and Assistant Director Diamond Stozier. Together, the trio spearhead the educational efforts of their office and work with several student organizations that focus on social and interactive programming. Much of that is based out of OMSA’s Intersection Lounge, which Sheppard calls a “hidden gem.” In addition to being a great meeting place for student groups, The Intersection is often filled with students studying, watching TV, playing music and relaxing between classes.

The Intersection and Sheppard’s office is located in the Russell House West Wing Garden Level room 034. You can access it through the door behind Panera Bread, down the stairs and to the left.