One of Denison's major strengths is our increasingly diverse student population.

Over the last decade, we have become diverse by almost every conceivable factor, from race and ethnicity to political and religious views, geographic origin and sexual identity. A more diverse student community makes Denison stronger, relevant and intellectually rich. 

We believe that student agency develops best with career exploration programs that are opt-in rather than mandatory. While it is our job at the Knowlton Center to actively invite students to participate in strategic and engaging programming, it is up to the student to accept and pursue the opportunities as they come. 

And we do our best to create training that students want to be a part of, not just in their senior year as they try to figure out “what's next?,” but equally in their first three years, when they feel more at ease to cast a broader net of exploration. In order to create such dynamic coaching, the Knowlton Center utilizes one of our greatest assets on campus: relationships.

This interpersonal education happens in three main ways:

  • Students as co-workers, not helpers — we work directly with our student employees to make the most of their ideas and knowledge when it comes to creating content that will engage their peers. 
  • Peer-to-peer connections — we utilize the variety of ages and experiences we have within our student body on campus by creating an environment that encourages students to reach out to share their experiences, such as sophomores being mentored by seniors about what worked for them and what they wish they had done differently in their own career exploration. 
  • Student cohorts — experience shows that facilitated peer-to-peer coaching within these cohorts adds to scalability, confidence, and effectiveness. That is why we work to incorporate groups of students, learning and exploring together, in almost every program that we create.