Leaving her home in Kaneohe, Hawaii, for a small college in rural Ohio has helped Lovey Walker, Class of 2009, find her place in the world.

Walker is a student co-manager of the Snowden Multicultural Center and, as a psychology major, has undertaken research into the ethnic misidentification of women and how that affects them. Now she plans to return to her native state and pursue a career in psychology.

"I've been able, in a variety of ways, to understand different cultures and figure out what I want to do," she said.

"I don't think I would have had the same opportunities if I had not gone here. I made the right decision," she said. "The research opportunities and the close contact with professors -- you hear that all the time, but it's true." Her other research projects with the psychology faculty have examined the self-objectification of women and attitudes on sexual assault.

Walker has turned her interest in psychology into volunteer work at home, where she spent part of a summer at the Tripler Army Medical Center. She worked with soldiers recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder. "You don't think of it as therapy," she said. "It's being with them out in public again. I would literally just hang out with them, and if they started to feel nervous, I encouraged them."

She also encourages student participation in the Snowden Multicultural Center. The student-run center promotes diversity and multicultural awareness through a variety of events and in projects with student clubs. "We want people to just come into the house and feel comfortable, take a study break, watch football games.

"We've held 'Dessert and Discussion' when we invite people and just discuss whatever you want. We're usually surrounded by food because you know people will show up."

Gambier is not the ethnic crossroads that Walker knew growing up on the windward side of Oahu. She has no Asian or Pacific Island ancestry, and her ethnic background can be a mystery to others. "When people ask, I say, 'Take a guess.' I didn't grow up realizing I was a minority. I didn't experience that, but I understand it."