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10 Things to Know About Kristine Din
Centering the Woman Who Helps Center Others.
"By holding space with students, I learn so much from and with them, and I am deeply privileged to be a part of their Stonehill journey," says Director of Intercultural Affairs Kristine Din.
When you walk into the office of Director of Intercultural Affairs Kristine Din, you may notice a large blue coffee mug on her desk. Painted on the side of the cup is a question: “How can I support you?”
“When I worked at Northeastern University, a student made that mug for me because I typically end meetings with students by asking them that,” Din said. “They lovingly teased me about it and ended up putting it on a mug for my office.”
Din said students often noted their appreciation that an administrator like herself would directly ask them how she could help uplift them.
As Din works to build programs and expand infrastructures to support students at Stonehill College, here are 10 things to know about her.
Din’s primary goal is to collaborate with students to create spaces on campus that best suit their needs, interests and well-being.
1. She joined our community in July 2021. Din came to Stonehill from Northeastern University, where she spent five years as Senior Assistant Director of their Asian American Center.
2. She helps center others. Din’s undergraduate experience with the University of Connecticut’s Asian American Cultural Center sparked her interest in student affairs. The organization provided her opportunities to meet people and take classes that reflected her personal experiences as a Pinay, or woman of Philippine descent, for the first time in her life. “From then on, I knew I wanted to be an educator and create positive change by providing opportunities and spaces so that others who have been forced to live on the margins could exist in the center,” she said.
3. She works for and with students. Though she admits her lived experiences inform her work, Din sees her role at Stonehill as being greater than herself. “I think at the very core of this role are all the students who identify with historically marginalized or oppressed identities,” she said. “I have a responsibility to serve them in all the ways that I can.” As such, Din’s primary goal is to collaborate with students to create spaces on campus that best suit their needs, interests and well-being.
4. She knows what it means to be an ally. In Din’s view, there is a difference between good allies and great ones. She notes that a good ally centers the experiences of marginalized communities by listening and being empathetic to their needs and experiences. Great allies, meanwhile, take things a step further by being self-motivated. “A great ally does not expect or wait for members of a marginalized community to teach them,” she said. “Rather, they will take the initiative to learn.” A great ally also holds others with privilege accountable and apologizes for their own shortcomings when necessary.
5. She strives for progress. Din believes great allies do not refer to themselves as allies. As such, you will never hear her identify herself in this manner. “Rather, I will say that I strive to be an ally because it is an identity that is always in progress and must be named by those with the marginalized identity,” she said. “For example, I, as a cis straight woman who carries immense privilege, cannot simply say I am an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. They must be the ones to acknowledge me as one."
In addition to working at Stonehill, Din is pursuing a doctorate through the Higher Education program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her dissertation research is focused on colonialism, colonial mentality and Pinay American undergraduate students.
6. She is a scientist. Din earned a bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Connecticut. “I intended to become a physician or researcher,” she said. “I always knew I wanted to serve others and my communities, and I thought that I would do so by becoming a physician.”
7. She is a problem solver. Though she did not become a doctor, Din finds her science background has come in handy throughout her career. Producing failed experiments in the lab taught her to assess problems and question how solutions can be reached. “Now, I often find myself asking similar questions but just in a different field and context,” she said.
8. Her dissertation is a form of radical love. Din is pursuing a doctorate through the Higher Education program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her dissertation research, which she refers to as a “form of radical love” to her community, is focused on colonialism, colonial mentality and Pinay American undergraduate students. “I wanted to explore these topics because there is dearth of research and scholarship that center on Pilipinx and Pilipinx American students and their experiences,” she said. “I also wanted to help uplift and amplify the already existing body of literature.”
9. She was born in the Big Apple. Din’s mother and father came to the United States from the Philippines in the 1980s. For a time, they settled in the Bronx, New York, where Din was born. The family later moved to Connecticut.
10. She loves her kababayan. Din has traveled to her ancestral homeland several times over the years. “Every time I’ve gone to visit, one of my favorite moments is when I step off the plane and I am immediately immersed in a world with my people, my kababayan, who look like me,” she said. “It’s a pretty indescribable feeling.”