February 26, 2026 | By Kyra Shahid and Janel Sutkus
Greetings Good People,
As a member of the Trotter and MESA community, you—and the organizations you serve— provide invaluable insights that shape the culture and legacy of both units. As we continue to merge these units as one, we would like to invite you to help shape the next generation of Trotter/MESA.
Both Trotter and MESA have a rich legacy of building community, shaping belonging, and deepening the experiences of students. This merger is not just a structural change—it’s a moment to build on that legacy and imagine a stronger future.
We invite you to participate in idea generation sessions that will be designed to spark innovative thinking, generate collective insights, and inform the priorities of Trotter/MESA.
→ Watch a personal message from Dr. Kyra
There are multiple sessions available and a boxed meal-to-go will be provided at each in-person session. Conversations will be facilitated by members of the Student Life community in order to encourage and support discussion and forward-thinking conversations.
These sessions are a part of our Framing Our Future campaign—a unique opportunity to capture ideas, images, and innovation that represents the dreams and hopes of our communities as it pertains to the enduring legacy of Trotter/MESA.
Click a date below to register your attendance in Sessions:
- Thursday, March 19, 12:00-1:30 pm
- Friday, March 20, 12:00-1:30 pm
- Tuesday, March 24, 12:00-1:30 pm
- Wednesday, March 25, 5:00-6:30 pm
- Monday, April 6, 12:00-1:30 pm
All sessions will take place in the Trotter Multicultural Center. Space is limited—please limit yourself to one session and you must register to attend.
We are providing the questions ahead of time so you can begin thinking about your responses. All are welcome, however, you might choose to talk with your peers and other members of your student organizations to generate ideas as a group and send a representative to share on your organization’s behalf. Our goal is to ensure the greatest number of ideas can be heard at each session.
These questions were created to generate your good thoughts and ideas for future Trotter/MESA programming. We are also providing additional information that may assist you in developing ideas. During the in-person sessions, we will ask to hear your specific and practical ideas rather than the rationale behind them.
Separate pasts, future synergy
- What is something that Trotter offers that you really appreciate? What is something that MESA offers that you really appreciate?
- Thinking about what you discussed in question 1, how could we leverage what you love about MESA and Trotter to create new programs, resources, or spaces in our merged unit?
Activism and values
- Student activism has been an important part of the shared history of MESA and Trotter. How could the space, resources, and programming in our new merged unit be created to represent the lessons and values of student activism on campus?
Future plans
- Can you name specific practices, resources, traditions, or experiences that might disappear or be diluted if we don’t protect them? What might you experience or notice in the future that would make you say ‘this isn’t working.’?
- When you imagine a fully-successful merger of Trotter and MESA’s core work, what new spaces, resources, or programming would make that vision real?
We also invite you to generate and submit images, drawings, artwork, textiles, photos, or poetry to represent the future of Trotter/MESA in the physical space. Contributions can be brought to any idea generation session or submitted to Trotter/MESA by May 1, 2026.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Kyra Shahid, Director of Trotter/MESA
Janel Sutkus, Director of Student Life Research