Dinner and Dialogue: The Power in the Stories we Tell about Ourselves

The Dinner and Dialogue Series allows for informal conversations between university students and faculty, staff, or administrators of color over dinner. The purpose of the dinner is to provide an opportunity for students to hear from faculty, staff, and administrators of color about their life experiences, careers, successes and challenges in an intimate setting. All university students are welcome to attend the Dinner and Dialogue series.

You can sign up for your spot on MyAULife.

About the Speaker

Dr. Ohiro Oni-Eseleh

In addition to his position as Assistant Dean of Program Development and Community Engagement at Adelphi University’s School of Social Work, Dr. Ohiro Oni-Eseleh is also the Director of the Hudson Valley Center of the School.  Prior to entering academia, he held management positions in health care organizations and led several efforts in program development, creating and implementing policies, and supporting the workforce of organizations through training and interdepartmental collaborative work.

Dr. Oni-Eseleh was instrumental in expanding the Hudson Valley Center to two campuses and he is currently leading the effort to create another program at a neighboring county, which would make the Hudson Valley Center three campuses with five programs under his direction. In 2019, he was appointed by the Provost to Adelphi University’s Academic Diversity Implementation Committee.  Dr. Oni-Eseleh is also currently co-chairing the Dean’s Exploratory Committee for the development of a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) program in the School of Social Work.  He is also the co-chair of the Anti-Racism Task Force of the School of Social Work and a member of the university’s Academic Diversity Implementation Team.

Dr. Oni-Eseleh’s other accomplishments include sourcing and obtaining funding to provide scholarships to students of the Hudson Valley Center, creating community partnerships resulting in increased internship opportunities for students and ensuring a more extensive presence for Adelphi University in the Hudson Valley area.  He is also responsible for alumni engagement efforts to develop a strong alumni network, growing the university’s continuing education program in the Hudson Valley area, creating a program to mentor students in research and preparing them to present their work at academic conferences.  Dr. Oni-Eseleh also created the first ever anti-racism initiative at the Hudson Valley Center and led the development of a policy forum for the exchange of ideas regarding the social policies that affect less privileged and vulnerable groups.

Regarding his teaching role in the School of Social Work, Dr. Oni-Eseleh says:

“As an instructor who sees role as a responsibility, teaching gives me an opportunity to guide and mentor students in learning what it means to be a professional, a respecter of diversity, human rights and social justice, and how to develop appropriate professional judgment.  This is important because the purpose of education should include the need to acquire knowledge and mastery, develop critical thinking skills and develop a productive citizenry with a stake in advancing the well-being of a society.  Education should also offer an opportunity for self-discovery and experiential learning.”                         

In his professional practice prior to his current life in academia, Dr. Oni-Eseleh designed, created and ran a social work department at a health care agency and supervised multiple social work departments in various organizations.  Along with others, he also played significant roles in developing best practices and treatment approaches, staff trainings, performance improvement initiatives and providing overall direction for the missions of the organizations where he worked.  In each of these organizations, he worked efficiently as part of multidisciplinary teams to which he made immense contributions.  In the process, he accumulated tremendous amounts of experience that have also served him very well in academia.

Dr. Ohiro Oni-Eseleh is the author of multiple books, including “In Pursuit of Dreams: The Truth about Immigration”, which is probably the book by which he is best known.  His most recently published book titled When Loving Brings Pain: How to deal with hurtful feelings in your relationship was published in 2021.  Dr. Oni-Eseleh’s other publications include: Through the eyes of theory: The need for a comprehensive eldercare; Examining the Role of Social Work in Poverty Alleviation in the United States from 1964-2014; Othering and marginalization of minorities: A synopsis of fear and social rejection; Symptom Burden and Activity of Daily Living (ADL) Dependency Among Home Health Care Patients Discharged to Home Hospice and Nurse–Social Worker Teams. He also has some pending publications.  He is the writer of the blog titled Ruminations Blog and his podcast called Ruminations with Ohiro Oni-Eseleh is available on iTunes and several other media platforms.