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Upon arriving on Xavier University's campus in 1989, Carita Shanklin Walker ‘93 was eager to make her mark. She became a freshman class officer, serving as vice president that year. Despite being as involved as she could be, she said outside of the freshman orientation program, there wasn’t a lot to do. That was something she and her peers wanted to change.

“We’d get to know each other in the lobby of the dorms, and I think when we became freshman class officers, we all had a true love for Xavier and had a vision for its potential,” Walker remembered. “We spoke with Dr. Francis at the time and brought along some proposals around different things that we thought could be better about the University. That happened toward the end of our freshman year. I'm the one who wrote the proposal on new student orientation. We all went home and did our respective things for the summer. And then I got a phone call in July asking if I would be willing to come back to the University to work on the new student orientation for the coming fall semester.”

The new student orientation featured the Peer Dean Association.

The biggest thing Walker felt was missing was an opportunity to build community. Most of her peers, as freshman officers, had been in Student Government throughout high school and felt they could build upon that at Xavier.

“Once we began the Peer Dean program, we got sponsorships from Reebok and Motorola at the time. And we began to mentor and develop a whole bunch of new students as they came in. Our program was so good that we even began to compete with other universities’ student orientations all across the country. We definitely put structures in place,” Walker said.

The idea behind the program was to showcase Xavier's pride and improve the University. Walker and the other Peer Deans hoped to give those who came behind them something better than what they had.

Walker said Peer Deans and mentorship still play a major role at Xavier.

“Having any type of mentorship program among other students can make a world of difference in your University experience and beyond,” Walker said. “College is all about networking and learning transferable skills that you can take with you throughout life. And

many students have benefited from the Peer Dean program, which continues today, but in its own form. I’ve heard great things about the program and its impact throughout the years.”

Walker continues to serve Xavier as a Trustee and has even spoken at time-honored student events such as Black History Month Convocation.