Chief Diversity Officer
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
1.What is your title and role within your institution?
As the Chief Diversity Officer at RIT, I provide leadership to the institution’s diversity and inclusion efforts. This leadership is deeply connected to the areas of access and success, campus climate, education and scholarship, our institutional infrastructure and community relations (local, alumni, etc.).
2.What would you want the world to know about your institution’s commitment to diversity?
RIT has a long-standing commitment to increasing the compositional diversity of faculty through its nationally recognized “Future Faculty Career Exploration” program (http://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/facultyrecruitment/faculty_program.php).
The institution continues to increase the compositional diversity of its student body through innovative programs like the Rochester City School District Scholarship program (http://www.rit.edu/news/?v=47021) and it is in the midst of making its curriculum more inclusive as it moves from a quarter system to a semester system.
That being said, RIT is transparent and also recognizes that it also has more work to do to inextricably bind its diversity and inclusion efforts to all aspects of its institutional functioning and it is moving forward in intentional and meaningful ways to engage community members in this effort.
3.Why did you join NADOHE?
I think it is important to stay connected to other diversity officers in the field and NADOHE provides a wonderful opportunity to do just that. NADOHE also provides programming that helps guide diversity officers at their respective institutions.
4.What do you hope to gain from your NADOHE membership?
I hope to gain a support network of professionals in the field, an organization that serves as a repository for information that guides the work of diversity professionals, and events that provide an opportunity to connect personally and professionally with colleagues as we strive to move diversity and inclusion forward within our institutions.
