Teaching and Leadership
Associate Dean of Faculty (2020-2023)
Pitzer College is a selective liberal arts college and a member of the Claremont Colleges. The college currently enrolls 1,168 degree-seeking students and employs over 100 faculty. We offer 360 courses through more than 40 majors. The college is recognized for being one of the top producers of Fulbright awards among undergraduate institutions. It is ranked #5 for most students studying abroad and #17 for campus ethnic diversity among liberal arts colleges, and it is regarded as one of the nation’s most service-oriented schools. The dean of faculty is considered the second-highest ranked person in the college after the president. As associate dean of faculty, my leadership portfolio included:
Collaborate with the dean of faculty to support the mission of the college and serve as an advisor on matters pertaining to academic affairs.
Provide strategic leadership around diversity, equity, and inclusion for academic affairs. As the dean of faculty’s representative on the Diversity Committee, my primary responsibility is to ensure that the college follows and meets its affirmative action goals pertaining to faculty recruitment and hiring. We formulate policies and make recommendations to improve the campus climate and to create a more inclusive environment. We provide faculty trainings on inclusive pedagogies and classroom environments.
Chair of President Melvin Oliver’s Racial Justice Initiative
(2020-2023)
In the summer of 2020, I was appointed chair of President Melvin L. Oliver’s inaugural Racial Justice Initiative (RJI). The RJI was launched in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the mobilization efforts by the Black Lives Matter movement. The RJI seeks to foster an inclusive environment for students of color with the understanding that the fight for racial justice also requires us to look inward at our institutional shortcomings. Students of color have called on Pitzer College to create a more inclusive environment by adding more faculty of color and classes focused on race and ethnicity. RJI responded to this call by transforming Pitzer’s curriculum and campus climate. Under my leadership RJI accomplished the following:
During fall 2020, twenty-three Pitzer classes were developed or redesigned with RJI funding. These courses center the study of race and ethnicity in their content, and span the humanities, social sciences, and STEMs. A sample of new and/or redesigned courses include, ART 017, Eco-Photography, ECON 125, Econometrics, MATH 10D, Mathematics of Democracy, ENGL 186, Post-Apartheid Novels, PORT 001, Intro to Portuguese, and SOC 035, Race and Ethnic Relations. Most of these classes are regularly offered at Pitzer and are part of the core curriculum.
RJI funded class speakers, allowing faculty and students to develop networks with scholars and activists doing racial justice work. The events were open to the wider community. We funded 60 different classes across the humanities, social sciences, and STEMs, with many invited two or more speakers. RJI funds also made possible the Racial and Healing Justice Series developed by Critical Action & Social Advocacy (CASA) The Racial and Healing Justice Series hosted 9 guest speakers.
In the spring 2022, RJI launched the RJI Distinguished Lectureship. Faculty were invited to submit a name of a distinguished scholar-activist for a college-wide presentation on the themes of the RJI, including public health, public policy, criminalization, racial bias, social movements, intersectionality, and empowerment.