Four African Americans Appointed to Diversity Posts at Educational Institutions

Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, associate professor of African American studies at the University of California, Irvine, has been appointed to the positions of equity advisor for the university’s ADVANCE Program for Equity and Diversity, and advisor to the dean of the School of Humanities on equity, diversity and inclusive excellence. She is the author of Waste of a White Skin: The Carnegie Corporation and the Racial Logic of White Vulnerability (University of California Press, 2015).

Dr. Willoughby-Herard earned a Ph.D. in political science at the Univerity of California, Santa Barbara.

Brent Lewis is the inaugural associate vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He has previously the chief diversity officer at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Earlier he worked at Fayetteville State University and North Carolina Central University.

Dr. Lewis holds a Ph.D. in leadership studies from North Carolina A&T State University.

Shawntae Jones is the new director of talent and inclusion at the Kansas City Art Institute. She has been employed by Hallmark Corporation.

Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She holds a master’s degree in human resource management from Webster University in St. Louis.

Ra’Sheda Boddie Forbes was promoted to vice president for access, diversity, and inclusion at Mississippi State University. She was assistant vice president for multicultural affairs at the university.

Forbes previously served as interim associate vice president for multicultural affairs and was director of the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center at Mississippi State University.

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