July 10, 2023
To Our URI Community,
We are happy to share that Ana Barraza has been appointed the director of the URI Women’s Center.
A proud URI alumna, Ana brings more than two decades of experience in higher education, primarily in the areas of access to education for students from underrepresented populations and mentoring women of color.
Ana transitioned to a career in higher education after more than a decade working in the fields of mental health and substance abuse, and in the corporate sector. In higher education, she has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut and at URI, teaching students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. A staff member in the leadership studies program at URI from 2005 to 2009, she has also served as a tutor and mentor to incoming first-year students accepted through URI’s Talent Development program. She previously worked at Roger Williams University School of Law, Brown University, Texas Woman’s University, Johnson and Wales University, Stonehill College, and Semester at Sea.
Ana emigrated from Guatemala to Providence’s West End with her family in 1974, but she considers herself a native Rhode Islander. Her parents still live in the home they moved into a half century ago. A 1988 graduate of Providence’s Central High School, Ana entered URI through the Talent Development program, earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a concentration in African/African-American literature in 1994. She added a Master of Science degree in human development and family studies with a concentration in college student personnel from URI in 2004.
Ana is on the board of trustees of the Paul Cuffee School. She serves as vice president of the Theta Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the Rhode Island chapter, and is a member of the Equity Leaders Initiative (Cohort I) through the Rhode Island Foundation. Ana is involved in many civic and community programs in the greater Providence area, and enjoys spending time with her college-age nieces and traveling.
Please join the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity in congratulating Ana on her new position.
Sincerely,
Michelle Fontes
Assistant Vice President for Community, Equity and Diversity