Title

Director, Community and Organizational Development

Department

Office of Community, Equity and Diversity

Contact

Multicultural Student Services Center | jravello@uri.edu | p: 401.874.7077

Education

PhD, Higher Education Administration, University of Massachusetts Boston
MS, College Student Personnel, University of Rhode Island
BS, Human Development and Family Studies, University of Rhode Island

Biography

Dr. Joanna N. Ravello serves as the Director, Community and Organizational Development within the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity. She is responsible for providing leadership, assessment, and organizational development relating to cultural change, diversity, and strategic management; developing mentoring programs for faculty, staff, and students; developing collaborative initiatives and programs that enhance a sense of community; and creating and implementing educational programs that enhance multicultural competencies.

Dr. Ravello has more than 10 years’ combined experience in organizational development and diversity related administrative experience, working to engage, retain, and advance underrepresented groups through the educational pipeline. She joined the University in 2000 as an Academic Advisor for Talent Development (TD), and after serving in that role for five years, she advanced to Assistant Director. In her role as Assistant Director, she oversaw the Providence Advising Program, the Guaranteed Admissions Program, and the Recruit and Educate Local At-Risk Adults and Youth Program within TD.

She has taught courses at the pre-college-, undergraduate- and graduate-levels in face-to-face, blended, and online course formats. Dr. Ravello’s primary teaching role has been adjunct instructor with the Human Development and Family Studies Department. Since 2004, she has taught Personal and Career Development at the undergraduate level. At the graduate level, she has taught College Student Development and Learning, Environmental Theory and Assessment in Higher Education, Organizational Development.

Dr. Ravello earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies and a master’s degree in College Student Personnel from the University of Rhode Island, and she earned a doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her scholarly work focuses on the lived experiences of racially minoritized students, staff, faculty, and administrators in higher education. Her dissertation, Intersectionality at Work: Black Women Administrators’ Perceptions of Their Work Performance at Predominantly White Institutions, explored Black women administrators’ perceptions of their intersectionality in the U.S. and whether and how they perceived their intersectionality as affecting four dimensions of their work performance.

Publications

Museus, S. D., & Ravello, J. N. (2010). Characteristics of academic advising that contribute to racial and ethnic minority student success at predominantly White institutions. NACADA Journal, 30(1), 47–58.

Museus, S. D., Ravello, J. N., & Vega, B. E. (2012). The campus racial culture: A critical race counterstory. In S. D. Museus & U. M. Jayakumar (Eds.), Creating campus cultures: Fostering success among racially diverse student populations (pp. 28-45). New York, NY: Routledge.

Research Interests:

The lived experiences of racially minoritized students, staff, faculty, and administrators in higher education

Personal Interests

Reading crime novels, watching a wide range of documentaries, and affirming the natural hair movement.