URI\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences has selected Kamilah A\u2019Vant, an accomplished organizational leader with broad experience in academia, industry and nonprofits, as its new assistant dean for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI).<\/p>\n
\u201cKamilah brings a strong breadth of experience in developing and implementing diversity and inclusion programming, building relationships and serving as an advocate for equity and inclusion,\u201d said Jeannette Riley, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. \u201cHer experience will enable the College to actively develop a stronger, more inclusive culture that benefits faculty, staff and students.\u201d<\/p>\n
A’Vant will work in collaboration with URI\u2019s Office of Community, Equity and Diversity in developing new initiatives that affirm core values of JEDI and anti-racism. She\u2019ll work closely with Dean Riley in fostering a supportive academic environment and a strong sense of community belonging across the College. She\u2019ll also develop new incentives that encourage the infusion of JEDI into curricular and co-curricular activities.<\/p>\n
A\u2019Vant says that the importance of JEDI initiatives is amplified in Arts and Sciences, given its position as the largest college at URI with students studying a broad array of disciplines. With so many students \u2014 majors and non-majors alike \u2014 making contact with the College, A\u2019Vant says it\u2019s critical that students\u2019 experiences at URI reflect the diversity of the workforce and the wider world.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs students go into the workforce, they\u2019re going to see that it\u2019s increasingly diverse \u2014 not only in terms of their coworkers but also the customers and communities that organizations serve,\u201d A\u2019Vant said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we set students up for success in this increasingly global society and workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before coming to URI, A\u2019Vant was director of diversity programs at Color Magazine, where she created, executed and managed the brand\u2019s diversity, equity and inclusion programming, while overseeing all editorial content for the online publication. Before that, she spent nine years in broadcast television, managing 71 broadcast stations across the U.S. As an educator, she was an adjunct professor at Bay Path University, teaching leadership and organizational studies courses.<\/p>\n
A’Vant graduated from Rhode Island College with a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics before receiving a master\u2019s degree in management and a graduate certificate in leadership from the University of Maryland University College. As the parent of two URI students, A\u2019Vant has close personal ties to the University. She has also served as a summer tutor for URI\u2019s Talent Development Program<\/a>, which recruits and supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n A\u2019Vant says she plans to draw from her personal journey as well as her professional experience as she embarks on her work at URI.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say advocacy is part of my DNA,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a first-generation college student who overcame a lot of barriers and challenges. These lessons became the foundation of my strong commitment to justice, and my focus on eliminating the systemic barriers that people encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n As she begins her new role, A\u2019Vant says she\u2019s focused on building relationships across the College and the University that foster a culture in which everyone is valued, heard, respected and empowered. In the coming months, she\u2019ll engage with faculty and administrative partners to assure that JEDI values are deeply embedded in curricula as well as in collaborations between departments, colleges and programs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis work cannot be done alone,\u201d A\u2019Vant said. \u201cIt\u2019s work that requires collective effort to create successful outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" URI\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences has selected Kamilah A\u2019Vant as its new assistant dean for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4661,"featured_media":13912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13911"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13915,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13911\/revisions\/13915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}