Aura Fajardo Grandidge, Assistant Dean of Diversity, Recruitment and Retention, is dedicated to fostering a sense of community throughout CELS and providing support for underrepresented students, faculty and staff. She is here specifically to help our diverse CELS community to find resources and to connect them with people and opportunities that can lead them to thier success.

She collaborates with other colleges within and outside of URI to provide additional resources for students while actively coordinating student diversity initiatives focused on recruitment and retention. She advises the CELS Seeds of Success (SOS) student organization as well as manages students to do event planning and administrative functions for her office. Additionally, she serves as a member of the Provosts’ Academic Diversity Task Force and the newly formed University’s Diversity Council (UDC); which both lead the efforts for the Diversity Equity and inclusion for the URI community.  She also is a member of the Alumni Color Network (ACN) which serves both the students and alumni of color populations.

If you would like to connect with her, feel free to send her an email at: afgrandidge@uri.edu