When Damita Davis ’97, M.S. ’02, began her freshman year here, the Black Student Leadership Group had recently taken over Taft Hall in peaceful protest against racial discrimination on campus. “It was a tough time,” says Davis. As the first woman in her family to go to college, she wanted to help make her university the inclusive institution she thought it should be. She became active with the URI Women’s Center, coordinating the Women of Color conference; later, as a graduate student, she founded the Rose Butler Browne Leadership and Mentor Program for Women of Color. Her philosophy: “Enhance the university for those who come after you.” Today, Davis is associate director of diversity and inclusion at the Office for Institutional Diversity at Boston College, where she develops and implements diversity and inclusivity programs and initiatives for faculty and staff. “Every higher ed campus represents a microcosm of the world,” says Davis. “If we don’t model what that world looks like, we’re missing a big part of our educational mission to prepare our students for a global society.” Her work is driven by her curiosity in others. “You have to think about how your life might be if your own circumstances had been different, and then think about how you can benefit those who don’t share the same privileges,” says Davis. “See your humanity in other people.”

BY NICOLE MARANHAS