Diversity Council

The mission of the FIU Diversity Council is to drive the strategy toward increasing ethnic diversity and inclusion and promoting understanding within the campus community and our stakeholders. The Council will support efforts to foster accountability that will ensure respect for all students, faculty, and staff.

Specifically, the Council works to:

  1. Support strategies that will make FIU a leader in establishing permanent reforms to eliminate disparities that might exist in our work and learning environment.
  2. Examine the campus climate with a broad definition of diversity including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, ability, sexual orientation, economic status, and/or religious and spiritual practices.
  3. Make recommendations on policy-related issues including ways in which current policy and practices strengthen or detract from the diversity of the composition of the faculty, staff, and student body.
  4. Present recommendations to the FIU Executive Committee that include strategies, individuals responsible for specific actions, timelines for implementation, and measurable outcomes that reflect continuous improvement of campus climate and diversity and inclusion.

 

Meet the members of the Diversity Council

  • El Pagnier "EK" Hudson

    El Pagnier "EK" Hudson
    Committee Chair, Sr. Vice President of Human Resources, Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

  • Elizabeth Béjar

    Elizabeth Béjar
    Provost, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

  • Erica Caton

    Erica Caton
    Committee Member and Faculty Administrator, Director of Educational and Faculty Development, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

  • Candice Ammons-Blanfort

    Candice Ammons-Blanfort
    Faculty Committee Member, Assistant Teaching Professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice

  • Phillip Carter

    Phillip Carter
    Faculty Committee Member, Associate Professor in English and Linguistics; Director, Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment

  • Gricel Dominguez

    Gricel Dominguez
    Faculty Committee Member, Academic Librarian, Information and Research Services (BBC); Faculty Senate Representative

  • Phillip Lloyd Hamilton

    Phillip Lloyd Hamilton
    Staff Committee Member, Assistant Vice President, Student Equity & Support; Faculty Fellow, Honors College

  • Hilary Landorf

    Hilary Landorf
    Faculty Committee Member, Executive Director, Office of Global Learning Initiatives; Associate Professor, International and Intercultural Education

  • Pete Markowitz

    Pete Markowitz
    Faculty Committee Member, Assistant Dean, Honors College; Professor, Physics

  • Martha Meyer

    Martha Meyer
    Faculty Committee Member, Associate Teaching Professor, Educational Policy Studies; Faculty Senate Representative

  • Kerrie Montgomery Orozco

    Kerrie Montgomery Orozco
    Staff Committee Member, Director, Campus Life

  • Valerie Patterson

    Valerie Patterson
    Faculty Committee Member, Clinical Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Administration; Director, African and African Diaspora Studies

  • Carleen Vincent-Robinson

    Carleen Vincent-Robinson
    Faculty Committee Member, Assistant Dean, Green School; Teaching Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice

Council Committees

The council is divided into six working committees led by a councilmember.

  • Education Committee

    Responsible for educational events and curriculum recommendations

    Led by Dr. Erica Caton and Dr. Phillip Carter

  • Data and Reporting Committee

    Contributes to data collection, surveys and reporting

    Led by Dr. Kerrie Montgomery Orozco

  • Policy Committee

    Reviews institutional policies and makes recommendations to the council about diversity, equity and inclusion

    Led by Dr. Erica Caton

  • Attraction, Retention, and Engagement Committee

    Responsible for communication with the campus community, promoting campus-wide policies and events, and overseeing campus-wide consistency across the university on DEI matters

  • Marketing and Communication Committee

    Responsible for communication with the campus community, promoting campus-wide policies and events, and overseeing campus-wide consistency across the university on DEI matters

    Led by Dr. Phillip Carter

  • Health and Wellbeing Committee

    Responsible for enlisting appropriate qualified support to create programming around space for intergroup/safe space dialogues, healing of racial trauma events, and/or programming toward creating a healthier campus community

    Led by Carleen Vincent-Robinson