New Co-Directors of Academic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Named
Columbia's Senior Vice President and Provost Stanley Wearden names Raquel Monroe, associate professor of Dance, and Folayemi Wilson, associate professor of Art and Art History, as the new co-directors of Academic DEI effective July 1, 2018 following the departure of Matthew Shenoda, the first dean of Academic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), who has accepted the position of vice president of social equity and inclusion at the Rhode Island School of Design.
From
"We are very fortunate to have talented leaders on campus who can carry on the important work of DEI while we conduct a national search for a new dean. I am pleased to announce that Monroe and Wilson will continue chairing the DEI searches for tenured faculty, working with faculty to develop
More about Monroe and Wilson:
Raquel Monroe joined Columbia in 2009 as an associate professor in the Dance Department and has held various roles at the college. She is the immediate past president of the Faculty Senate and a member of both the DEI committee and the DEI cluster hire committee. In 2015 Monroe received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the college in recognition of her many contributions to the enrichment of student learning. She is an interdisciplinary performance artist and scholar who is published in several anthologies, and recently co-edited the International Journal of Screendance special issue on race, "Screening the Skin: Issues of Race and Nation in Screendance." In addition to her academic and scholarly work, Monroe is on the board of directors for the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance. Her current performance collaboration, Dis/Unity: A Service, best articulates Monroe's work to address issues of systemic oppression with diverse audiences.
Folayemi Wilson joined the college in 2011 as an assistant professor in Art and Design before receiving tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor in the Art and Art History Department in 2014. For the last two years, Wilson has served on the college's DEI committee and with her colleagues initiated the collaborative fellowship with Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. She was named the 2013-14 inaugural faculty fellow at the Center for Black Music Research and has been awarded residencies and fellowships at numerous organizations throughout her career. An artist, designer, curator, writer, and a founding principal at BlkHaUS Studios, Wilson's visual art uses constructed space and furniture forms to create experiences that reposition historical objects and aesthetics in a contemporary context. She also serves on the board of the American Craft Council and was honored as a 3Arts awardee in 2015.
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