Stacy Davidson Named Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Stacy Davidson has been named Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Dominican University of California. Davidson brings to the role more than 30 years of student affairs work in which she has served as a mentor and advocate for young people.

The position of a student-facing Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was developed in association with the University’s Diversity Action Group (DAG) and the Associated Students of Dominican University (ASDU) to support the student experience in three primary areas: programming, education, and advocacy, says Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicola Pitchford.

“The development of this position was part of the year-long listening and planning project that has also led to the drafting by the Diversity Action Group of a campus-wide Strategic Diversity Plan, to be shared and refined with the campus community as the new academic year begins,” Dr. Pitchford says. “We know that every area of campus life and work needs to be intentionally infused with an active commitment to more fully support Black, Indigenous, other People of Color, and LGBTQIA — whether as students, employees, or other members of our community — and no one person can or should be responsible for holding our equity-building work.”

As director, Davidson will join DAG to lead the campus community in implementing the Strategic Diversity Plan, ensuring it is aligned with Dominican’s mission and the broader institutional strategic priorities.

“I look forward to leading Dominican’s work balancing student engagement and programming with fundamental campus-wide curricular and systemic changes needed to build an inclusive, equitable, and diverse campus community,” Davidson says.

During the interview process, Davidson asked the search committee, consisting of faculty, staff, and students, what their priorities were for the first 90 days of the position. Committed to listening to the Dominican community in assisting her in setting priorities, Davidson shares the following key actions:

• Create a Bias Incident Reporting process that focuses on addressing issues of discrimination on campus. It is important that all members of the community know the process for addressing concerns and receiving redress as appropriate.
• Connect with students in meaningful and intentional ways on cultural and educational programming opportunities that impact campus climate and the overall student experience. Being a resource and advocate for students is a crucial component of this role.
• Develop and facilitate ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion training for faculty and staff, which has already received an institutional commitment from University leadership.

Throughout her career, Davidson has created and managed diversity initiatives, educated faculty, staff, and students on curricular and co-curricular programs, and served as an advocate for students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. From student-facing programming to faculty and staff development to teaching sociology courses on diversity, Davidson has provided expert guidance on how to create affirming campus communities.

“I believe that Dominican is primed to create meaningful and substantive change because of the Diversity Action Group’s mission and its diverse representation of faculty, staff and students motivated and committed to doing diversity work. Further, students are eager to engage with this newly designed role to create the campus experience that they desire and deserve. With institutional commitment, DAG, students, and I will create and implement the vision that we all have for a campus community that embraces and celebrates our diversity.”

Davidson joined Dominican in 2018 as Director of Career Development, during which time she collaborated with Student Success Center colleagues to provide access to support services for students; created and facilitated career workshops for classroom presentations; and introduced new software programs to provide student access to career exploration, internships, and full-time employment.

She also has served as the University’s Lead Integrative Coach. She has coached students in resume revisions, graduate school essay development, and career exploration. In addition, she led the Mastering College and Life Skills courses.

“In Stacy, Dominican is really fortunate to have someone who knows our community and has already demonstrated the commitment to student service that has driven her whole career; and who also brings to this new role meaningful experience in diversity and equity leadership at other universities,” Pitchford says. “Her expertise will inform and impact diversity work across our campus.”

Before joining Dominican, Davidson was Director for Academic Support at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. There she created and managed a student learning center, re-designed curriculum for a summer transition program for first-generation, Pell-eligible students, and facilitated academic success workshops.

At Trinity, Davidson provided personal and academic support to students from diverse backgrounds. She created and taught an Academic Success Course for first-generation students and students on academic probation; mentored and counseled students from diverse backgrounds and developed a first-generation mentoring program; led implementation of a new Academic Support program; taught a First-Year Experience course; facilitated faculty development workshops on student academic success; and mentored students in a First-Year Experience Summer Bridge program.

Davidson also has served as an adult career coach, director of a community college success program, and as assistant director for multicultural affairs at a public university in Virginia. In this role, she created and directed the university’s first diversity and inclusion efforts in student programming, community outreach, and advising of a variety of multicultural student organizations.

Davidson earned her MA in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University and a BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.