About the Equity Advisor Position

The role of equity advisor for UCI’s ADVANCE Program for Equity and Diversity is appointed by Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Douglas Haynes through the Office of Inclusive Excellence, which has established equity advisors in each school. This role is focused on faculty diversity and inclusion across campus. Meanwhile, the role of advisor to the dean of the UCI School of Humanities on equity, diversity and inclusive excellence is appointed by Dean Tyrus Miller. This role is a leadership position within the Dean’s Cabinet and focuses broadly on all aspects of equity, diversity and inclusive excellence within the School of Humanities.
On July 1, 2020, Tiffany Willoughby-Herard entered the role as the Equity Advisor for the School of Humanities with the expanded role of Special Assistant to the Dean of Humanities. Willoughby-Herard is already working on a number of school-wide and campus-wide initiatives, including:
  • Launching the Inaugural Climate Council for the UCI School of Humanities, which will serve as a decision-making body for the school, addressing both challenges and opportunities for inclusive excellence.
  • Developing fellowships for scholars already engaging in diversity and inclusion efforts on campus both as researchers and practitioners.
  • Creating opportunities to advance postdoctoral students and early-career faculty through co-writing spaces.
  • Collaborating with the UCI Africana Institute for Creation, Recognition, and Elevation and the Department of Philosophy on a year-long series of guest lectures from philosophers from around the world in conversation with lecturers, graduate students, and faculty in the department.
  • In coordination with the School of Humanities, she completed UCI’s first major initiative with the NIH-supported Leadership Education to Advance Diversity–African, Black and Caribbean (LEAD-ABC), a UCI School of Medicine mission-based program aimed at producing future physicians who are committed to addressing the health needs of African, Black and Caribbean communities in California, the United States, and beyond. Together, they organized faculty in the Department of African American Studies, graduate students in the Culture & Theory Ph.D. Program, and faculty and students in Medical Humanities to present a daylong orientation in August for incoming UCI Medical School students.