Council for Equity and Community adds new members

The Council for Equity and Community (CEC), an advisory group to President Alice Gast and the university’s senior leadership, has five new members as a result of campus-wide elections and presidential appointments. Four original members are rotating off the CEC.

Carolina Hernandez, director of community service and CEC co-chair, says the council is excited about extending its representation to include non-exempt staff members with these additions.

“We worked with the Employee Relations Advisory Committee (ERAC) and Jackie Matthews [associate vice president for human resources] to make sure that non-exempt staff who wish to serve will be supported in doing so,” said Hernandez.

The results of online campus elections and presidential appointments place the following members of the non-exempt staff on the CEC: Lydia Benjamin, executive secretary to the vice president and associate provost for research and graduate studies, and Marianne Deutsch, coordinator in the dean of students office.

In addition, a new exempt staff member and two graduate students will be joining the CEC. They are Lori McClaind, assistant dean of students, and graduate students Adafo Austin and Michele Vella. McClaind, who was appointed by President Gast, will become co-chair when Hernandez’s term of service as co-chair expires on May 31. Hernandez will continue on the Council one additional year to assist in the transition.

CEC co-chair M.J. Bishop, associate professor and coordinator of the College of Education’s Teaching, Learning, and Technology Program, is enthusiastic about the energy these new members are already bringing to the CEC.

“All five of these folks bring with them a wealth of experience and an institutional history that makes them tremendous additions to our discussions about equity and community on campus,” said Bishop.

Convened in March 2008, the CEC is a representative and empowered group comprising faculty and staff, and undergraduate and graduate students. The Council was charged by President Gast with facilitating and sustaining the next generation of diversity and equity initiatives on Lehigh’s campus.

For more information about the CEC and its work, please visit the “Achieving Equity and Community at Lehigh” website.