Caroline Ward
Staff Writer
In February, President Sarah Bolton announced the appointment of Cheryl Nuñez as new Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the College. Nuñez was selected as the vice president following a national search conducted by a committee of students, staff, faculty and trustees.
Nuñez has over 24 years of experience working in leadership positions to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. Before joining the College, she served as the first Vice President for Equity and Inclusion at Olympic College, during which she developed the office of Equity and Inclusion and built numerous initiatives to support students, staff and faculty. She also received commendation from the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities for her work at Olympic College. Furthermore, Nuñez served as the first Vice Provost for Diversity at Xavier University and at Northern Kentucky University as the Director of Affirmative Action & Multicultural Affairs.
“We are fortunate and delighted that Vice President Nuñez will be joining us to advance equity, inclusion and diversity at Wooster,” said President Bolton. “From a strong pool of national leaders, Vice President Nuñez stood out for the creativity, experience, dedication and blend of scholarly frameworks and effective actions that she brings to her work. We are very much looking forward to collaborating with such a terrific leader on the crucial priorities of inclusive excellence.”
Her past work includes leading and designing various DEI projects. For example, Nuñez has led the process for campus-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategy development as well as supervised workshops on curriculum redesign and integrative pedagogical strategies. She has also designed strategic workforce diversity and inclusion training efforts, implemented Bias Response Protocols and tracking and reporting tools such as an Equity Scorecard. Her experience further includes launching an institutional diversity supplier program and organizing forums, dialogues, public lecture series and conferences featuring high-profile scholars and activists to build community-wide capacity for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Nuñez earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in Educational Foundations from University of Cincinnati. She is certified in Title IX and Civil Rights investigation procedures, complaint processing, counseling and resolution, as well as Affirmative Action law and plan development.
Nuñez succeeds Dr. Ivonne García, who left the College in 2021 to serve as senior instructional coach for anti-racist pedagogy at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
At Wooster, Nuñez will oversee the final stages in the implementation of the 2017 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, as well as implementing initiatives designed to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive community at Wooster.
Since August, Associate Professor of English Leslie Wingard has served as Wooster’s interim Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer for Academic Affairs, Sháqūez Dickens has served as Interim Associate Director of the Office Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for Staff, and Kayla Campbell has served as Interim Associate Director of the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for students, also collaborating with the staff of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion in supporting students.
