SUBJECT:

Appointment of Dr. Diane Forbes Berthoud as Assistant Vice Chancellor Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

I am pleased to announce that after an extensive, national search, Dr. Diane Forbes Berthoud will be joining the Office of the Vice Chancellor as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (AVC-EDI), beginning May 8, 2017. In her role as AVC-EDI, her responsibilities will include strategic planning, advancing institutional effectiveness, serving as liaison to Human Resources, and leading diversity-focused community engagement and campus-wide initiatives. As a member of my leadership team, she will represent VC-EDI on high-level task forces, advisory groups, and system-wide work groups.

Dr. Forbes Berthoud has over 22 years of experience working in higher education, nonprofit, and government. She brings a proven record of success in organizational communication and development, strategic planning, and assessment of EDI initiatives. She currently serves as Director of Practicum at Sixth College, where she spearheads the development, design, and assessment of multiple community-based initiatives and courses. She has planned and implemented three regional conferences hosted at UC San Diego which convened hundreds of participants to dialogue about high impact practices, diversity in education, and social justice.

Prior to UC San Diego, she was a lead consultant in a countywide organizational effectiveness and diversity initiative in Montgomery County, MD, the state’s most populous county. There she led an assessment and planning process to improve organizational effectiveness and to strengthen equity, diversity, and inclusion for thousands of employees in the county government. Dr. Forbes Berthoud was previously an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Communication at Trinity University, a Visiting Professor at George Mason University, and a Senior Fellow at the University of Maryland, College Park in leadership and public policy. She has been awarded faculty fellowships in the areas of women’s leadership, community-based research, public policy, and dialogue from Georgetown University, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, and the Interactivity Foundation. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in intercultural communication, organizational communication, leadership and discourse, and women's studies. She also served as an Ombudsperson at the US Capitol in the areas of conflict resolution and communication.

Dr. Forbes Berthoud received her master's and doctoral degrees in Organizational Communication and Social Psychology from Howard University in Washington, DC, and earned her BA in Communication Arts and a certificate in Spanish Translation and Interpretation from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida. In 2014, she was awarded the UC San Diego Diversity Award for her outstanding efforts in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion, for increasing access to international education, for extending community-based courses and initiatives in underserved communities, and for organizing large-scale Experiential Learning Conferences on campus which featured research and best practices in community-based courses and diversity initiatives.

We are very pleased to have her join the EDI team. Join us in welcoming her.

Becky Petitt, Ph.D. Vice Chancellor – Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion