Ndura comes most recently from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, where she served as the Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and engaged 3,000 employees, students, alumni, and Board of Trustees members in diversity and implicit bias training, cross-cultural conversations, mindful facilitation training, and culturally responsive curriculum development and teaching.
Reporting to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the incoming Associate Vice President and Campus Diversity Officer (AVP/CDO) will play a strategic and crucial University-wide role by providing support, organization, and education to foster and promote a campus culture that minimizes bias and recognizes and addresses systemic inequities.
“We live in increasingly diverse and interconnected communities whose well-being and destinies are increasingly dependent upon our commitments and capacities to negotiate our differences and affirm our similarities while validating our respective uniqueness and shared dignity in the pursuit of the common good,” says Ndura.
She adds: “HSU’s commitment to improving the human condition and the environment spoke to my core. It is people-centered and affirms every person’s capacity to contribute to the common good, i.e. the building and nurturing of socially just and equitable communities that support the well-being and self-actualization of everyone. These self-sustaining communities are essential to the quest for solutions to the world’s most pressing problems such as poverty, violence, global warming, racism, homophobia, and all kinds of oppressive discrimination and conflict.
“I am truly honored and excited to be entrusted with the consequential opportunity to lead the visioning and advancement of inclusive excellence at HSU. I look forward to working with HSU administration, students, faculty, staff, the City of Arcata, and community members to nurture inclusive, safe, and welcoming communities that affirm diversity and support the wellbeing, belonging and success of everyone.”
Ndura has more than 30 years of leadership, scholarship, and practice, blending passion and policy to create and implement effective programming and innovative Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in diverse and complex academic settings.
A Fulbright Scholar and Senior Specialist for education, peace education, and conflict prevention & transformation, Ndura is the recipient of many awards including the 2010-2011 Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s 2011 Peace Educator of the Year Award.
An Alumna of the American Academic Leadership Institute’s Executive Leadership Academy, Ndura holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis in Bilingual and Multicultural Education from Northern Arizona University; a master’s degree of Education in Teaching English for Specific Purposes from the University of Exeter, England; a bachelor’s degree in Humanities and Social Sciences with emphasis in English Language and Literature from the University of Burundi, Africa; and a graduate certificate in Conflict Resolution Advanced Skills from George Mason University. She is currently pursuing a certificate in Mindful Facilitation from StirFry Seminars & Consulting based in Berkeley, California.
“I am excited to welcome Dr. Elavie Ndura to the role of Associate Vice President for Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Campus Diversity Officer to HSU,” says Provost Jenn Capps.
“Dr. Ndura brings with her decades of experience as a leader, educator, and community builder. Dr. Ndura’s approach to building relationships with key campus and community stakeholders coupled with her action oriented strategic visioning approach will help advance our campus community forward. Thank you to Dr. Edelmira Reynoso, Interim Executive Director, for your leadership in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion since October 2019. I would also like to extend my thanks to the search committee for their work.”
_Note: This story was originally published on Dec. 17, 2020._