An Intro: The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and its Chief Officer

An Intro: The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and its Chief Officer

I joined Pittsburgh Technical College (PTC) to serve as the Chief Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Officer on February 15, 2021, and immediately recognized an outpouring of kindness and collaboration, as well as the feeling of being home.

Charged with the responsibility and challenge to amplify what is already a great culture at PTC, I immediately immersed myself in learning more about the college and what sets us apart from other institutions and places of employment. Simply put, our faculty and staff live and breathe the creed, “students above all.”

I am also tasked with cultivating new opportunities to expand diversity, equity, inclusion, and equality. With the support of exceptional leadership, the DEI task force and I developed goals and objectives to reach over the next three years.  

Within the first 90 days, we committed to developing DEI’s mission, vision, and values statements, launching a website, and creating an opportunity to hear from the PTC community. Within six months we planned to launch the DEI newsletter. 

As an office and task force, we are establishing policies, guidelines, and procedures to inform, challenge and educate our faculty, staff, and students. We aim to empower everyone to partner with DEI and help us to spread and model our commitment to the mission of championing a community of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in a spirit of civility. 

In addition to serving as the Chief DEI Officer, I am now supporting Talent Acquisition & Recruiting. We will expand our hiring initiatives to identify, attract, hire, and retain top talent to serve our students. These accomplishments would be impossible to attain if we did not have full support from our board members, Dr. Harvey-Smith, and the PTC community. We are an institution where our culture is authentic and not aspirational. We are intentional about everything we do and will have a positive impact, inevitably leading and creating the standards upon which other institutions will measure their effectiveness.  

Between the collaborative efforts of Human Resources, the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and the newly formed Talent Acquisition & Recruiting Department, PTC will be leading intentional, sustainable programs to demonstrate our aim to be globally recognized as an employer and institution of choice.  

We have already accomplished great things in our first six months, and the best is yet to come. Stay tuned; you do not want to miss what we do next! Remember, everyone can participate and contribute to the success of PTC’s DEI efforts. 

To learn more about DEI and the “We Are Listening” campaign, please view our website or email wearelistening@ptcollege.edu