Three Women Who Have Been Appointed University Diversity Officers

Marcella Gomez has been appointed the inaugural associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is an associate professor of applied mathematics at the university. Her research interests are in synthetic and systems biology.

Dr. Gomez is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Rockell Brown Burton has been named associate dean of inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York. For the past three years, she has served as interim dean of the School of Communication at Texas Southern University in Houston. She is the co-author of Race and News: A Critical Perspective (Routledge, 2011).

Dr. Brown Burton is a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans, where she majored in mass communication. She holds a master’s degree in human communication studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in communications from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Doris Fields is serving as interim chief diversity officer at Eastern Michigan University. She is the assistant vice president of academic programs and initiatives and is a tenured professor in the School of Communication, Media, and Theatre Arts at the university. She has been on the faculty since 1992.

Dr. Fields holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication from Eastern Michigan University. She earned a Ph.D. in communication from Wayne State University in Detroit.