Universities Appoint Three Women to Diversity Positions

Cynthia Pickett has been appointed the presidential associate for inclusion and chief diversity officer at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She was associate provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion and an associate professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago. Earlier, she was associate vice-provost for faculty equity and inclusion at the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Pickett is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in psychology. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in social psychology from the Ohio State University.

Tracie Ransom is the inaugural assistant dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion at Tulane Law School in New Orleans. Ransom practiced complex litigation for nearly a decade with AmLaw 200-firm Porter Wright in Columbus, Ohio, first as an associate and later as the first Black woman to be elected partner. She then left private practice to become associate general counsel and department director for Edward Jones, a Fortune 500 investment and financial advisory firm headquartered in St. Louis.

Ransom is a graduate of the University of Alabama. She earned a juris doctorate at the University of Illinois College of Law.

Gina Dent is the inaugural associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Humanities Division at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is an associate professor of feminist studies, history of consciousness, and legal studies at UCSC. Dr. Dent is co-author of Abolition. Feminism. Now. (Haymarket Books, 2022).

Dr. Dent is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in New York City.