Universities Announce the Appointment of Three Women to Diversity Positions

Sofiya Alhassan is the new associate dean for inclusion and engagement for the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A professor of kinesiology, she has served as the graduate program director of the kinesiology department since 2015. She joined the faculty at the university in 2007.

Dr. Alhassan holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and psychology from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. She earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in exercise physiology from Auburn University in Alabama.

Keona Lewis has been named assistant provost for academic diversity and inclusion at the University of Notre Dame, effective February 1. She has been serving as the associate director of research and evaluation for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Dr. Lewis taught in the anthropology and criminology departments at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Dr. Lewis earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminology and her doctorate in applied anthropology from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Heidi Tasa is the inaugural dean of global diversity and inclusion for Vincennes University in Indiana. A member of the faculty since 2013, Tasa has taught French and English for two decades. She was promoted to a full-tenured professor of English in 2022 and has served as the director of the university’s Honors Program.

Tasa earned a bachelor’s degree in French from Indiana University. She went on to earn a master’s degree in English education from Salem State University in Massachusetts and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern Indiana.