A Trio of Women Who Have Been Appointed to University Diversity Posts

Lisette Garcia has been named assistant vice president of diversity, inclusion, and belonging at Pennsylvania State University. She most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility in Washington, D.C. Earlier, she served as a study director for the Women of Color Policy Network in the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.

Dr. Garcia is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where she double majored in sociology and labor and industrial relations. She holds a master’s degree in sociology from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in sociology from Ohio State University.

Cheryl Waites Spellman, a professor of social work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, was given the added duties of interim special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and inclusion. She joined the faculty at the university in 2018 after serving as dean of the School of Social Work at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Dr. Waites Spellman is a graduate of Hunter College of the City Univerity of New York, where she majored in sociology. She holds a master’s degree from Fordham University in New York and a doctorate in counselor education from North Carolina State University.

Maria Ramirez was appointed the director of equity initiatives for the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She joined the staff at the university earlier this year as the assistant director of faculty development and diversity.

Ramirez is a graduate of Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania, where she majored in history and secondary education. She holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from New York University.