Dr. Dianne Rush Woods, Chief of Staff to Cal State East Bay President Leroy Morishita for the past year, was appointed this May as the new University Diversity Officer. She officially took on her new role July 1, and is now planning a new campus-wide diversity initiative that aims to strengthen the university’s diversity mission, according to university officials.

CSUEB, the second-most diverse master’s-granting university in the Western region of the United States according to the university website, and is also one of the most diverse campuses within the CSU system, said Woods.

Since 2006 CSUEB has been reviewing and revising their diversity plan in order to encourage and support a more culturally diverse campus, a process deemed by a higher education accreditation committee to increase a university’s overall excellence. The team that has taken on this task of reviewing and revising is the Diversity and Equity Committee, a group of eight faculty members responsible for studying and reporting on issues relevant to increasing faculty diversity as well as making policies and procedural recommendations to the university’s Academic Senate.

This change in the diversity plan could result in some departments changing curriculum in the future, said Mitch Watnik chair on CSUEB’s Academic Senate.

“Any change that occurs is a change to future catalogs, but current students are unaffected,” said Watnik.

Currently the FDEC, along with Woods, has developed a series of diversity-related principles that will prescribe for each university department a way to enhance inclusion and equality efforts among students, faculty, and staff.

“Dr. Rush Woods is an individual who is committed to diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion,” the president announced in a press release. “She’s the individual to organize and advance this area of distinction, and an individual who is highly respected across the campus with a proven record in advancing diversity.”

Prior to her current position at CSUEB, Woods, who has a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from U.C. Berkeley, and a Master of Social Work from UCLA, served more than twelve years of work in the area of multiculturalism and diversity, according to the press release. She later developed a social work curriculum that focuses on disenfranchised urban populations not just in urban but suburban communities as well.

Upon her arrival at CSUEB in 2001, she has previously led three faculty learning programs focused on diversity, multiculturalism and social justice. She also conducted an all-campus diversity survey currently being prepared for publication on the university campus.

“This position is different than my position as chief of staff because the question is how do we support inclusiveness,” said Dr. Rush Woods. “It’s really about planning into the next year, looking at faculty and the students coming in and identifying trends that have made the university successful.”

In her new role, Woods will continue to report directly to President Morishita and serve on his cabinet as well as serve on the University Planning, Assessment and Budget Committee and the Academic Senate’s Faculty Diversity and Equity Committee.

“I’m all about getting the best people in the best places, and not just diverse people, but the best people and supporting them in the best way possible so they can graduate,” said Dr. Rush Woods. “This new approach will promote efforts that will build connections between departments and hopefully enrich the educational experience.”