New Director Added to USU's Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Utah State University announced a new director in its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) on Monday as part of its efforts to further USU’s mission of creating an inclusive and equitable campus community.

Charity Maeda Van den Akker will fill the new position, coordinating educational programs that promote knowledge on equitable and inclusive practices across the university's campuses.

"Charity has been in leadership positions at USU that speak to her skills as a leader and collaborator," said USU Vice President for DEI Jane Irungu. "Her engagement in various DEI affiliated projects and committees speaks to her passion for this work and her understanding of the work at hand."

Maeda Van den Akker said she looks forward to working as director of DEI, in no small part due to the ways learning about education empowerment changed her own life.

"I am excited and humbled to be part of the leadership who will direct the ways USU will continue to grow as a community," Maeda Van den Akker said. "I know this work will not be easy, but I cannot wait to collaborate, create, and sustain positive change through DEI educational priorities."

Maeda Van den Akker has been employed at USU since 2014. Most recently, she was assistant director of Student Retention and Completion, where she worked to improve supplemental instruction and other resources to help students overcome obstacles to earn their degrees. In that position, she acted as a case manager to more than 100 students of color and first-generation students to help ensure they connected with available resources.

The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion itself is new to USU, having been created in July when Irungu was hired as USU's inaugural VP for DEI.

"As a new division, one of our goals is to coordinate and collaborate with academic and administrative units to promote learning opportunities that support our vision of inclusive excellence," Irungu said.

Maeda Van den Akker said one of her first steps in the role will be to see what DEI learning efforts already exist at USU and what gaps could be bridged.

"We are a learning community of students, faculty, and staff, many of us having pushed DEI work forward for years," Maeda Van den Akker said. "I want to be sure to bring all who have been doing this work to the table and amplify, support, and connect their work together to meet the mission of the Division of DEI and USU.”