Emelyn dela Peña named president of SoCal Chapter of Diversity Officers’ Association

Emelyn A. dela Peña, Ph.D., LMU vice president for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, has been named president of the Southern California chapter of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (SCADOHE). The Southern California chapter encompasses Los Angeles, San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, Orange, and San Bernardino counties.

An accomplished campus diversity officer, dela Peña has 30 years of experience in higher education. "From the first position I ever had in higher ed as a residence hall coordinator, I have been doing social justice work. I have seen it evolve from multi-culturalism to cross-culturalism to anti-racism," she said.

Dela Peña's accomplishments include overseeing the rollout of a new bias reporting system at Harvard College. Additionally, she served on the Women's Museum of California board of directors from 2005 to 2011 and contributed chapters to "Culturally Responsive Leadership in Higher Education: Promoting Access, Equity, and Improvement and Critical Black Studies Reader." She has received numerous awards, such as the Association of Women in Academia Quality of Life Award, Harvard University Dean's Distinction Award, and in 2021, she was selected to attend the Stanford Leadership Academy.

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) was established in 2006, with LMU as one of its founding members. The organization's vision is to lead higher education toward inclusive excellence and influence the transformation of organizations worldwide. The national association serves as a primary resource for higher education chief diversity officers and academic leaders by providing guidance and programs to navigate and combat legislative and social barriers to equity, diversity, and inclusion in higher education. The organization also equips chief diversity officers and DEI practitioners to be successful in their roles and within their campus communities.

The Southern California chapter is one of the 19 chapters of NADOHE and operates with a common goal: Moving higher education toward inclusive excellence. "Our goals as a national association are aligned with our mission at LMU," dela Peña said. "I'm excited to integrate NADOHE's Anti-Racism Framework with LMU's mission and showcase the incredible work so many people at LMU contributed to create our Anti-Racism Project."

A member of NADOHE member for two years, dela Peña has been involved in the national and international discourse around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice for 25 years. She has been an invited speaker for events such as the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators' Racial Equity and Social Change Conference, the Consortium on High Achievement and Success, and the STEM Equality Congress. Her work has consistently maintained a focus on social justice practice. "I'm grateful and honored to work at an institution that names the promotion of faith and service of justice in its mission and calls us to be contemplatives in action even during these turbulent times," she said. "As a faith-based institution, and particularly as an AJCU campus committed to Ignatian principle of walking with the excluded, it is important for us to lead courageously in this space and continue our work toward becoming a more anti-racist university."

Under dela Peña's leadership at LMU and SCADOHE she hopes to learn from the vast network of colleagues committed to DEI and anti-racism work while extending LMU's reach beyond the bluff to colleges and universities nationwide. Her two-year term as president was effective July 1.