|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Myra Hindus - New Berklee's First Vice President Myra Hindus became Berklee's First Vice President For Cultural Diversity. Berklee President Roger Brown announced her appointment to this newly created position. At Berklee, she will lead and oversee the diversity strategy of the college. Hindus will be focusing on four areas of development for the college: curriculum review and creating more diversity related curriculum; faculty and staff recruitment issues; student recruitment and retention; and promoting awareness and training on diversity. Said President Brown, "Myra Hindus is an experienced change agent. Her most recent work with immigrant populations and public interest lawyers in Massachusetts gives her a strong focus on international populations, which is particularly relevant given Berklee's large international student populations from over 70 countries. We intend to be one of the most innovative, inclusive campuses in the country and Myra will be an important catalyst in that work." Said Hindus, "I am very excited about working at Berklee and am looking forward to helping develop and implement a comprehensive vision and strategy for advancing diversity on campus." Hindus brings to Berklee 20 years of experience in higher education at three different institutions: the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Princeton University; and the University of Connecticut, Storrs. At Princeton, she established a pioneering program focused on combating sexual violence on campus. At the University of Connecticut, Hindus helped merge, under the Office of the Provost, multiple programs and academic centers focused on diversity, thus strengthening their separate identities through increased visibility and collaboration. For the past six years Hindus has been director of the Diversity Coalition at the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC). There, she spearheaded a nationally recognized, statewide diversity initiative that involved all 23 legal services programs in the Commonwealth. Hindus's leadership has resulted in systemic change throughout legal services, by the creation of a Diversity Action Plan, the design of new communication tools, and system-wide training in diversity and cultural competence. Hindus, a native of Newton, MA, who currently lives in Jamaica Plain, is an alumna of Brandeis University. Her late father Milton was a founding faculty member of Brandeis. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |