Dear Colleagues:

I am delighted to announce the appointment of UCLA Professor of Education Mitchell Chang as the next associate vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, effective July 1, 2022. It is an honor for me to welcome Professor Chang to this vital role within the Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) given his rich expertise and nearly 30 years of experience and service to the UCLA community.

As AVC, Chang will help innovate and lead EDI’s efforts to advance faculty diversity at UCLA through research-informed best practices. He will also serve as a senior member of the EDI leadership team and advise me and other senior leaders at UCLA.

A UCLA alumnus (’96, Ph.D.), Chang is a professor of education in the School of Education and Information Studies and the Department of Asian American Studies and a nationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on the educational efficacy of diversity-related initiatives on college campuses. Chang has written more than 100 publications and his work is cited in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Grutter v. Bollinger. Chang’s commitment to UCLA and to the values of equity, diversity and inclusion span his career. His work has supported UCLA’s Rising to the Challenge initiative, announced by Chancellor Gene Block and former Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter in September 2020, and he has long served on the Moreno Report Implementation Committee.

As AVC, Chang aims “to contribute to improving the environment to maximize educational opportunities and experiences at UCLA. This is obviously a community that I care a lot about and I feel some responsibility for taking care of it, so I want to leave it in much better shape than I came into it 30 years ago. I don’t see myself as a temporary member of this community, but as a permanent one, and as a permanent member, you ought to care about your community and try to make it better.” Professor Chang’s breadth of experience and wealth of knowledge, coupled with his lifetime of passion for and devotion to equity, diversity and inclusion will be invaluable to me, to my staff, and to UCLA’s mission to advance EDI.

Professor Chang replaces current Associate Vice Chancellor Dr. Margaret Shih, who will conclude a three-year term and return to her faculty role as the Neil Jacoby Chair in Management and professor of management and organizations at the Anderson School. Shih provided leadership on research-informed interventions to reduce bias and promote inclusion, initiated the development of a climate assessment toolkit, and oversaw staff and programming during a time of expansion within the office. I am incredibly grateful to Shih for her exceptional leadership and inspiring dedication to the EDI mission and UCLA.

Please join me in welcoming Associate Vice Chancellor Mitchell Chang to his new role at UCLA.

My best regards,

Anna Spain Bradley
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion