Dear EDI Colleagues:

As you may have heard, Dr. Ralina Joseph has accepted the position of Vice Provost of Inclusive Excellence. She emerged from a pool of excellent candidates, and I am eager to see how she will move forward the EDI project that grew out of the 2013 Moreno Report. There will likely be a gap between when she starts and when I step down on June 30th. In any event, I will make sure that Ryan Adserias and Brandie Kirkpatrick are well supported and prepared to keep the office on track until she arrives.

Our colleagues in the Civil Rights Office (CRO) will be moving into the Compliance Office in June. Unfortunately, they will not be doing this under Chandra Bhatnagar’s capable leadership, as he will leave UCLA in early June. Chandra has accepted a high-profile position, which will enable him to be even more impactful in advancing civil rights. He will be sorely missed as he led CRO with great expertise, integrity, and fairness. I was very fortunate to have served with him over the past two years, which was both a privilege and honor. Please join me in thanking and congratulating him.

Adriana Ovalle Stevenson has agreed to serve as Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Civil Rights. Currently, Adriana serves as the SD&C Director and has been with SD&C since 2018. She has been a key leader of CRO, helping this unit stand out as a model for other institutions. Since she has been a Bruin longer now than she was a Trojan, we won’t hold her undergraduate studies against her. I’m grateful for her willingness to lead CRO. Please join me in congratulating and supporting her.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that the forthcoming changes alone are already quite challenging, but the current political landscape significantly elevates the level of stress. The promise behind the plans moving forward, however, is to protect the core values and principles associated with what will become the former EDI Office during these unprecedented and uncertain times. I am confident that this promise will be upheld because of people like yourself who will continue to play a pivotal and consequential role in the next version of the EDI project.

Thank you in advance for protecting and advancing those core values and principles.

Gratefully,

Mitchell Chang
Interim Vice Provost for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion