[Important Information for Employees] Allison Heard Named Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

[Office of the President]

Dear Campus Community,

I am pleased to share that Allison Heard will be joining us as our new Vice
President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She will begin her work on
campus on October 3.

Allison brings a depth of experience, a wealth of ideas and a background of
success to the position. I welcome her to this role and am excited by all
of what she brings to the position. A copy of the media release that will
be shared shortly publicly is below.

Interim Vice President Richard Miller will continue with the campus until
Allison's arrival and for a time after. I appreciate all of his work for
SUNY Plattsburgh over 2022 and his willingness to assist in the transition.

I thank the search committee, chaired by Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs Anne Herzog, for their thorough and thoughtful review and
selection of the three qualified and strong candidates for this highly
competitive search. I also recognize and appreciate the high level of
staff, faculty and student participation, both on campus and via Zoom, at
each candidate session. Your commitment to this process demonstrates our
shared investment in diversity, equity and inclusion, both on our campus
and beyond.

Please join me in celebrating this exciting news and in welcoming Allison.
Her office will be located in 102 Hawkins Hall.

Thank you.

Alex Enyedi
President

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*Allison Heard Named SUNY Plattsburgh Vice President for Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion*

After a comprehensive national search over the spring semester, Allison
Heard was selected to assume the role as vice president of diversity,
equity and inclusion at SUNY Plattsburgh.
Heard, currently director of institutional diversity and Title IX
coordinator at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, replaces
Dr. Michelle Cromwell, who left the position at the end of the fall 2021
semester.

Dr. Alexander Enyedi said that Heard “brings a depth of experience, a
wealth of ideas and a background of success to the position. I welcome her
to this role and am excited by all of what she brings to the position.”

*UVM Graduate*

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Heard is no stranger to the weather
experienced in the Northeast — she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from the University of Vermont in Burlington, in 1994 and 1996
respectively. As a student there, she actually visited the SUNY Plattsburgh
campus to attend an event hosted by the Black Student Union.

“I have fond memories,” Heard said. “It was an opportunity for me to
connect with others in a supportive environment. College is the place where
I learned the most about diversity and where I was able to develop positive
self-esteem. SUNY schools are a force to be reckoned with, and SUNY
students are their own best advocates.”

With her master’s in higher education and student affairs administration,
and a soon-to-be-completed doctorate at St. Francis focusing on the impact
of hiring for mission and its correlation to campus culture and feelings of
belonging, from St. Francis, Heard is well-suited to take the reins as vice
president of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“My interest in SUNY Plattsburgh is both personal and professional.
Professional because this move is a growth opportunity for me with regard
to the depth of work and its alignment with my background and education,”
she said. The personal side comes with being not just a first-generation
college student but a first-generation college student of color at a
predominantly white institution in the North East.

*‘Like Many SUNY Plattsburgh Students*

“When I initially went to college, I was much like many of the students at
SUNY Plattsburgh. I met kind and caring professionals and faculty, who
worked with me as a first generation college student,” she said. “They
helped me persist and earn my degree. This is my opportunity to give back
to students in the same way and to use my talents and collaborative
partnerships with others, on campus and in the community, to make college
an option for them and to help them graduate.”

Among her work and background, one of the things of which she is most proud
is her creation of a “Pause for Justice” speaker, book and radio series
through the Illinois Department of Human Services Healing Illinois grant
that examined racism, conscious, and unconscious bias.

Heard said she is also very proud of her collaboration with the Laverne and
Dorothy Brown Library, which created a racial healing room and book
collection for people seeking to learn more about the devastating impact of
racism, the urgent call to anti-racism, and our awareness of lingering
trauma.

With an in-depth knowledge on the impact of gender-based violence and how
it informs our understanding of the neurobiology of trauma, Heard said she
feels that “prevention education and upstander intervention can change the
trajectory in how we understand isms, and the role we play as change agents.

“College is the place where I learned the most about diversity and where I
was able to develop positive self-esteem. SUNY schools are a force to be
reckoned with, and SUNY students are their own best advocates,” she said.

*Cardinal ‘A Gorgeous Bird’*

Calling the cardinal “a gorgeous bird known to defend their territory,”
Heard said it will be an honor “to be welcomed into the Cardinal family.”

While she will remain in Joliet to finish up the last few weeks at the
start of the semester, Heard hopes to hit the ground running once she
arrives in early October and said the first order of business is “to take
the advice of interim vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion,
Dr. Richard Miller, and to listen.”

“Sometimes people doing this work get so caught up in themselves that they
do everything they want to do and nothing that the community needs. My
first order of business is to learn what people care about on campus,”
Heard said. “My second order of business will be to finish the important
things on campus related to diversity and inclusion that others have
already started and to see those things through to fruition.”

*‘Draw Upon Our Strengths’*

She also wants to work with others “to make the SUNY Plattsburgh family
stronger.”

“My goal is to work with President Enyedi, Cabinet, and the entire campus
to develop a strategic plan around diversity, equity and inclusion that
will draw upon our strengths so we are able to leverage those same
strengths to be one of the most attractive academic institutions for
students and their families,” Heard said. “People have a lot of options
about where they can attend college. We want SUNY Plattsburgh to stand out
because there are already a lot of wonderful things happening on campus.”

Miller will remain as interim vice president to assist with the transition
after Heard arrives on campus.

“I appreciate all of his work for SUNY Plattsburgh over 2022 and his
willingness to assist in the transition,” Enyedi said. “I also thank the
search committee, chaired by Provost and Vice President for Academic
Affairs Anne Herzog, for its thorough and thoughtful review and selection
of the three qualified and strong candidates for this highly competitive
search.

*Shared Investment in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion*

“I also recognize and appreciate the high level of staff, faculty and
student participation, both on campus and via Zoom, at each candidate
session. Your commitment to this process demonstrates our shared investment
in diversity, equity and inclusion, both on our campus and beyond,” Enyedi
said.

Heard said she is looking forward to returning to the North Country and
visiting local churches, parishes, and organizations, adding, "I will
gladly accept your invitations.”

Heard’s office will be in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office
located in 102 Hawkins Hall.
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