Meet the first associate dean for inclusive excellence

In August 2021, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing welcomed its first associate dean for inclusive excellence, Dian Squire. A Rambler, Dean Squire earned his PhD in higher education from Loyola, where he led multiple initiatives to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since then, he has established himself as a leader in higher education. Following are excerpts from a recent interview.

Q: What drew you to a career in higher education?

It started when I was an undergraduate student leader and employee in various campus roles. My love for working at a university and with students prompted me to get a master’s degree in educational policy and leadership studies with a concentration in higher education. I’m interested in studying how universities are organized and function. What draws most people to this career is the hope that higher education can serve its purpose as a place for democratic education, social change, personal development, and radical thinking to solve global complex problems.

Q: In 16 years, you have made great strides to address issues of diversity and racial equity at the institutions you have served. What is the moment when you witnessed the impact of your work?

I have two. I created the country’s first First-Year Experience program for LGBTQ+ students at the University of Maryland, College Park. The program started following a year that included high-profile LGBTQ+ suicides and harassment across the country. Our community was hurting, and I hoped that this would help. Today, the program exists in a different form and is institutionalized on campus; UMCP is now considered to be the country’s number-one school for LGBTQ+ students. My second proud moment was success in using holistic admissions to increase the racial diversity of students in the academic program I coordinated at Northern Arizona University. By understanding our students as full humans — by not judging them on standardized tests and other inequitable measures of ability and aptitude — and really digging into their philosophies of education, social justice, and leadership, we improved our structural diversity from 14 percent students of color to 57 percent in my first two years.

Q: What is the most important lesson we can learn about diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education?

That’s a hard question! There are a few things to think about. We must delve into the history of our country or local regions to fully understand our relationship to Indigenous peoples and how we can begin engaging in conversations that recognize, respect, and return land to First Nations. We must think of students beyond a monolithic understanding of “first-year,” “Black,” “low-income,” etc. By really asking who our students are, we get to think more critically and specifically about ways to support them. We must start with us. When faced with doing social justice work, instead of saying something like “there’s just so much to change in the world, I don’t know where to start,” look toward yourself and say, “I’ll start with me.” Alongside that is the idea that we have to be content with imperfection. Our world is changing every day; have humility, listen, ask questions, do your research, and take risks for justice.