New VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Yvette Pearson succeeds George Fair in spearheading diversity initiatives

After nearly a decade of service, Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement George Fair will be replaced by a new Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) this fall.

Set for induction on Aug. 23, Yvette Pearson comes from Rice University where she served as Associate Dean of Engineering. While at Rice, Pearson also led several DEI initiatives, including forming a DEI committee, a diversity recognition program and a program focused on equity in faculty hiring. Throughout her 25 years in higher education, spanning from her time at the National Science Foundation to UTD, Pearson said her focus has been supporting students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds and ensuring equity within faculty and staff interactions. It's this focus that caught the eye of Stephanie Adams, dean of the Jonsson School of Engineering, who was on UTD's DEI VP Search Committee.

Adams said Pearson’s wealth of experience, collaborative leadership style and evaluation and assessment background stood out to the Committee.

As a dean, Adams said she was looking for a partner to tackle diversity issues with faculty recruiting and hiring and students, and she believes Pearson will effectively lead the programmatic changes needed to address them.

“One of the things that we kept saying in the search process is that we have a great orchestra already here, all the topnotch players and so forth, but we need a conductor to bring it all to harmony,” Adams said. “I see Yvette as that conductor. She’s got an impeccable reputation in the larger STEM education community as an advocate for DEI, and she knows how important it is for organizations to be inclusive and think [broadly]. I think that's going to set us apart from some other places, the fact that we do have Yvette here to lead our efforts.”

Pearson’s passion for DEI stems from a combination of personal and career experience. As a Black disabled woman, Pearson said she has experienced inequities associated with her identity, and as an engineer, she strives to advance human good, which she believes starts with a di-