La Roche University appoints executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion

La Roche University has appointed its first executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer.

Sarah White, the university’s coordinator of accessibility services since July 2014, will fill the new role.

“The time is now for the La Roche community as a whole to broaden its communal understanding of diversity, and to commit more fully to creating and sustaining an inclusive and supportive environment for each and every member,” said Sister Candace Introcaso, La Roche’s president. “These efforts require strong leadership if they are to succeed.”

In her new role as chief diversity officer, White will oversee the university’s development of a strategic diversity and inclusion plan and chair the La Roche Inclusion Council. The new position also will allow White to sit on the President’s Executive Council.

“It is an honor and a privilege to step into this new role at such a pivotal time at La Roche and in our greater world,” White said. “I look forward to collaborating with students, faculty, staff and senior leadership to develop innovative strategies and initiatives for diversity, inclusion and equity, and foster a campus community that is welcoming and inclusive of all of our members.”

White holds a master’s degree in educational leadership in postsecondary education, with a specialization in student affairs, from San Diego State University. She completed her undergraduate degree at Slippery Rock University, where she earned a bachelor’s in social work.

“I have great confidence in Sarah’s ability to lead us at this critical time in La Roche’s history, and a time — in higher education and in our nation — when we are called on to have difficult, at times uncomfortable, conversations about race relations, and to confront racism in individuals and in our institutions,” Introcaso said.