On Tuesday, Senior Vice President for Inclusion and Diversity Benje Douglas announced in an email to the College that Director of the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Center Kate Stern has been appointed to the newly created role of Director of Institutional Inclusion and Diversity Programs.

“Kate will work across the campus to think strategically about how to increase our representational diversity, expand equity of opportunity and build an enhanced sense of belonging on campus,” Douglas wrote in his email to the College community.

While Stern enjoys the student-facing nature of her current role, she is looking forward to taking a more holistic approach to her diversity and inclusion work.

“Even though my job is very much student-serving, I do periodically get to do workshops and programs with several faculty, and so I’m really excited about growing that,” Stern said.

Though many candidates were considered for the role, Douglas trusts that Stern is the right person for the job.

“Kate is a strategic thinker who is unfailingly kind, thoughtful with a keen eye toward the big picture without missing the importance of doing exceptional work in the day to day operations of the College,” Douglas wrote in an email to the Orient. “I hope Kate will think big and help think of creative ways to respond to challenges while still taking time to celebrate those things that make our community what [it] is and the incredible people who are a part of it.”

For Stern, “thinking big” means fostering belonging.

“I think our [goals are] really a campus where everybody knows that they belong, where everybody feels included and to think about what are all of our roles in creating that,” Stern said.