Dear Colleagues and Friends,
After 10 years leading the University of San Francisco’s work to advance diversity, equity, and community outreach, Vice Provost Mary Wardell-Ghirarduzzi has accepted the position of vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at University of the Pacific, which has campuses in Stockton, Sacramento, and San Francisco. This is an inaugural position reporting to Pacific’s president, Christopher Callahan.
Mary’s contributions to our community, the city, the Bay Area, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), and higher education’s national conversation around diversity is well known. We are grateful for all she has done to build capacity and thereby advance USF’s critical, mission-driven commitment to justice and inclusion. Through her work, the essential tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion have been further integrated throughout the university’s departments and divisions. By forging partnerships across our campuses, Mary’s work has led to meaningful discussions, programs, and actions that have effectively expanded awareness of racial, gender, disability, and other equity issues. Most recently, she collaborated with AJCU colleagues across the country to design Eyes to See: An Anti-Racism Examen, an extensive set of resources for member institutions to consider issues of race and racism.
Thanks to Mary’s many contributions, USF community members — and the university itself — are positioned to further strengthen the skills and focus we need to continue to improve our campus climate and expand inclusive opportunities. She has helped us strengthen a firm Jesuit foundation upon which we can continue to build our beloved community as a welcoming, open place; one in which every community member’s success is our goal.
Mary’s last day at USF, before she begins work at Pacific on July 1, is still to be determined. We will assemble a group and also engage our next provost, Julia Chinyere Oparah, to begin discussions of how our diversity, equity, and inclusion work will continue.
I will also follow up to announce a time when we can safely gather to celebrate Mary’s time at USF, and to wish her well in her new role at University of the Pacific.
Sincerely,
Tyrone H. Cannon
Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs