Eloísa Gordon-Mora, the first of four finalists selected in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s search for a vice chancellor of diversity and inclusion, will deliver a public presentation at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 8 in the Willa Cather Dining Complex, Red Cloud B/C.

For the past decade, Gordon-Mora has been dean of the School of Social Science and Humanities, Universidad del Este in Carolina, Puerto Rico. In the role, she provides leadership for the administrative and academic development of the school’s undergraduate and first-ever graduate programs within the university system.

Prior to this, her work was in the non-profit sector in New York. As vice president of government affairs, she designed and executed the advocacy agenda for Safe Horizon, the state’s largest victim non-profit. She was also the executive director of the Daphne Foundation, which supports community-based organizations in neighborhoods impacted by poverty, violence and discrimination, and executive director of El Barrio Popular Education Program, an adult education program for low-income Latinas.

Gordon-Mora is an associate professor in the School of Social Science and Humanities and her active research interests include democratic theory, higher education, diversity and inclusion, social violence and marginality, post-colonial/post-structuralist analysis and Gramscian theory.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Rockhurst University, and a Master of Arts in international relations from the University of Notre Dame. Her doctorate in political science is also from Notre Dame.

All candidates, selected through a national search, will participate in multiple-day interviews, including public presentations and receptions. Each public presentation is at 3:30 p.m. in the Willa Cather Dining Complex.

Other candidates and their public presentations are:

Oct. 9 — Marco Barker, associate vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, and chief diversity officer, Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. His presentation is in the Willa Cather Dining Complex, Red Cloud A.

Oct. 11 — Dwight Hamilton, associate vice president for diversity and inclusion, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago. His presentation is in the Willa Cather Dining Complex, Red Cloud A.

Oct. 18 — Lisa Jones, associate provost for strategy, special assistant to the president and professor of educational leadership and higher education, University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Her presentation is in the Willa Cather Dining Complex, Pioneers Suite.

Additional candidate information, including complete bios, is available on the vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion search website.

As the campus diversity officer, the vice chancellor of diversity and inclusion provides intellectual, strategic and visionary leadership for the university’s goals surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. The vice chancellor collaboratively leads and develops initiatives to position diversity and inclusion as one of Nebraska’s key competitive advantages, to center such work in the mission of the university, and to capitalize on the varied ways diversity, equity, and inclusion can be embedded in the university’s curriculum, infrastructure, policies, and programs in support of a welcoming campus.

The vice chancellor reports to the executive vice chancellor/chief academic officer and serves on the chancellor’s cabinet, reporting progress on annual metrics on diversity and inclusion to the chancellor.