Dr. Bernadette Tiapo has been named chief diversity officer at SUNY Oneonta. Her appointment will begin Sept. 1.
“Dr. Tiapo brings a depth of experience to her new role,” said college President Barbara Jean Morris. “She will help us bring diversity and inclusion to the forefront of discussion, moving the college toward our vision to become the exemplar residential community, providing relevant educational experiences in and outside of the classroom.”
Tiapo comes to the college from SUNY Potsdam, where she has been associate vice president and chief diversity officer since 2016. Prior to that, she held the position of director of the Office of Institutional Diversity at the University of Saint Francis in Joliet, Ill. She also was SUNY Oneonta’s director of student multicultural affairs from 2008 to 2014.
As chief diversity officer, Tiapo will lead the evolution, implementation and ongoing assessment of SUNY Oneonta’s strategic planning for diversity and inclusion. Among her responsibilities will be advocacy for inclusive excellence as relevant to all academic fields, promotion of inclusive excellence in teaching and learning across the institution, and collaboration with senior administrators to develop the organizational infrastructure for equity, diversity and inclusion.
"I am very excited to be returning to SUNY Oneonta," Tiapo said. "I look forward to working with heightened commitment with all the stakeholders of the SUNY Oneonta campus community to move our diversity, equity and inclusion goals forward. Everyone has a role to play, and I believe our collective efforts in fostering inclusive excellence can gain prominence within the SUNY system and beyond."
Tiapo earned a Ph.D. in education and an M.A. in mass communication and public relations from North Dakota State University, and a B.A. in English modern letters from the University of Yaounde in Cameroon. She is a member of the St. Lawrence University Women Leadership Institute Networking Committee, advises the management team of the SeedGiveBack Charity Foundation, and serves as a peer reviewer for National Association for Multicultural Education conference papers and presentations.