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Dr. Shawna Patterson-Stephens, Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Belonging at Central Michigan University, received the Bobby E. Leach Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion award on Tuesday from NASPA, the association representing student affairs professionals.
Patterson-Stephens is an award-winning scholar-practitioner with 20 years of experience in higher education. Her research interests include Black and Latinx issues in higher education, media influences in the postsecondary sector, and critical theory in higher educational contexts. She also experiments with various modes of knowledge dissemination to ensure scholarship remains accessible, evidenced through projects like the podcast “Scholar Tea.”
The Bobby E. Leach Equity, Diversity and Inclusion award honors a senior student affairs professional or faculty member “who has demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion throughout their administrative or academic tenure,” according to NASPA officials. The award is named in honor of the first person of color to serve as NASPA president and who was also the first African American Administrator at Florida State University, the institution where Patterson-Stephens earned her Ph.D.