Director, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Learning

The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is seeking to add an experienced Director, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Learning to our team of high-performing professionals.

The ideal candidate will be an experienced diversity, equity, and inclusion leader who will enjoy proactively developing and implementing diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and belonging programs and learning initiatives in support of ADEA's strategic framework and dental education. You are energized by the opportunity to champion the importance and value of a diverse and inclusive environment, lead the development of effective strategies to foster a strong sense of belonging, and create a welcoming, safe, equitable, diverse, and inclusive culture in academic dentistry. The Director reports to the ADEA Chief Diversity Officer and engages with the ADEA Access, Diversity and Inclusion (ADI) team, ADEA leadership, staff, members, and external groups and organizations to further behaviors, attitudes, programs, and practices that support DEI.

In this position, you will develop stakeholder networks and collaborate to promote awareness, present training, and develop educational programs to support institutional and programmatic efforts toward maintaining a campus environment that is inclusive, pluralistic, anti-racist, and free of discrimination, harassment, and bias. You will take the lead role in designing, implementing, and assessing initiatives that advance the awareness and understanding of cultural competence, structural competency, health equity, diversity, generational differences, cultural intelligence, belonging, and inclusion, as a relevant skill set for all faculty, staff, students, residents, and fellows. Your experience in DEI will enable you to identify and coordinate strategies that link the relationship of DEI and health equity to academic excellence, elimination of health disparities, stakeholder recruitment/retention, professional standards, and ethical conduct. You will take the lead in maintaining current knowledge of equal opportunity and civil rights laws impacting students, faculty, staff, residents, fellows, and patients, particularly laws protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities (ADA, Section 504) and corresponding privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA, FERPA, etc.).

This position is the primary ADI lead in developing DEI content for webinars, e-learning, digital resources, and other virtual and hybrid learning programs and collaborates with the ADEA Office of Learning to execute related programming. The Director also researches and writes publications, briefs, articles, and other resources to support inclusive excellence and health equity awareness, programming, and policy improvement throughout academic dentistry and the health professions. The Director partners with the ADEA Office of Human Resources and the ADEA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Staff Advisory Committee to develop diversity and inclusion programming and best practices to foster an ADEA culture that is welcoming, safe, and respectful of the multiple and intersecting dimensions of diversity and to further the growth of staff along the cultural competence continuum.

The Director also works with ADEA departments and external organizations to build and expand upon a culturally-infused curriculum in dental education. This position works to develop educational recruitment and retention resources and training to improve the pathway for historically underrepresented and marginalized (HURM) faculty, staff, students, and residents in dental education and the health professions. The Director also assists in the writing, researching, developing, and evaluating of grants and is responsible for ADEA grant budget development and monitoring, along with the general administration of ADEA grants within the ADI portfolio. This individual is skilled in project management, strategic operations, budget development and monitoring, and project reporting functions.

Primary Responsibilities

• Analyzes and reviews civil rights and equal opportunity laws, particularly laws and regulations supporting stakeholders in an academic and patient care settings with disabilities to develop programming and resources and to assess the impact of these laws on dental education, the health professions, and higher education.
• Leads the development of content for webinars, digital resources, and other e-learning initiatives related to DEI, belonging, and other topics to include but not limited to bias, discrimination, generational diversity, harassment, health equity, and fostering safe, equitable, welcoming, and respectful campus cultures.
• Develops, researches, and prepares surveys, abstracts, posters, reports, articles, academic posters, briefs, presentations, and other materials related DEI, belonging, and health equity in support of ADEA members and key stakeholders.
• Provides project support for the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) in conjunction with the ADEA SHPEP Project Director, including activities to advance SHPEP alumni engagement, other ADEA student pathway programs, and pre-professional programming to improve the recruitment, retention, academic readiness, and health careers development of HURM students, as needed.
• Keeps abreast of state, national, and international issues related to diversity and inclusion and best practices for improving access, diversity, and inclusion in the health professions, with an emphasis on dental education.
• Partners with the ADEA Office of Human Resources and the ADEA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Staff Advisory Committee to develop DEI programming and best practices to foster an inclusive, equitable, humanistic, and welcoming culture for ADEA employees.
• Works with the ADEA Chief Diversity Officer on initiatives to support, develop, and implement climate assessments and evaluate data to support the implementation of strategies at the association and campus levels that foster humanistic, inclusive, equitable, welcoming, professional, respectful, and safe spaces in dental education.
• Designs programs and initiatives to support the development of an expanded culturally infused curriculum throughout academic dentistry.
• Develops best practices, strategies, educational and leadership programs, and related resources to improve gender equity, anti-racism, and equal access opportunities for all persons in academic dentistry, especially HURM faculty, students, staff, residents, and fellows.
• Writes, researches, and develops grants to support ADEA’s DEI objectives and related ADEA strategic plan goals.
• Develops and monitors grant budgets within the ADEA ADI portfolio and assists in grant reporting to ensure ADEA compliance.
• Evaluates data and information to develop programs, resources, and educational initiatives related to health equity and determinants of health to advance the elimination of oral and other health disparities.
• Presents at meetings, conferences, webinars, eLearning programs, seminars, etc., on access, inclusion and diversity issues and other related topics.
• Creates programs and resources for ADEA leaders and members to raise awareness and assist in the development of campus strategies to address conscious/unconscious bias, discrimination/harassment, generational diversity, safety, and reporting by students, faculty, staff, residents, and fellows.
• Supports student activities and programming in conjunction with the ADEA Council of Student, Residents, and Fellows (COSRF) Liaison, as needed.
• Performs other tasks and duties as assigned by the Chief Diversity Officer.

 Desired First Year Outcomes

• Develop content for and conduct a webinar and/or e-learning program in support of health equity or DEI in partnership with ADEA members and the ADEA Office of Learning.
• Lead and develop one internal ADEA DEI program in partnership with the ADEA Office of Human Resources and the ADEA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Staff Advisory Committee to foster a strong sense of belonging and an inclusive culture for ADEA employees.