Leading Through an Equitable Lens
LeAnna Rice has been named Queens University’s assistant vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion and will lead the newly formed Charlotte Talent Initiative as its first director.
Throughout her career, Rice has built strategic frameworks across various college campuses to encourage campus diversity, equity, and inclusion while fostering environments that champion wellness for students, faculty, and staff. Before her Queens journey began as the associate dean of students and Title IX coordinator, Rice served as director of a multicultural affairs program and a therapist within higher education. She conducted extensive work in mental health promotion and suicide prevention with a focus on improving outcomes for college students of color.
“LeAnna brings an invaluable set of experiences as a clinical counselor and administrator,” said María del Carmen Flores, vice president of Student Engagement and dean of students. “She builds meaningful relationships and creates opportunities for collaboration that allow the entire community to grow, improve, and evolve.”
Rice began her educational journey at Queens, and while she was unable to finish her studies as a Royal, she credits the University for deeply impacting the trajectory of her career.
“Queens was the first place I was meaningfully introduced to concepts such as ‘equity’ and ‘inclusion.’ I was encouraged to wrestle with what those words meant and charged to find intentional ways to apply them to my own life,” Rice explained.
As assistant vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Rice’s commitment to enhancing the vibrancy of the Queens community will remain. In this role, she will work to build a framework that ensures Queens is a welcoming environment for students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds. Her role as director for the Charlotte Talent Initiative is crucial as Queens prepares to welcome the first Lowe’s cohort of students to campus during the fall 2022 semester.
“As part of my new role, I will continue to create environments where people who have often been cast to the margins – BIPOC folks, LGBTQ+ populations, those from first generation and low-income backgrounds can thrive and collectively, we can all figure out how to build bridges for a diverse and rich humanity,” she said. “It’s a tough goal but I’m up for the challenge and I know that there is an amazing community here that is ready to do that work alongside me.”
Rice holds an undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in Africana studies and a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.