Susanna C. Rinehart was recently named the new Director of Education for Diversity and Inclusion at Virginia Tech.
The position, which falls under the Office of Equity and Inclusion, helps resolve issues in what was formerly known as both the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Office of Equal Opportunity. Now merged, this position handles both human and monetary resources to serve the campus community, while promoting diversity and awareness. A national search was conducted for an individual to fill the position, as is currently done with all vacant university positions. After becoming a finalist and being interviewed by a panel, she was ultimately hand selected by Kevin McDonald, vice president for Equity and Inclusion, to fill the role.
Rinehart "brings wonderful skills to our office, including communication, which is great to raising awareness and getting people to be receptive and hearing about ideas about diversity," McDonald said. "She has great vision and creativity and will allow us to then creatively get the message out there in a number of different mediums. She has a strong understanding of our work and truly models the behavior."
Rinehart is no stranger to Tech. She has been at Tech since 1999, beginning as a faculty member in theatre arts. In 2003, Rinehart served as a multicultural fellow to the university. In 2006, she began a split position where she maintained her role as a professor in addition to being a half-time assistant provost for liberal education.
"That role was more focused on issues surrounding undergraduate education. (It was) a combination of that and the fact that, since I stepped foot on campus, I was heavily engaged in a lot of service activities and faculty governance that made this new role possible," Rinehart said. Patty Raun, the chair of the theater department here at Tech, has worked very closely with Rinehart over the years.
"Susanna's been my colleague for the last nine years, as I'm the department head, so I also supervised her teaching," Raun said. "She brings a great passion for undergraduate students and their passion for learning."
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