Cheryl Gittens
Position title: Interim Deputy Vice Chancellor for Diversity & Inclusion, Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer
Email: cheryl.gittens@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-262-5175
Website
Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement
Areas of Responsibility
Cheryl Gittens oversees the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement. The division supports the mission of the University of Wisconsin-Madison as it works to create a diverse, inclusive, and excellent learning and work environment for all students, faculty, staff, alumni and others who partner with the university. Units within the division include:
- Academic Coaching and Tutoring Services (ACTS)
- Center for Educational Opportunity (CEO)
- Employee Disability Resources
- Learning Communities for Institutional Change and Excellence (LCICE)
- Mercile J. Lee Scholars Program (Chancellor’s & Powers-Knapp Scholarships)
- Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) / First Wave Scholars
- Posse Program
- Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE)
- Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program
Biography
Cheryl B. Gittens, Ed.D., was named interim Deputy Vice Chancellor for Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer in the summer of 2020. She is an experienced academic and student affairs administrator who has successfully planned, implemented and managed programs and services designed to increase high school graduation, college enrollment and retention at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
As interim Chief Diversity Officer, Gittens provides overall leadership for the university’s efforts to create a diverse, inclusive and successful work and learning environment for all students, faculty, staff, alumni and others who partner with the university. She works with schools, colleges and other administrative units across campus on diversity and inclusion initiatives while supervising the key diversity units that comprise the Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement (DDEEA).
Prior to her interim appointment, she served as Assistant Vice Provost under Chief Diversity Officer Patrick J. Sims, with administrative responsibilities for many of the university’s diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives, including the Center for Educational Opportunity (CeO), the Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE), the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program and the Academic Coaching and Tutoring Services (ACTS) program, as well as other efforts to realize the institutional mission toward a diverse, welcoming and inclusive campus.
Before joining UW–Madison in 2017, Gittens was the Vice President of Education and Chief Academic Officer of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, and before that was Director of Student Affairs and Community Service Learning at the University of Virginia. She earned her Doctor of Education at George Washington University and her master’s degree in Social Work at Rutgers University.