The Division of DEI launched on January, 2019 as an intentional effort to address persistent and systemic issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion across Rowan’s three campuses. We are pleased to announce that Yvonne Ortiz was selected from a national pool as the Inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at School of Osteopathic Medicine (S0M). Ms. Ortiz began her new position on September 14th. Ms. Ortiz joins us from Austin, Texas where she was serving in the role of Program Manager for AVID for Higher Education. Ms. Ortiz has experience as a Dean of Student Affairs and Counselor of Campus Support Programs. She has worked at diverse institutions such as Huston-Tillotson University, University of Texas, Austin, and Emory University. In her role as Director of DEI at SOM, Ms. Ortiz’s responsibilities include: leading the campus’s Diversity Committee, developing and implementing culturally sustaining and anti-racist programming for students, faculty and staff, working collaboratively with colleagues in implementing and evaluating systems and structures for reporting bias, harassment, and discrimination based on the federally protected categories and increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of students, faculty and staff.
The appointment of Ms. Ortiz reaffirms Rowan’s commitment to addressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in a consistent and coherent manner across campuses and will facilitate alignment of the vision and mission of the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the School of Osteopathic Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Ms. Ortiz will be working closely with Dean Cavalieri and his administrative team to live out the commitment to our ideals through transformation and transparency.
Yvonne Ortiz (she, her, hers), Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the School of Osteopathic Medicine (SOM)
Yvonne Torruella Ortiz is the Inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the School of Osteopathic Medicine. Her career spans diverse institutions of various sizes, geography, public and private, as well as predominately white and historically African American. Ms. Ortiz’s twenty-five years of administrative and teaching experience includes institutional coaching to improve success for undergraduate, graduate and professional students, leading professional learning for equity minded practice, senior student affairs adminstration, and creating a culture of evidence for reaffirmation of accreditation. A former first-generation college student from the Bronx, New York, Ms. Ortiz’s passion is helping disenfranchised students reach their educational and professional goals. Through coaching, she has helped universities collaboratively critique the institutional climate to create changes that improve student belonging and success. Her mantra – we are the campus climate – has inspired greater introspection and collaboration among leadership, faculty, students, and trustees to make transformative and sustainable change. If people cannot bring their whole selves to the institutions in which they are supposed to belong, healthy development, engaged learning, and collaborative leadership become less possible. A presenter at numerous national conferences, Yvonne has been recognized for her professional and civic work in student success, equity and justice, improving mental health in higher education, and intersectionality in LGBTQIA and African American communities.
Ms. Ortiz’s responsibilities include: leading the School of Osteopathic Medicine’s Diversity Committee; developing and implementing culturally sustaining and anti-racist programming for students, faculty and staff; working collaboratively with colleagues in implementing and evaluating systems and structures for reporting bias, harassment, and discrimination; and increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of a physician workforce, faculty and staff.