NMSU names its first-ever vice president for equity, inclusion and diversity

Following a national search, Teresa Maria Linda Scholz has been selected as New Mexico State University’s first-ever vice president for equity, inclusion and diversity. NMSU President John Floros announced the appointment to the campus community earlier today.

“Dr. Scholz will be a tremendous addition to our university,” Floros said. “She has the knowledge and skills to lead the effort to make NMSU more equitable and inclusive, and more welcoming for our diverse community from this region and around the world. As practitioner, Dr. Scholz has worked to foster a healthy campus climate where students, staff, and faculty are seen, valued, and respected and where their voices, ideas, research, and innovations contribute to transforming the academic, co-curricular and non-academic functions of a university.”

Scholz recently served as associate vice chancellor and chief diversity officer at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is a first-generation U.S. American and a first-generation college student, raised in Guatemala and the United States. A critical Latina/Latin American transnational feminist scholar in communication studies, Scholz’s scholarly focus is on understanding culturally situated theories that challenge systematic and structural inequities.

“I am truly excited and honored to be joining the NMSU community,” Scholz said. “This past year has challenged us all to think proactively, strategically and creatively to address systemic inequities by forging a sense of community and belonging between us all. I look forward to the many opportunities that lie ahead that will continue to push us to ‘Be Bold and Shape the Future’ together.”

She earned her Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She also holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in speech communication and a master’s certificate in women’s studies from Colorado State University.

As a scholar, Scholz is interested in identifying discursive and material counterhegemonic practices in social justice education the connection between voice, victimhood, and agency; and the role that we all play in challenging, preventing, and resisting different forms of oppression while also co-creating and co-sustaining a healthy campus climate.