UNH Names Nadine Petty Chief Diversity Officer

The University of New Hampshire has hired Nadine Petty, executive director of the Center for Diversity and Enrichment at the University of Iowa, as its next chief diversity officer and associate vice president for community, equity and diversity.

The chief diversity officer is a member of the university’s senior leadership management team. Petty will start at UNH on Aug. 10.

“UNH has considerable work to do to address systemic racism and how to become antiracist in our respective roles as students, faculty, staff and alumni,” says UNH President James W. Dean, Jr. “Nadine’s extensive experience and work effecting change will play a critical role in helping us to identify the important steps we must take to create institutional change and be part of the solution.”

While at Iowa, Petty collaborated with campus and community partners to lead and implement programming to enrich the campus experience of underrepresented students and also facilitated diversity training for faculty, staff and students. Before going to Iowa, she served as the director of TRIO student support services at the University of Louisville, where she also earned her doctorate in educational leadership and organizational development.

“I am excited about the opportunity to serve UNH for both professional and personal reasons,” says Petty. “Professionally, this position is a natural next step in my career trajectory and this position at UNH is a good fit. Leadership appears ready and eager to embrace the work needed to move diversity initiatives forward and to create a culture of inclusivity for faculty, staff, and students. I have been impressed with the knowledge of President Dean as it relates to equity and diversity and his comfort level with discussing aspects of these topics. I also was impressed with his level of involvement with this search. It spoke volumes and made me that more certain joining the UNH team was the right choice. I have the experience and expertise to make a meaningful impact, and I look forward to working with UNH to help lead transformational change. And on a personal level, New Hampshire brings me closer to my East Coast family.”

The inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.