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Sept. 17, 2014 – Armenta Hinton joined Allegheny College in September as associate dean and director of the Center for Intercultural Advancement and Student Success (CIASS).

CIASS works collaboratively with the campus community and external constituencies to develop strategic initiatives that enrich the academic, social, cultural and personal development of Allegheny students while creating opportunities to promote intercultural competence through discussion, dialogue and self-reflection.

Before coming to Allegheny, Hinton was associate director of the Center for Diversity and Social Justice and International Student Services at Susquehanna University, as well as a lecturer and field instructor in the Marywood University MSW Program at Susquehanna University.

Hinton has a broad range of experience that includes 15 years working overseas. While abroad, Hinton was an active administrator, teacher and performer. In addition she served on numerous arts boards including five years with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and six years with the Birmingham Opera Company.

“We are fortunate to have found strong leadership for our CIASS office, an office that works not only to enhance our students’ academic success but that supports them as they explore aspects of personal identity and social justice,” said Linda DeMeritt, provost and dean of the college. “Dr. Hinton’s experience both at Susquehanna and abroad will serve Allegheny well as we prepare students for the opportunities and challenges they will face in an intercultural and global community.”

Hinton is the co-editor of “Persistence and Memory,” a collection of essays on diversity with reflections written by Derald Wing Sue. She is an active presenter in areas of equity in higher education.

Her research focus is leadership of historically white institutions and historically black colleges and universities in the years since the United States v. Fordice, a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1992 that found that the state of Mississippi must take affirmative action to more fully integrate its public universities. She recently contributed a chapter to a collection of essays on historically black colleges and universities called “HBCUs Struggle for Equity Post Fordice,” which will be published by Clarity Press this fall.

Among other honors, she has received the Susquehanna University Community Builder Award and the Birmingham Partnership for Change Community Service Award.

“I am excited to take this journey with the Allegheny College community as we embark on the next 200 years of providing unusual combinations which prepare students for an interconnected world,” Hinton said.

She received a B.F.A. in music history and piano from Alabama State University, a historically black college and university, and also studied at Roosevelt University’s Chicago Musical College. She received her Post Graduate Certificate in Psychotherapy from Birmingham City University and her Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.