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Allegheny College President Hilary L. Link, Ph.D., today announced the appointment of Heather Moore Roberson, Ph.D., as the college’s dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion, effective June 1. Moore Roberson is currently an associate professor of community & justice studies and Black studies and director of faculty diversity and inclusion at Allegheny. She will continue to serve as chair of the Community & Justice Studies Department for a limited term.

In her new role, Moore Roberson will serve as the senior diversity officer of the college, reporting to the president. She will lead Allegheny’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which works to advance inclusive excellence by shaping, implementing, and supporting policies, strategies, and initiatives in support of the College’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, Moore Roberson will partner with a wide range of other departments and offices on campus on diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and initiatives, including training programs, assessment, faculty and staff hiring, and enrollment, retention, and graduation of students, among other areas. As a member of the college’s senior leadership team, Moore Roberson will also contribute to strategic institutional discussions and planning.

“As an educator, scholar, and colleague, Heather Moore Roberson has garnered the respect of students, faculty, and staff alike for her integrity, insight, honesty, and commitment to authentic collaboration, and her dedication to Allegheny College has made a tremendously positive difference in our learning community over the past seven years,” Link said. “We are delighted that Heather has taken on this important leadership role to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion at the College as an integral part of our efforts to support the holistic success of our students.”

Moore Roberson joined the Allegheny faculty in 2015 and received tenure in 2021, becoming one of the first Black women to do so in the college’s history. As a faculty member, she has promoted inclusive excellence in teaching by creating new courses such as Black Meadville and Multicultural Education. In addition, Moore Roberson has chaired the Community & Justice Studies Department, and she received the Thoburn Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020. She has also reactivated and chartered two historically Black Greek letter organizations at the College and has been a faculty advisor to four student organizations.

Moore Roberson has also served as the college’s inaugural director of faculty diversity & inclusion since 2021. She has facilitated a training on inclusive excellence for faculty across the College, created the Race, Equity and Justice Lecture Series, and has served as a faculty liaison to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the College’s Board of Trustees.

“I am humbled and honored to work alongside President Link, her cabinet, and the entire Allegheny community as we work to promote inclusive excellence at the College,” Moore Roberson said.

Moore Roberson is a native of Buffalo, New York, who earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in American Studies from Purdue University and two B.A.s in Education Studies and American Studies from Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut). Her research explores the intersections of race, education, and Black identity. Her first solo-authored book focuses on the images of Black boys on television. In October, her first co-edited book, Thinking about Black Education: An Interdisciplinary Reader, will be released under Myers Education Press. She has published articles in journals including Radical Teacher, Professing Education, and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity, along with a forthcoming article in Boyhood Studies. Additionally, Moore Roberson has published several book chapters on race and civic engagement, Black boys in film and television, and the impact of Black Lives Matter on teaching and learning.

Moore Roberson’s professional service includes an appointment as a multi-year curriculum coordinator for the Summer Workshop for the Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT), an independent organization that supports future K–12 teachers and faculty of color in higher education. In addition, she has facilitated workshops and presented at conferences for a wide range of national organizations, and she has served on the editorial boards and as a peer reviewer for several scholarly interdisciplinary journals.

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About Allegheny College

Allegheny College, founded in 1815, is one of the nation’s oldest and most innovative four-year colleges where multidisciplinary learning breaks the conventional mold. It is one of the few colleges in the United States with a unique requirement to choose both a major and minor for graduation, to provide students with a cross-disciplinary path in the sciences and humanities for educational depth and intellectual growth. Located in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Allegheny College is one of 40 colleges featured in Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives.” In its 2022 rankings, U.S. News & World Report recognized Allegheny College in its Top 20 Schools for Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects and the Top 25 Most Innovative National Liberal Arts Colleges.